1559 WIlliam Eyre wrote his will on June 14. "In the name of god Amen in the yere of oure lord god a m CCCCCLIX the xiiij Day of June in the first yere of the reigne of oure soueraigne lady quene Elizabeth[,] I William Eyre of yardley [i.e., Ardeley] in the countie of hertford being of good memory lauding be god make my last Will and testamente in manere and forme folowing[.] First I geue and bequeth my soull to allmyghtie god my maker and my redemare and the blisside trynyte the father and the sonne and the holie ghost oure lady seynt Mary and all the blisside company of heuen And my body to be buryede in the church yarde of saynte lawrence of the parishe of yardley[.] Itm' I geue and bequeith vnto Margaret my Wiffe my housse and my lande terme of hir life So that she keape hir selfe sole [i.e., single] And after hir Decesse I geue it vnto Richarde my sonne and vnto his heires of his body lawfullie begott[e]n[.] It' I geue and beqeith vnto Richarde my sonne ten poundes for to be paid straight after my Decesse[.] ltm' I Do geue vnto Katheryn my Dought' xx nobilles for to be paid at the monethe Day[.] Itm I geue and bequeith vnto Elizabeth my Doughtere xx nobilles for to be paid at the monith Day[.] It I geue and bequeith vnto Elene my Dought vij nobilles[.] Also vnto Edmu'de hir sonne vjs viijd for to be paid at my moneth Day[. Itm I geue vnto Katheryne my Dought' a cowe at the Day of rnaryage[.] ltm I geue vnto Elizabeth my Doughtere a cowe at the Day of hir maryage[.] The residue of my goodes vnbeqethede I geue vnto Margarete my wiff my funeralles and my Detts paide[.] Theis be the Dettes that Willia' Fane oowith vnto Willia' Eyre that is for to seye xxiijs iiijd for to be paid vnto my executores that [is] for to seye Margaret my wiff and Richarde my sonne whom I make my full executors. Also I will yf it fortune that eny of my seid children Do Decesse that the one shalbe the otheres heire equallie for to be partide emonges them then being a lyve[.] Also I will that Jamys bardall shalbe my ou'seare[.] Theis be the witnesse berars John Eyre[,] Thom[a]s Shotbolte the yongare[,] Thomas grey wth otheres[.]" [1]
1559/60 The will of William Eyre was proved on March 18 in the Court of Huntingdonshire."Total lnventory xlj li xiij s iiij d." [2]
1562 "Thomas Myles" and "Elizabeth Eaire" were married on December 2 in Ardley, Hertfordshire, England. [3]
Research Notes:
"Richard Miles (1598-1666/7) was a follower of the Rev. Peter Prudden, who came to New Haven in 1639 and moved on to Milford. Miles went with Prudden to Milford but returned to New Haven. In the July 1957 and October 1958 issues of TAG, John Insley Coddington and Donald Lines Jacobus presented a proposed English origin for Richard Miles which they thought likely but not proven.
Relying on a printed marriage entry in W. P. W. Phillimore's Hertfordshire Marriages, Coddington and Jacobus suggest that Richard' Miles's grandfather was the Thomas "Mylles" who was married at Ardeley, co. Herts., on 2 December 1562 to Elizabeth "Eacre," and they interpret her surname as a variant of Aker or Acre.2 They also note that Ardeley was a "marrying parish" and that its registers include many weddings of couples from neighboring communities. Their suspicions that something was wrong with Elizabeth's surname should have been aroused, as neither Aker nor Eacre appear in the 1545 lay subsidy of Hertfordshire at Ardeley or elsewhere in the neighborhood. ["Subsidy Rolls for Hertfordshire, Hundred of Cashio, 1545," The Herts Genealogist and Antiquary 1(1895).]
A photocopy of the original parish register of Ardeley reveals the names in the marriage entry to be clearly written as "Thomas Myles" and "Elizabeth Eaire," an obvious variant of Eyre. [The original register is deposited at the Hertfordshire Record Office, Hertford.]
William Eyre is in the 1545 subsidy, ["Subsidy Rolls," Herts Genealogist and Antiquary l (1895):225, 2 (1897):346.] and his 1559 will mentions a daughter Elizabeth, whose marriage naturally took place at Ardeley because it was her own parish, whether or not it was popular with marrying couples." [4]
The entries cited in the Subsidy Roles are for a William Eyre who lived in St Albans.
[1] S. Allyn Peck, "William Eyre, A Probable Great-Grandfather of Richard Miles of New Haven, Connecticut," The American Genealogist 75 (2000), 72-73, [AmericanAncestors].
[2] S. Allyn Peck, "William Eyre, A Probable Great-Grandfather of Richard Miles of New Haven, Connecticut," The American Genealogist 75 (2000), 72-73, Court of Huntingdonshire, Vol. 12, folio 2 12, Cambridgeshire Record Office, Huntingdon, [AmericanAncestors].
[3] S. Allyn Peck, "William Eyre, A Probable Great-Grandfather of Richard Miles of New Haven, Connecticut," The American Genealogist 75 (2000), 72-73, citing the Ardley Parish Register in the Hertfordshire Record Record Office, [AmericanAncestors].
[4] S. Allyn Peck, "William Eyre, A Probable Great-Grandfather of Richard Miles of New Haven, Connecticut," The American Genealogist 75 (2000), 72-73, [AmericanAncestors].