William Holbrooke
Yeoman of Somerset, born at Norton Malreward, probably a son of Thomas Holbrooke there, whose will gave him "the park" at Compton Dando. He lived about twenty years at Compton Dando and from about 1598 at Glastonbury, where he died in the winter of 1625/6. Father of Thomas Holbrook, who married Jane Powyes.
Life
- c. 1551Bornc. 1551-2, Norton Malreward, Somerset, England
Aged 65 on 9 May 1617. Weaver (1928) and the FamilySearch tree give c. 1560-1562, now superseded.
documentedprobable - 1625Diedbetween 11 Dec 1625 and 1 Feb 1625/6, Glastonbury, Somerset, Englanddocumentedproven
Family
- Father
- Thomas Holbrooke
Raised from 85% to 85-90% in section 5B of the research, after the 1593 Horsington accounts showed a William Hollbrooke acting at Compton Dando.
inferredprobable≈85-90%Sources
- Deposition of William Holbrooke in a Wells church-court tithe case
- Will of Thomas Holbrooke of Norton Malreward
- Will of Edith Holbrocke of Compton Dando, widow
- Probate papers of William Horsington the elder of Compton Dando
- Reasoning:
research/holbrook/early-holbrook-family-england.md
Other claim · Lord 1942Thomas Holbrooke and Constance "Thayer" of Thornbury, Gloucestershire✕disprovenThe Thornbury family is a separate one; William was born about 1551-2.
Other claim · Davis 1945, Stone-Gregg 1987, Knoff 1989John Holbrooke "the younger," son of Thomas of Norton MalrewardpossibleDavis did not know William's 1617 deposition.
- Mother
- Edith Holbrookeinferredprobable≈75%
Sources
- Will of Edith Holbrocke of Compton Dando, widow
- Reasoning:
research/holbrook/early-holbrook-family-england.md
- Spouse
- Edith Holbrooke
Maiden name unknown. The "Edith Saunders" of online trees is probably a mix-up with his mother.
inferredprobable
Pedigree
Notes
Yeoman. Born at Norton Malreward, then about 20 years at Compton Dando (c. 1578-1598) and 19 at Glastonbury (St John’s parish), by his own deposition of 9 May 1617. Lessee with his brothers of the family’s Compton Dando holdings: his father’s will gave him “the park” there. Overseer and witness of his mother Edith’s will (1592). Overseer of the will of Thomas Coles of Glastonbury (1602/3). “Of Edgerley in Glastonbury” in the subsidy of 1620.
At Compton Dando in March 1592/3, William Hollbrooke and Thomas Horsington were overseers and administrators of the will of William Horsington the elder (SHC D/D/cta/H/37, catalogue). The Horsington boy whose guardianship they paid for is the “cousin and godson” of Edith’s will, made four months earlier.
Other Holbrookes were already in Glastonbury when he came: John Holbroke rented a St John’s church cottage in 1574, and a John Holbrook was buried there in 1609. How they were related to him is unknown.
His will (11 Dec 1625, proved 1 Feb 1625/6) names sons Thomas, John “if he be livinge” and William the younger, daughter Basell, and grandsons Thomas Holbrook Jr., Edmund Tyly and Clement Weaver Jr. It gives his son Thomas two kyne in place of £7 10s he owed him, has his bay mare sold to pay 4 marks owed to his daughter Basill, and leaves 10s to each of his children, “men as well as women” (Davis 1945, p. 128). His ground at the Moor goes to his son John, or, if John was dead, to the three grandsons; the residue to his son William the younger, executor. The original survives (SHC D/D/ct/1/H/137) and would settle the overseers.
His daughter Rebecca and her husband Clement Weaver also emigrated and settled beside Thomas at Weymouth; Clement later lived at Newport, Rhode Island (compiled).
Children born before about 1598 were probably born at Compton Dando, where no register survives before 1602/3.
Open questions
- The overseers of his will: Clement Weaver Sr. and Thomas Tylye (Lord), or Thomas Holbrooke, Clement Weaver the elder and Thomas “Eyly” (Davis)? Read the original.
- Records that could raise his link to Thomas of Norton Malreward (about 85-90%) to the high 90s
or settle the overseers: at the Somerset Heritage Centre, his original will (D/D/ct/1/H/137), a
copy of the 1617 deposition (probably D/D/cd/50), the Holbrooke will abstracts (DD/X/HBS/1) and
the Compton Dando deeds (DD/BR/su/6); at Bristol Archives, the Compton Dando surveys (AC/M/6,
AC/M/11/13), which may list his holding before he left about 1598; and at the NEHGS library in
Boston, Walter Goodwin Davis’s typescript Holbrook Records, England 1544-1698 (G HOL 604) and
Mss C 1374, which may make the Somerset abstracts unnecessary (the colonial tree’s research case,
research/colonial-tree/research-cases.md).
Mollie's typescript
- DisprovenThomas Holbrooke was born at Broadway in 1601
1601 rests on his age, 34, on the 1635 passenger list, whose ages run low (his son John, listed as 11, was baptized in 1618). His own depositions put his birth about 1589 or 1594, probably at Compton Dando, where his father then lived. Broadway was his home in 1635. His death, early in 1676/7, is right.
Read it in the book, p. 1 → - DisprovenThomas was the son of Sir Thomas Holbrooke of Broadway
His father was William Holbrooke "the elder" of Glastonbury, yeoman, whose will (11 Dec 1625) names his son Thomas and grandson Thomas Jr. William, born at Norton Malreward about 1551-2, was probably a yeoman's son. No source for a knight has been found; the title may come from the Suffolk Sir Thomas de Holebrok (d. 1360).
Read it in the book, p. 5 →