In terms of wills, I'm not sure whether there'll be any more at the record office. The ones we've been looking at are all in 'Staffordshire, Dioceses Of Lichfield and Coventry Wills and Probate 1521-1860' and it seems to fairly cover the family in Lapley and the surrounding regions.
That said, seeing as the question we're investigating is whether some members of the family moved away, it's possible there are relevant wills elsewhere. Do you know if any of the London-based branch of your family left wills down there prior to Draper's (possible) return to Staffordshire?
Concerning the Joseph of the 1687, his wife was a Mary, surname unknown; I have not found a marriage record for the couple. Based on the baptismal date for their eldest child I would put their marriage c.1677-78. They had the following children:
Maria - bap. 1678
Thomas - bap. 1680
Joseph - bap. 1681
Richard - bap. 1684
Margaret - bap. 1686
Margaret being born a year before her father's death in 1687. His will notes that he died intestate. He would have only been 34.
Joseph's death would have left his wife Mary a widow with five young children and I wondered whether she would have remarried. Checking the records does show a 1708 marriage license between a Maria Levitt (sic), widow, and a John Manning, bachelor and Husbandman of Blymhill.
However, I did a further dive and found a reference to this marriage in 'Collections for a History of Staffordshire'. This lists this widow Mary as the Mary Lenthall, daughter of Edmund Lenthall Esq. and Susannah Brereton. Susannah being a daughter of Sir William Brereton of Handforth, Cheshire 1st Baronet.
According to this source, Mary Lenthall's first husband was apparently a John Levett. It has this to say about him:
The first mention I meet with of the Levetts in connection with
Blymhill is on November 30, 1682 (30 Car. XL), the date of an
agreement between Sir Thomas Wilbraham, of Weston-under-
Liziard, Bart., Thomas Lane, of Bentley, co. Stafford, Esq., Thomas
Jobber, of Aston, co. Salop, Esq., John Levett, of the Inner Temple,
London, Esq., Walter Skrymsher, or Orslow, co. Stafford, gent.,
Jonas Asley, of Wood Eaton, co. Stafford, gent., and Thomas James,
of Market Drayton, co. Salop, gent,, whereby it was agreed between
the said parties that, whereas they are, in their own right or in
right of their wives, seized of several parcels of land lying within
the township of Brynton, co. Stafford...r
Now, the question is whether this 'Levett' family is a separate surname from our Lovatts or whether it is simply a variant spelling. I note that this John Levett had a London connection, namely the
Inner Temple, suggesting he was practicing law. St-Mary-in-the-Fields
Now this may be a completely tangential reference, totally unrelated to our research - but I thought I should list it just in case it had any relevance.
