Hi Matt
Sorry to bother you again, but just before I move onto Robert Austen (b ca1479) I have noted a possible conflict of burial sites for Matthew Austen. In his will he asked to be buried at Chilham. But in his widow's will 2 yrs later she asked to buried near him at Wye, where she was later interred. The Wye Parish burial registers have a record of Thomasine but NOT Matthew. Not a major problem for my purposes but I would like to be accurate. Do you have a source citation for Matthew's burial place? Without any other record one can argue for both Wye and Chilham, ie did his Exec carry out his wish or was Thomasine correct? No MIs at either of the two sites.
I noted that Matthew and Thomasine had amassed quite a family. I have recorded eight probably nine with good source citation, re:Tyler Index. But their early records were inconsistent with some baptisms not providing the given name of the father - with many Austens in and around adjacent parishes it makes it difficult to pigeon hole them. I also note that Tyler Index has a hiatus 1640-1660 (Civil War and Interregnum period) which doesn't help. Do you have a full verified list of their children?
I think I will hit this Austen line buffers with Robert (Richard's father) as records are becoming increasingly difficult to come by prior to 1538, unless MIs have survived and wills were written. Do you have a link to any will Robert may have produced?
Best regards
Terry
PS I am not my own cousin yet!
Hi Terry
I have been looking at my notes on the Austens and also the Sheaffe family and have come up with a few ideas.
I have a copy of Matthew Austen's 1640 Will and agree with you that it does say that he wished to be 'buried in the churchyard of Chilham'. However it may be that this changed and that he later wished to be buried in Wye. Unfortunately we don't have the registered copy to compare this against in order to see if any changes were made.
I do have a record of Matthew's burial in Wye though which definitely confirms he was buried there. I will let you know the details tomorrow.
I also have a copy of Matthew's Inventory which was filled with the Will. This also describes him as being "of Wye" but the interesting thing here is that it was appraised by E_______ Fagg [or Fogg] and Anthony Pim - neither of whom seem to be named in the Will. There could be a link with Chilham here as Anthony Pim of Chilham is my ancestor. There's no evidence here that these two Anthony's are the same person or that the Will of Matthew Austen here is wrong and my only conclusion so far is that Matthew had lands or connections in both parishes. Since the Austens were quite spread out and had land in both parishes I think it quite likely that when he wrote the Will Matthew wanted to be buried in the parish of his birth (Chilham) but perhaps when he died this couldn't be done (maybe he died suddenly and they couldn't get him to Chilham) or perhaps he changed his mind (details we'd only know if we could see the registered copy of the Will).
I know that there are a number of cases in Chancery involving Matthew Austen and I think there is one involving his Will. So another possibility may be that some legal dispute arose after his death. I do have notes on some of these but they are at the bottom of a box so need digging out. I will get back to you on that as soon as I can.
I will post an update on the Sheaffes tomorrow.
Matt
