Look up request - Yalding

[SussexGenes]

TNA have a will for a Margaret Elphicke of Yalding but date does not match.     04 December 1579
It is free to download though if you register on their site
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D964077

it is the same person.  The Will wasn’t proved until 1579 which suggests perhaps there may have been a dispute.  The actual Will is dated/written  7 April 1561 .  She had two sons Thomas and John and three daughters.  John was to be kept going to school until the age of 15 in 1561.  Thomas was old enough to be an overseer.  She mentions her husband’s Will but no name of husband.  I am descended from the Chiddingly, Sussex Elphickes who had lands in Cranbrook and one married in Cranbrook to a Godman/Goodman.  I suspect the Chiddingly ones are somehow related to the Yalding ones.  Her Will puts the surname as Elpffike so I am assuming this old Sussex name was not a familiar one in Kent….

[SussexGenes]

I wonder if her husband was William - there is a will mentioned
William Elphike
Year 1549
Document reference DRb/Pwr/11.77
Source West Kent Probate Index, 1434-1857
Residence Yalding
Residence County Kent
Court Rochester Consistory Court

Thanks for this as I hadn’t come across that one. Are any of these digitised and available online?  I am  not very practised looking for Kent records as most of my ancestors come from Sussex and most Wills are free online?

[SussexGenes]

TNA have a will for a Margaret Elphicke of Yalding but date does not match.     04 December 1579
It is free to download though if you register on their site
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D964077

The Will was written in 1561 but not proved until 1579

[Pennines]

Thanks for this as I hadn’t come across that one. Are any of these digitised and available online?  I am  not very practised looking for Kent records as most of my ancestors come from Sussex and most Wills are free online?
[/quote]

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According to the transcription of the existance of the Will, mentioned by Rosie - the original probate documents are held at

https://www.kent.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/history-and-heritage/kent-archives-and-local-history

You would need to contact them apparantly. There would be a cost involved if you wanted a copy.
In addition - according to the Family Search website - Wills from this period and this location, which were under the jurisdiction of Rochester Consistory Court, can be viewed at one of the LDS Family History Centres.

These are dotted about the Country, so I don't know if you have one near you.

It doesn't look as though records for this Consistory court are held at National Archives. You may want to check that yourself though - I couldn't see them (but that doesn't mean they are not there!!)

[bearkat]

It might be worth having a look at the website

West Kent Wills and Families up to 1650
Family life in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
By Jean Fox FBCS, C.Eng.

http://vulpeculox.net/history/

It's complex but full of early information for the people of Yalding and surrounding parishes

[Zacktyr]

Hello, SussexGenes

Being an expert in old paleography I took a look at the burial entry for Margaret.  So, just to add absolutely clarity, the burial entry reads:

"April 10th 1561 Margaret Elphick widow"

The burial register begins August 25th 1559.  There are no other Elphick burials between that time and Margaret's burial in 1561.