“Wills” database, Buckinghamshire Council Archives (https:// shop.buckscc.gov.uk : accessed 25 April 2023), pdf of Rafe Mels, 1661, D/A/Wi/41/147.
Transcription by Celia Renshaw:
Top left hand corner eroded (first 9 lines) and half way down first page on left (3 lines)
In the name of god Amen I Rafe MELS or als…
midilsex Carpender being not In …
Considdering the uncertenty of ?mortal …
my Estate In order before the ?hower (hour) …
ordaine this my last will and testament …
first I bequeth my soule into the han(ds) …
mercifull redeemer who hath ?deltended to mee …
my ?yadz by alwayes ?ste leving my ?barne and ?grounds … my …
necessities that gives me a ?serveance that he will not ?have …ne at the
last ?days but take ?by my ?litle soule unto the bosom of his ?…inte
compassion and will my body to be buried decently at the discretion
of my Exsecuters. Imprimes I give to my wife Anne mels
five shillings and to ?hur sonne Thomas mels five pounds. Item
I give to my wife all the goods that nowe hurs before I was
marryed to hur and not (squiggle) to medel with any goods that was mine before
……. my wife a month time to depart and ?get of (word crossed out)
……. ground after my debts and then to depart frely away
……. and to receive the legicies above writen. Item I give
my daughter mary a great fether ?slater. Item I give to my daughter
?Susan a great fether ?slater. Item I give to my granchild Elizabeth mels the daughter of Rich mels a ?squre morter of bras. Item I give
to my son Thomas heatley all my cloathing aparel. Item I give
more to my daughter Susan my long table. Item I doe ordaine my
sonnes john mels and Richard mels Exsecuters of this my last will
and testament and doe hartyly desire and here by require all these
my friends who are any wayes concerned in this my last will
and testament to be there with content. In witnes where of I have here unto set my hand and seale the first day of october on ?the said
six hundred fifty and seven and doe renounce all former wills made
witness my hand and seale
the marke of R Rafe mels
witnes In the precence of us
the marke of M Mathew Smith
Rodney Luke
Jurate Johes…. Jurate means ‘sworn’, Johes is John
22nd May 16…..
At right angles in the left margin: Item I give to my daughter…… (rest is eroded, but the name possibly begins with R or A, potentially another daughter to those already named, or it might lead on to say a daughter’s child or husband, for example)
Probate clause on reverse eroded on left hand side. In much abbreviated Latin… [my poor rendition…]
….. est hoc Tr Radulphi Mells als Kendall def. &
….. commissar et Richo Clawer mill’ batcho Offle …?
….. stitute 22nd die mensis Maii Anno Dmi 1661 ac p’rob’ pro …
….. ite et ultime pronunciatu’ et declaratu’ Commissumq’ fifit onus
…. ad’o oiu’ et singlor’ bo: rend’ iuriu’ credit et Catalls vid dci def’
…. trichmat pro remanien’ et aden’ vitz et mortis suar’ tempore
….. executoru’ in T’o: p’d noiat’ reservata p’tate comm…eius
… executaru’ cum penerit cas’d etmid peritur et Salvo
…..
I believe this is a probate clause granting to Richard ?Clawer (or similar name), instead of the executors named in the last will and testament, administration of all and singular the goods, credits and cattles of the deceased Ralph Mells als Kendall, power being reserved (possibly) for the remaining executor. It may say that one of the executors has died.
Analysis by Celia Renshaw:
Key points:-
- The earliest recorded alias we’ve found so far in the UK is the 11 July 1605 Will of Thomas Mylls alias Kendall of Newport Pagnell.[1] This 1605 Will is a copy only, no signature or seal, so we cannot tell if Thomas was literate enough to sign his own name, but witness Rev Thomas Yarrowe kindly told us he wrote the Will, and as priest he would be familiar with the alias surname. He recorded it again 14 days later when burying Thomas, with the name Mylls alias Kendall.
- There are separate Mylls/Mills and Kendall individuals in Newport Pagnell before 1605, so maybe this Thomas was the first to acquire the double alias, but we’re short of earlier Mills/Mylls or Kendall testators who might have bestowed it. As we know, there can be a number of reasons for an alias to begin.
- There is no documentary evidence of connection between 1605 Thomas and Sherington Rafe, but since they share the unique alias name, we have every reason to deduce they are related and share a common ancestry.
- We first have Rafe in Sherington in 1616 when he baptised son Thomas. Of Rafe’s 5 baptisms at Sherington, two are recorded with the alias:[2]
- 24 Nov 1616 Thomas Mylles son of Raphe
- 20 Dec 1618 Elizabeth Mylles alias Kendale dau of Raphe
- 19 Nov 1620 Francis Mylles alias Kendall son of Raph
- 11 Jun 1623 John Kendall son of Raphe
- 6 Jul 1628 Richard Milles son of Raphe
- There is an adult John Mylles (or Kendall) alongside Rafe in Sherington (John Milles Churchwarden in 1623; buried there in 1630) who baptised a son Raph Mylles in 1613/14 and buried a son Thomas Kendall alias Mylles in 1621, so John is perhaps a brother to Rafe?[3] And they may have arrived in Sherington together c1612-ish? Sherington BTs show no earlier entries there for these surnames.
- Could they have come from Newport Pagnell? Weighing up the available Newport Pagnell evidence, the answer is probably not.
- Baptising children from 1613 and 1616 suggests earliest possible marriages for both Rafe and John in the 1590s and possible birth dates for John and Rafe themselves in the 1560s-70s, so theoretically they could both be 1605 Thomas’s sons, possibly with Rafe an eldest son whose portion had already been made, perhaps in Sherington? However, the name Rafe does not appear in 1605 Thomas’ known or deduced descendants.
- Sherington John was buried there in 1630, after only two sons had been recorded for him: Thomas’s burial in 1621 and Raph’s baptism in 1613/14.[4] No details have been found in Sherington for John’s unknown wife. His son Raph appears to have lived and married later in Newport Pagnell, probably dying of the plague in 1666; we have no knowledge of what happened to wife Annis, son Thomas or any other children.[5]
- The last date in Sherington BTs for Rafe snr and his family was 1628 when son Richard was baptised. On 16 Feb 1629/30, Rafe, still resident in Sherington, purchased land near or on the old North Bridge in Newport Pagnell from blacksmith Robert Markes.[6] Rafe would not have lived there until he built a dwelling on the land at an unknown date sometime before 1654, and maybe not even then. In his mobile trade of Carpenter, he may have moved about a lot, or he may have been settled in Middlesex where he made his Will on 1 October 1657.[7] On 8 Nov 1654, he sold his Newport Pagnell land and its building to son John, the deed abstract worded as follows:[8]
1. Ralph Kendall alias Mills, carpenter, conveyed to 2. his son John Kendall alias Mills. All that his messuage cottage or tenement situate in the North End wherein the said John Kendall now dwelleth. The ground of Thomas Davies towards the South and West and the river there on the North and abutting on the highway on the East.
So, son John was living there in 1654, but we don’t know if Rafe was in Newport Pagnell or not. In the 1642 Contributions to Ireland, we have just one Ralph Kendall in Newport Pagnell paying a shilling, but that could be Sherington John’s son (born 1613/14).[9]
- We have a burial record of 3 March 1658/9 at Newport Pagnell for a Ralph Mills, which seems most likely to be testator Rafe, and indicates either that he moved back to Newport in the short period of five months between writing his Will in Middlesex and his burial in Newport, or that his body was brought back to Newport for burial (a costly and difficult option).[10] We do not know if his wife Ann moved with him or stayed in Middlesex or when she died.
Rafe’s Will: written in Middlesex on 1 October 1657, proved in Bucks on 22 May 1661.[11]
Bearing in mind all the gaps and poor handwriting/spelling, we can reasonably deduce:
Rafe’s wife Anne is not his first wife and “hur son” Thomas, as described in the Will, was almost certainly not Rafe’s by birth, though apparently adopted and given the Mills surname (though not the Mills alias Kendall one).
He gave her only five shillings and £5 for Thomas. He talks of her keeping the goods that were hers before marriage, not to meddle with what was his and given a month to depart “freely away”. This is strong evidence that Ann was not his first wife, and son Thomas not entitled to any Mills alias Kendall inheritance.
Rafe’s first wife is unknown.
Sons Thomas and Francis, known from Sherington baptisms, are not mentioned in the Will.
No burials have been found for them anywhere before 1657.
Thomas born in Sherington in 1616 could have been the Thomas Mills alias Kendall of Newport Pagnell with a 1652 nuncup Will, but aged c34 at death, he would have been pushed to have ‘three eldest children’ by then, plus (logically) others who were minors, so he’s not a serious contender. It is also unlikely that Rafe’s son Thomas was the one of Newport Pagnell who wrote his Will in 1685/6, proved 1694 (buried on 23 Mar 1693/4 at Newport Pagnell), as he would surely have been named in Rafe’s Will in 1657 (barring a later return from New England which no documents there support).
Francis has not been found in UK records after his baptism in Sherington in 1620, other than his father Rafe’s 1654 Deed which makes provision for sons Thomas and Francis to receive 12 pence each if they should claim it – typical wording for heirs who are a long way away at the time.
Therefore, it seems very likely that in his Will written in 1657, Rafe didn’t name sons Thomas and Francis even though he thought them to be still alive in 1654, because they had both migrated to NE about 17 years before he wrote it.
Rafe’s daughter Mary
Of Rafe’s own children, Mary is named first suggesting she was the eldest one surviving. No surname is given but we know from Rafe’s Deed of 1654, when selling his Newport Pagnell property to son John, that Mary had married a man named Heatley or Wheatley. In that Deed, Rafe directs £6 to be paid to his daughter Mary Heatley at 40 shillings/year. This tells us that the ‘son’ Thomas Heatley named in Rafe’s Will was his son-in-law. We lack clear evidence of Mary and Thomas’ fate, although a Thomas Wheatly was buried in Newport Pagnell during the plague in 1666 and another one there in 1671/2 (in both cases, whether child or adult is unknown)
Rafe’s daughter Elizabeth is not mentioned & her fate is unknown
We do not have a suitable burial between Elizabeth’s Sherington baptism in 1618 and the 1657 Will, nor any other definite record for her. Possible marriage: 23 Oct 1641 at Newport Pagnell – John Steele & Elizabeth Kendall. A John Steele, and a widow Steele shortly afterwards, were both buried at Newport Pagnell in 1666 during the plague. No children’s baptisms can be seen in Newport before then for John & Elizabeth Steele as parents.
Rafe’s daughter Susan is unknown
We have no obvious baptism for Susan so she could have been born elsewhere before the move to Sherington, or not baptised, or recorded in lost registers.
Rafe gave Susan a feather something, the same as daughter Mary, but added a long table as well. As we now know, Mary was already married so perhaps this was an addition for an unmarried daughter Susan. But we have no recorded info about her at all, beyond Rafe’s Will, so she and her fate remain a mystery.
Rafe’s son Richard (bap 1628) apparently settled in Enfield, Middlesex.
With his brother John, Richard was appointed joint-executor of Rafe’s Will but there is no mention of inheritance or bequests for either of them (suggesting Rafe had already made provision for them). There’s only a small gift for Richard’s daughter Elizabeth. She was apparently the daughter of this marriage: Richard Mills of Newport Pagnell, Bucks & Elizabeth Wite of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire on 9 December 1652 at Tottenham, Middlesex.
The Will of John Kendall, carpenter of Newport Pagnell, written 27 Aug 1666, three days before his burial on 30 August, names as one of his executors his brother Richard, carpenter of Enfield.[12] With no other Richards as candidates for John’s brother, this seals to near-certainty that they are Rafe’s sons named in his Will. A Chancery case of 1670 names Richard Mills alias Kendall concerning the family property in Newport Pagnell and shows that after brother John’s death, he took in John’s son John jnr, housing, clothing and apprenticing him to the carpentry trade in Enfield.[13]
Although named as Mills alias Kendall in legal records, Richard mostly used just the Mills name in Enfield, baptising a number of Mills children and paying Hearth Tax on six hearths there in 1666.[14] As Richard Mills alias Kendall of Enfield, he made a bond in 1677 to Richard Ireland of South Mimms.[15]
However, in the Will of Richard Mills the elder, carpenter of Enfield written 11 Jan 1683/4, proved 24 Sep 1684, he only names his then wife Mary and son Richard the younger.[16] Richard jnr went on to marry and produce children whose lines may descend to the present day.
Son Thomas Heatley was Rafe’s son-in-law
John Kendall carpenter of Newport Pagnell mentions a brother Thomas Wheatley in his 1666 Will (and Thomas’ children) so that is probably the correct surname, but Heatley and Wheatley were used interchangeably by this family.[17] As described above, Rafe’s Deed of 1654 clarified that his daughter Mary had married a Heatley, and wording in his son John’s 1666 Will makes clear that his ‘brother’ Thomas Wheatley was not a direct heir on the Kendall als Mills side.[18] This all fits with Thomas being Rafe’s son-in-law not his son, though we have no marriage record.
There was a burial of Thomas Wheatley on 28 Jul 1666 in Newport Pagnell during the plague, which could have been a child, and another burial of a Thomas Wheatley on 22 Mar 1671/2.[19] It appears that he and Mary had some children though doubtful that any survived long, and we do not know for certain what happened in the longer term to him and Mary.
Rafe’s son John was the “eldest son” still available
With Rafe’s older sons Thomas and Francis in New England, next son John (born 1623) was the one to receive a settlement of the family premises in Newport Pagnell from Rafe.[20] John was named with brother Richard as co-executor of Rafe’s Will and it appears from the Latin probate clause that he was granted administration in a Bucks court, while power was reserved for Richard (no doubt away in Enfield).[21] Sadly, John died just five years after proving his dad’s Will, in 1666, aged only 43, one of the many plague victims in Newport Pagnell, but he did manage to write a Will a few days before.[22] He was a carpenter like father Rafe. He named a wife Martha and had a child John jnr, his only son and heir.
John snr must have had an unknown first wife who was mother of John jnr, aged 16 when his father died. John snr married again shortly before his death to widow Martha Mitchell between 18 May 1666, when he made a pre-marital settlement of property on her.[23] He was buried only three months later on 27 August 1666. Twice widowed Martha then remarried again to George Rawbone in 1667.[24] From several records, we know they lived in the Mills alias Kendall family property by the North Bridge at least until John jnr sold it to Jeremiah Smallridge in 1681 (who converted the house into the Ship Inn).[25]
That 1681 Deed described John jnr as ‘of Aberford’ in Yorkshire and it appears he married a Martha Rawlinson there at nearby Whitkirk church on 19 January 1675/6.[26] It seems likely that John jnr moved directly from his uncle Richard’s home in Enfield to a position in Aberford, leaving meanwhile the main family property in Newport Pagnell to stepmother Martha and George Rawbone and a second, rather decrepit, property there to paying tenants.[27] In Aberford and Whitkirk, John jnr and Martha had several children including a son Thomas, whose lines may have continued to the present day.
Witnesses were Enfield men
Witnesses Matthew Smith and Rodney Luke were both in Enfield when they made their own Wills, Matthew in 1662 and Rodney in in 1685/6.[28] This fact reinforces the conclusion that Rafe was in Enfield in 1657 when he wrote his Will. Both witnesses’ Wills were proved locally (Ancestry – London England Wills & Probate 1507-1858). Unhelpfully, however, neither of them mentioned any Mills or Kendall people in their Wills.
Commentary on the Will document
I first concluded that this document was a copy of an original Will, perhaps made at probate, because the signature (‘the marke of R Rafe Mels’) and the witness names are all in the same appalling handwriting as the body of the Will. However, there does appear to be the remains of a seal (black blob) under the signature block (therefore making the document an ‘original’ version), and the probate details were written on this same document, suggesting it was presented as the original signed Will at the probate court.
Mathew Smith signed with his mark, so I think it’s most likely that the scribe of the whole thing was Rodney Luke, written to the verbal instruction of Rafe (apparently non-literate as he signed with his mark), and we can blame Rodney for the idiosyncratic writing style, spelling and form of words – unless he had delegated the job to a servant. If Rodney was the writer, it was a poor show for a guy who was a gentleman and from an eminent family in Beds, Hunts and London. As a non-lawyer, he kept the Will mercifully short, though on the downside, he failed to specify the exact identity of all those named, as a lawyer would have done, providing us now with many headaches.
Conclusions
Names of children in the Will correlate with several of those baptised to a father Ralph in Sherington, and named in relation to Ralph and each other in later deeds and Wills. Therefore, we know, with near certainty, that a Francis Mills als Kendall was born into this family and baptised in Sherington in 1620, a perfect match to the known ages of Francis in New England at the dates of documents in which he appears. Even though we lack absolute proof of the migrant Francis’ identity and departure details, there are no other suitable candidates named Francis available in searched UK records either with the Mills or Kendall surname or, most importantly, for the unique double name of Mills als Kendall.
[1] “Wills” database, Buckinghamshire Council Archives (https://shop.buckscc.gov.uk : accessed 25 April 2023), pdf of Thomas Mylls als Kendall, 1605.
[2] England, Buckinghamshire, Sherington, Bishop’s Transcripts for Sherrington, 1576-1839, children of Raphe Kendall als. Miles, 1613-1638, FHL microfilm 1,999,452 items 4-6; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[3] England, Buckinghamshire, Sherington, Bishop’s Transcripts for Sherrington, 1576-1839, children of John Mylles or Kendall 1613-1621, FHL microfilm 1,999,452 items 4-6; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[4] England, Buckinghamshire, Sherington, Bishop’s Transcripts for Sherrington, 1576-1839, bur John Milles, FHL microfilm 1,999,452 items 4-6; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[5] England, Buckinghamshire, Newport Pagnell, Parish Register for Newport Pagnell, 1558-1718, mar. Rafe Kendall & Anne Mullender, 1654, FHL microfilm 1042392, items 14-16; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
Rafe Kendall married Annis Mullender on 20 Nov 1654 in Newport Pagnell and it is uncertain whether this was young Rafe (Sherington John’s son) or the much older Rafe (in his 60s or older), father of Woburn Francis. However, we know from other evidence that Annis was six months pregnant when she married, baptising a son Thomas three months later on 31 Jan 1655/6. The weight of probability seems therefore to be that it was young Rafe who did the deed and married the lass in 1654.
[6] Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, original feoffment DB 1111/1 (1629/30), Richard Markes to Ralph Kendall als Mills; Aylesbury Buckinghamshire Record Office.
[7] “Wills” database, Buckinghamshire Council Archives (https://shop.buckscc.gov.uk : accessed 25 April 2023), pdf of Rafe Kendall als. Miles, 1661.
Most likely in Enfield where his two Will witnesses were resident, and where his youngest son Richard was based.
[8] Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, original deed of gift DB 1111/2, Ralph Kendall als Mills to John Kendall als Mills (1654); Aylesbury Buckinghamshire Record Office.
[9] John Wilson & Richard Grenville, Buckinghamshire Contributions for Ireland 1642 and Richard Grenville’s Miliary Accounts 1642-1645 (Buckinghamshire Record Society, 1983).
[10] England, Buckinghamshire, Newport Pagnell, Parish Register for Newport Pagnell, 1558-1718, bur. Raphe Kendall als. Miles, 1658/9, FHL microfilm 1042392, items 14-16; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[11] “Wills” database, Buckinghamshire Council Archives, pdf of Rafe Kendall als. Miles, 1661.
[12] “England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858,” database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 15 March 2023), John Kendall, 1666.
[13] The National Archives of the UK (TNA) Chancery ref. C 8/172/47 (1670), John Kendall als. Mills vs Richard Kendall als Mills, William Bristowe and Martha Kendall.
[14] “London Hearth Tax-City of London and Middlesex, 1666,” transcript only, British History Online (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-hearth-tax/london-mddx/1666/enfield : accessed 30 Jun 2023), all Mills and var.
[15] London Metropolitan Archives, City of London, ACC/1751/009 (1677), Indenture of Lease for Richard Mills als. Kendall.
[16] “London, England, Wills and Probate, 1507-1858,” database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jun 2023), Richard Mills, 1684.
[17] “England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858,” database with images, Ancestry, John Kendall, 1666.
[18] Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, original deed of gift DB 1111/2, Ralph Kendall als Mills to John Kendall als Mills (1654).
[19] England, Buckinghamshire, Newport Pagnell, Parish Register for Newport Pagnell, 1558-1718, bur. Thomas Wheatley 1666 and 1671/2, FHL microfilm 1042392, items 14-16; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[20] England, Buckinghamshire, Sherington, Bishop’s Transcripts for Sherrington, 1576-1839, John Kendall, 1623, FHL microfilm 1,999,452 items 4-6; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[21] “Wills” database, Buckinghamshire Council Archives, pdf of Rafe Kendall als. Miles, 1661.
[22] England, Buckinghamshire, Newport Pagnell, Parish Register for Newport Pagnell, 1558-1718, bur. John Ken[dall], 1666, FHL microfilm 1042392, items 14-16; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
“England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858,” database with images, Ancestry, John Kendall, 1666.
[23] Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, original deed of settlement DB 1111/3, John Kendall als Mills to wife, Martha, and Robert Hootton (1666); Aylesbury Buckinghamshire Record Office.
[24] England, Buckinghamshire, Newport Pagnell, Parish Register for Newport Pagnell, 1558-1718, mar. George Rawbone and Martha Kendall, 1667, FHL microfilm 1042392, items 14-16; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 April 2023).
[25] Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, original deed of lease & release DB 1111/6 & 7, George & Martha Rawbone plus John & Martha Kendall als. Mills to Jeremiah Smallridge (1681); Aylesbury Buckinghamshire Record Office.
[26] England, Yorkshire, Whitkirk, Bishop’s Transcript for Whitchurch, 1600-1833, marriage of John Kendall & Martha Rawlinson, FHL microfilm 918,360, image 84; digitized images, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 6 October 2023).
[27] The National Archives of the UK (TNA) Chancery ref. C 8/172/47 (1670), John Kendall als. Mills vs Richard Kendall als Mills, William Bristowe and Martha Kendall.
[28] “All London, England, Wills & Probate, 1507-1858,” digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 October 2023), Rodney Luke, 1686 & Matthew Smith, 1662.
