Thomas Strutt was the son of John Strutt and Isabelle/Elizabeth (MNU) of Long Melford, Suffolk, England. No birth/baptismal record has been found for Thomas, but he likely was born before 1500.

Thomas married Johane (MNU), who survived him. No death or burial record has been found for her.

Thomas was the first named child in his father’s will and, except for a bequest of a featherbed and cover made to his sister, Elizabeth, by his mother, he was bequeathed the remainder of his mother’s estate, too.

Thomas and Johane were the parents of five known children:

1. John, born c1520, probably Long Melford or Glemsford, Suffolk, England; buried 22 April 1591, Glemsford, Suffolk, England; married (1) Catherine (MNU), who was born c1520 and died in 1578 (2) Juliann Scott, 21 October 1578, Fynstead, Glemsford, Suffolk, England. Juliann survived her husband.

2. Erasmus, born c1527, probably Glemsford, Suffolk, England; buried 6 November 1557, Glemsford, Suffolk, England; married Alice Roberdes (Roberts?), 9 October 1552, Glemsford, Suffolk, England.

3. Audrey, married Mr. Hatch, between 1544-1557

4. Eustace, died after 1557

5. Ursula, died after 1591; married Thomas Brewster, before 1557.

Not much else has been discovered about this family, but eldest child John is the ancestor of the line that eventually settled in Massachusetts.

Back at the end of February 2021, when I began to share new branches of my New England family tree, I never thought that it would take just over one month of posts to get through my list. However, that is how long it has taken and there are three generations of Strutts of Glemsford, Suffolk, England, which are taking me into April.

I decided to take the time to write about all these families because even with wills preserved in court records, I found many children added to family trees online that have no documentation that they ever existed. Two people have been conflated into one and married off to people other than their documented spouses. I hope that other descendants read my posts and take their research on from there.

These last three posts, about three generations of the Strutt family, provide details found in an article by Harold F. Porter Jr., J.D. published in The American Genealogist, Volume 61 (1985) Pages 161-166. The article is titled The Strutt Ancestry of Thomasine Frost, Wife of Edmund Rice of Sudbury, Mass.

The earliest documented ancestor in the Strutt family is John Strutt. Given the fact that each generation left wills mentioning multiple pieces of real estate, the Strutt family appears to have been somewhat well-to-do.

John Strutt‘s year of birth is unknown, but c1455 is reasonable. He lived in Glemsford, Suffolk, England and died there sometime between 12 September 1516, the date he wrote his will, and 5 February 1517, when it was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. John was a blacksmith.

He married Isabelle, also called Elizabeth (MNU), who left her own will dated 22 September 1526 and proved on 13 November 1526.

Children:

1. Thomas, born probably before 1500, probably in Long Melford, Suffolk, England; died between 20 June 1544, the date of his will, and 10 December 1548, the date it was proved; married Johane (MNU). She died after Thomas.

2. John, who died after 1516, the date of his father’s will.

3. Robert, died after 1523.

4. Elizabeth, died after 1526, as she is mentioned in both her father’s and mother’s will; married Thomas Ellice.

5. Alice, died before 1516, as her children are given bequests in her father’s will; married Mr. Bigg and had two daughters who survived her, Johane and Elizabeth.

6. Katherine, died after 1516; not in her mother’s will.

7. Margery, died after 1516; not in her mother’s will.

Many thanks to Harold Porter to his research in these early English records. 🙂