Edmund Freeman
Woodbroker and yeoman of Pulborough, Sussex, who bought Millards and several copyholds there in 1600, had dealings with a Southwark shipwright, and signed with a mark. He was buried at Pulborough on 6 June 1623; his will left £20 to each child, over £800 in all besides lands, with his sons Edmund (bapt. 1596) and William as executors.
Life
- 1623Buried6 June 1623, Pulborough, Sussex, Englanddocumentedproven
- by 1623Diedby 18 June 1623, Pulborough, Sussex, Englanddocumentedproven
Family
- Parents
- Spouse
- Alice Coles
Alice was a sister of George Coles of Amberley.
Pedigree
Notes
“Edmund Freeman of Pulborough, woodbroker” in a deed of 14 Feb 1600 (WSRO Add Mss 40,254), when he bought Millards and several copyholds in Pulborough. A Southwark shipwright, William Johnson, was bound to him for £28 in 1601, and in October 1601 they were in the Court of Requests over a bond “on account of a ship called The Providence bought of him” (TNA REQ 2/147/16; WARD 2/49/174/8A). “Edmund Freman of Pulborough, yeoman,” trustee in a marriage settlement of 1609 (WSRO SAS-B/358). On 20 July 1620, for the marriage of his son William to Christian Hodsoll, “Edmund Freeman senr. of Pulborough, yeoman” settled Pykhurst and other lands on George Coles of Amberley and “John Bewchamp, citizen and salter of London.” He signed with a mark (WSRO SAS-B/578).
His will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 18 June 1623, with his sons Edmond and William as executors: £20 to each child, over £800 in all besides lands.
The research reads him as a timber broker who sold to London shipwrights. A father who was a woodbroker and signed by mark does not fit the medieval gentry descents (Fremingham, Stafford, Bassett, Baron Dudley) in online trees; they were judged broken.
Open questions
- His birth and parents are unknown.
- The FamilySearch tree gives him a daughter Ellen, born 1592. She is not in Dawes-Gates, and 1592 is before the surviving Pulborough register begins (1595). No file has been made for her.