THOMAS DANFORD [Danforth]
Thomas Danford [Danforth]was born circa 1560 at Framlingham in Suffolk County, England most likely the eldest child of Nicholas and Alice Jordan Dernford. Thomas Danford lived out his life during the Elizabethan Era and the beginning of the Stuart Dynasty. His was living in a time of social upheaval as Protestantism having taken root in England began to branch out in many forms to the consternation of the established church. What ever religious views his father may have had, Thomas Danford was a firm protestant with non conforming views.
Thomas Danford grew up in the shadow of the Castle Framlingham and his father even managed to acquire property from the park lands that surrounded the castle. Thomas Danford’s family by this time were Yeomen land owning farmers, who did not follow a trade but made a living from their tenants and working the land themselves.
THE FRAMLINGHAM CASTLE
The old order of the Dukes of Norfolk as having the Castle of Framlingham as their seat of power ended with the execution of Thomas Howard the 4th Duke in 1572. The preeminence of the market town began to fade and Castle Framlingham became neglected during his life time.
The Duchy of Norfolk became vacant when Thomas Danford was 12 years old and remained that way into the 17th Centuries. The glory days of pomp and processions at Framlingham Castle were over and the structure was fading from neglect to the point it simply became a prison for recusant Catholics.
However from the 12th until the16th centuries Castle Framlingham was at the heart of the estates of the powerful Bigods, Mowbrays and Howard aristocratic families. With a large, wealthy household to maintain, the castle purchased supplies from across England and brought in luxury goods from international markets to Framlingham. The Howards built extensive pleasure gardens within the castle and the older stone parts were redesigned with brick.
The Castle and the town was a beehive of activity with tailors, seamstresses, cooks, butchers, bakers, and even candlestick makers providing commodities for the castle as well as employing masons, carpenters, gardeners and livestock husbands. Guardsmen and a large retinue of servants staffed the castle to look after the needs of the nobles and their guests but after the death of the 4th Duke of Norfolk for treason in 1572, the castle reverted back to the crown and remained mostly empty.
As that the castle was the rallying point for Queen Mary acquisition of the throne, the castle had no fond memories for Queen Elizabeth or for that matter even to the Protestants who suffered at her hand. By the end of the 16th century, the castle was in disrepair when King James I returned it to the Howard Family. Theophilus Howard had entered into so much financial difficulties, that he sold off the castle and the surrounding estates in 1635 to a rich commoner.
The Castle’s misfortune however was for many of the community’s landowners good fortune as men like Thomas Danford’s father Nicolas acquired tracts of lands that were formerly property of the castle. When his father made out a will in 1585, he bequeathed to Thomas land and a house at Baldinges Close. The term close was a 16th century word which simply meant an enclosure. The family probably raised sheep on the enclosure for wool as the wool trade made Suffolk wealthy.
CATHOLIC and PROTESTANT RELIGIOUS WAR
One of the worse religious atrocities occurred when Thomas was about 12 years. In 1572, the French Calvinist Protestants known as the Huguenots were invited to a wedding celebration for the king's sister. Many of the most wealthy and prominent Huguenots in France gathered in largely Catholic Paris when the he king ordered the killing of a group of Huguenot leaders.
The slaughter spread throughout Paris and expanded outward to other urban centers and even into the countryside. The St. Bartholomew Day Massacre, as it was called, had an estimate of 30,000 men, women, and children murdered across France. The Huguenot political movement was crippled by the loss of so many of its prominent aristocratic leaders. Throughout Northern Europe and England, Protestants were horrified and "printed on Protestant minds the indelible conviction that Catholicism was a bloody and treacherous religion".
RISE of PURITANISM and NONCONFORMISTS
The English Calvinists who believed as did the Huguenots, were known as Puritans. They did not want to separate from the Church of England but rather purify it from within by ridding the Anglican church of any Catholic vestiges.
During Thomas Danforth’s teenage years the Puritans thrived in England as that the sympathetic Archbishop of Canterbury refused to suppress Puritanism and was rather benign to non conformist. Suffolk County was a hot bed of non conformist clergymen and in 1581, a minister named Robert Browne had his congregation at Bury St Edmunds withdraw from communion in the Church of England.
When Thomas was 21 years old, the government was more concerned with Catholics than the non conformists. In 1581 Parliament passed the “Act against Reconciliation to Rome” which established heavy fines for Catholic recusancy or attending Mass. Catholic families began to attend secret illegal Mass services. Certainly by this time the Danforth family had adopted the Protestant faith completely.
Most Puritans like the Danfords advocated reforms from within the Church of England not separating from it. Calvinist ministers met weekly to discuss "profitable questions" unlike Anglican clergy which directed church services from the Book of Common Prayer. Cooperation between Anglican bishops and the Puritan clergy largely came to an end in 1583, when a new Archbishop of Canterbury instituted means for suppressing Puritan nonconformity. The new official views were that there was nothing in the Book of Common Prayer that was contrary to the word of God, and that it should therefore be used without alteration or abbreviation by all ordained ministers. This was objectionable to the Puritan Clergy and more than three hundred ministers were suspended for refusing to subscribe to this view which strengthened the Puritan non conformists.
These objecting Puritan clergy found support among the local gentry and country peers especially in Essex and Suffolk Counties which were the principal Puritan strongholds. The Puritans based their faith mainly on the teachings of John Calvin of Switzerland who taught the principle of "Predestination". This teaching was based on the belief that if God is truly omniscient, all knowing, then God knows before a person is born who will live with Him in Heaven and those who were to be damned to hell. In fact, the Puritans believed that God "predermined" some souls to go to Heaven by His infinite Grace and others to go to Hell. There was nothing anyone could do to change this fact, and therefore by Grace came salvation of the soul and not by any work. However to the Puritans the outward signs of “Acts of Righteousness” revealed the "inner grace" which indicated whose souls were saved and whose were not.
The Puritans especially hated the Catholic Religion and all its relics and rituals. They rejected Parliament's Compromise of 1571 which held that the Church of England was to be a combination of Catholic rituals and Protestant Theology. The Puritans demanded that the Church of England return to simpler forms of worship which they believed were Bible based and that the hierarchy of Bishops and Archbishops of the Church be removed. Queen Elizabeth did not actively persecute the Puritans at this time because she needed their financial support to wage a naval war against Spain in the 1580’s.
Queen Elizabeth, who secretly accepted the Catholic theology but whose position of authority rested completely on Protestant theology, saw the independent minded Puritans as a threat to national security. In 1593 she coerced Parliament to pass the "Act to Retain the Queen's Subjects in Obedience" which was directed squarely at the Puritans. All Churches of England had to dismiss their Puritan leaning Pastors and accepted only clergymen obedient to the Queen as Head of the Church of England. All Englishmen who did not obey this act of Parliament were called "Non-conformist" and were subject to criminal prosecution. The Puritans saw this as persecution and thousands like the Danfords of Framlingham quietly withdrew from the state churches, as was St. Michaels, and formed their own worship congregations with their own ministers at places such as Saxstead.
MARRIAGE and FAMILY
Thomas Danford married at the age of 25 a young woman Jane Sudbury on 24 January 1586 in the Church of St. Michaels in Framlingham. Jane was the daughter of Thomas Sudbury and his wife Alice of Kelsale a village nearly 9 miles east of Framlingham and approximately 1 mile north of Saxmundham . Thomas and his bride were married shortly before his father's death. Nicholas Danforth’s will was probated 17 February 1586 and wills were recorded generally at the first court session after a person’s death.
Some genealogists have misidentified the birth place of Jane Sudbury as Kelshall in Hertsford County some 75 miles away. However Kelsale is a small village in Suffolk County only a few miles away. Kelsale village had a Guildhall built in 1495 and the parish church of St. Mary and St. Peter was founded in 1538. As that King Henry VIII had made his break with the Catholic Church by this date, this church probably was always an Anglican Church and the Sudbury family who worshiped here would have been Protestants.
The Sudbury family probably took their surname from the small village of Sudbury which meant “the South Fortess” in Saxon times. Kelsale is about 50 miles northeast of Sudbury and in Kelsale the Sudbury Family were landed yeomen as were the Danforths in Framlingham.
Thomas Danford moved his bride into a manor house at Baldinges that was left to him by his father . This house was constructed in the typical English Cottage style with timber frames, plastered walls, and a thatched roof. It was a two storied affair with an oak staircase leading to four bed rooms on the second floor. The main floor contained an entry way leading into the kitchen and dining area on one side of the house and a parlor on the other side where important guests could be entertained. This house has been inhabited for over four hundred years and is located one and a half miles from the center of Framlingham on the road leading to Saxstead. It was from this house that Thomas Danford's son Nicholas Danforth planned his emigration to the New World in the 1630’s.
Thomas and Jane Danford were the parents of six children, four boys and two girls. However only two of the sons lived to maturity. The first four children were christened in the Anglican Church at St. Michaels in Framlingham but by 1595 the Danfords were definitely Puritans in their beliefs and began to meet at Saxstead, a village 3 miles north of Framlingham at the Non-conformist church located there.
About 9 months after Thomas and Jane were married their son, Nicholas Danforth was born and he was christened 6 November 1586 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England. Children were generally christened within a week of two from the time of birth. This son was named for his grandfather but he died in his infancy about 2 years and 8 months old. The boy’s burial was 6 February 1588 [1589] and his death must have been a hard blow for the family.
Jane was pregnant with her second child by June 1589 whom she must have delivered in February 1690 as the child was christened 1 March 1589 at St. Michael’s in Framlingham, Suffolk, England. They named this boy also Nicholas for his grandfather and probably for the son they lost.
Another son was born in November 1592 and christened 16 November 1592 at St. Michael’s. They named this child Robert Danforth perhaps for his uncle who is thought to have been a non conformist minister. This son died not yet two months old in late December and was buried 3 January 1592 [1593]
Another son was born later in the year also in November. They named this son also Robert Danforth and he was christened 11 November 1593 at St. Michael’s.
Thomas and Jane Danford had at least two daughters before Jane’s death. Mary Danford was born between her brother Robert and sister Jane. Thomas and Jane seemed to have children two years apart and between 1594 and 1601. That is a period of 7 years so its possible that Jane had more pregnancies than live births. Mary would have been born in circa 1595 and her sister Jane was christened 22 September 1600 [1601]
His second surviving son, Robert Danforth, married Susan Baker the daughter of Nicholas Baker. There is no marriage record for Robert and Susan but as that their first child was born in June 1619 they were probably married in the fall of 1618. The will of Nicholas Baker, the father in law of Robert Danforth was proved in 1631 and he stated that at this time that Robert was living in poverty.
Nicholas Baker of Framlingham at the Castle and Yeoman farmer made out his will 4 April 1631 which was proved 25 May 1631. He named his children as John Baker, Francis Baker, Thomas Baker, and "Susan, my daughter and now wife of Robert Danforth whose poverty want I tendering my will and pleasure that she the said Susan shall have 3 pounds, 6 shillings, and 8 pence more than any of my said children, John, Francis, and Thomas"
He also named his wife Mary and her daughter Martha along with his cousin (nephew) John Baker. The will was filed in the Consistory Court of Norwich. The widow Mary probably a second wife if she had a daughter not his own.
Thomas Danford probably only knew four of his grandchildren. Robert’s two sons Robert Danforth and Nicholas Danforth and Nicholas Danforth’s two daughters Elizabeth Danforth and Marie [Mary] Danforth.
One of the few documents found regarding Thomas Danforth is a court proceeding of John Catchpool of Saxtead, weaver. A record dated 18 February 1620 [1621] showed that the witnesses for Catchpool in the document were Thomas Stanford, Thomas Sheminges, and Thomas Danford. Saxtead was the center of Puritan activity and more than likely all these men were Puritan congregants.
WORLD EVENTS
Thomas and Jane Danford lived in interesting times and dangerous times. It was during Thomas Danforth’s life time that the first potatoes were brought to England from Thomas Harriot’s voyage to South America in July of 1586. If he ever ate a potato, which soon became a staple in the English diet, he would have been the first generation to have tasted one. In 1591 the first production of any of William Shakespeare's plays was performed. It was a historical dramatization of the life of King Henry VI. However as a Puritan family it is doubtful that any of the Danfords ever saw a Shakespeare play during the life time of the literary genius.
When he was about 27 years old , Queen Mary of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle on 8 February 1587 on orders of Queen Elizabeth. Mary was Queen Elizabeth’s Catholic cousin. Catholic forces hoped to kill Elizabeth and place Mary on the English throne to force Catholicism back on the nation.
Protestant England and Catholic Spain had officially been at war since 1585 but it had mainly been battles at sea or raiding Spanish treasure Galleons in the Americas. In 1587 under Sir Francis Drake, the English destroyed a fleet of Spanish ship off the northern coast of Spain. In retaliation King Phillip II got permission from the Pope to invade England and depose Queen Elizabeth. The king of Spain was the widower of Queen Mary of England and he asserted his rights to govern England and force the country back into the Catholic fold. Protestants in England remembering what happened to the Huguenots in 1572 rallied against this new threat.
THE SPANISH ARMADA
In the 16th Century, Spain was the most powerful nation in the Europe and Phillip nearly denuded the great forests of Spain building ships for the greatest naval invasion force the world had even seen before WWII’s Invasion at Normandy in 1944.
In May 1588 the Invincible Spanish Armada set sail on a mission to secure control of the English Channel and transport a Spanish army to the British isle from Flanders [Spanish Netherlands now Belgium]. In the Spanish Netherlands, 30,000 soldiers awaited the arrival of the Spanish Armada to protect the barges that were to convey the Spnaish army to a place near London. All told, 55,000 men were mustered on warships and in the army which included the Catholic Clergy. The Spanish Armada consisted of 130 warships carrying 2,500 cannons, 8,000 seamen, and almost 20,000 soldiers.
When the Armada was sighted in July 1588, Queen Elizabeth called upon all Englishmen of fighting age, and that would have included Thomas Danford, to prepare to defend England from the formidable Spanish war machine.
The entire English navy on July 21 began bombarding the seven-mile-long line of Spanish ships. The Spanish Armada continued to advance during the next few days and on July 27, the Armada anchored off the town of Calais, France, just twenty miles across the straits of Dover from England. Spanish army in Flanders prepared to embark but without control of the English Channel, passage to England would be impossible.
Just after midnight on July 29, the English sent eight burning ships into the crowded harbor at Calais. The panicked Spanish ships were forced to cut their anchors and sail out to sea to avoid catching fire. The disorganized fleet, completely out of formation, was attacked by the English at dawn off Gravelines, France about 15 miles from Dunkirk. The superior English cannons devastated the Armada which was forced to retreat into the North Sea to Scotland.
The Armada sailed on a hard journey back to Spain around Scotland and Ireland. Battered by hurricane force storms and suffering from a dire lack of supplies, much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed as it sailed for home around Scotland and Ireland.
Some of the damaged ships foundered in the sea while others were driven onto the coast of Ireland and wrecked. By the time the last of the surviving fleet reached Spain in October, half of the original Armada was lost and some 15,000 men and thousands of war horses and hounds had perished. Spain was a broken nation.
On 2 August 1588, while the fleeing Spanish fleet sailed past the Firth of Forth, England however gathered a massive citizen army at the mouth of the Thames River to defend the perceived invasion of London.
Not knowing that the Spanish Armada had been defeated, on 8 August 1588 Queen Elizabeth appeared before her land forces assembled at Tilbury near the mouth of the Thames River in Essex County in preparation for repelling the still expected invasion. It is likely that Thomas Danford would have been among the troops as Framlingham, in Suffolk was just 85 miles to the north.
On 8 August Queen Elizabeth left her bodyguard and went among her subjects with only an escort of six men. The Queen was dressed in white wearing a silver piece of armor consisting of breastplate and backplate fastened together. She was on horseback when she made her historic speech to her troops.
“My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but, I do assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself, that under God I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects; and, therefore, I am come amongst you as you see at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of battle, to live or die amongst you all – to lay down for my God, and for my kingdoms, and for my people, my honor and my blood even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king – and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that [Duke]Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonor should grow by me, I myself will take up arms – I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns, and, we do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valor in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”
A battle with the Spanish Invaders was never fought as the limping Invincible Armada was out at sea in the Atlantic Ocean trying to return to Spain. However the decisive defeat of the Spanish Armada made England a world-class power and introduced effective long-range cannon weapons into naval warfare for the first time, ending the era of boarding a ship and close-quarter fighting.
The Spanish lost primarily because their ships were slower and less well armed than their English counterparts. They planned to force board the English ships by which the superior Spanish infantry would have undoubtedly prevail. However the English long range cannons made that impossible.
No doubt when the threat of invasion was over, thousands of Englishmen returned to their cities, towns, villages and farms as surely Thomas Danford did. But the hatred of Catholics was at a all time high and on 1 October 1588 four Catholics convicted of treason were are hanged, drawn and quartered at Canterbury.
THE ELIZABETHAN ERA
After the defeat of the Spanish Armada the Golden Age of the Elizabeth Period began to flourish, in science, art, and literature. In 1591 Sir Nicholas Bacon of Suffolk County completed the building of his red brick mansion, Culford Hall and planted an oak tree in Culford Park which, as 'King of the Park', still flowers into the 21st century. His half brother, Sir Francis Bacon Bacon, is called the father of the father of the scientific method. The ancestors of General Charles Cornwallis who was defeated by General George Washington at Yorktown also lived at Culford Hall at one time.
In 1592 the first performance of Shakespeare's play Richard III was staged. It was written to gain patronage of Queen Elizabeth I whose grandfather Henry Tudor defeated the king as Bosworth. The famous line A Horse a Horse my kingdom for a horse was heard by audience for the first time. Later in the 1590’s William Shakespeare's plays Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet were written and performed and in 1599 the Globe Theatre was built.
Also in the early 1590’s in December 1592 an outbreak of the plague in London caused 17,000 deaths over the next twelve months and all the Theatres in London were consequently closed for much of the period. Whether the plague made its way into Suffolk is hard to determine.
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
At the turn of the century, the most Puritans such as the Danfords continued to farm, collect land rents, and to meet quietly, teaching the next generation to be true believers.
Thomas' wife Jane Sudbury Danford died in early 1602 and was buried 21 March 1602. She left a six month old baby girl. There is no indication that Thomas Danford ever remarried since his will did not indicate that he had a second wife so how he raised his four children who were under the age of 10 years is a mystery. It seems logical that he would have married again but there are no marriage records or burial records that would confirm that. However he did have two women servants who could have raised the children.
When Thomas’ mother Alice made out her will in 1603, he specifically left a legacy of 2 shillings to Elizabeth and Grace “my son's maids”. She made also provisions for Thomas Danford’s children Robert, Mary, and Jane but not for grandson Nicholas which was odd. Nicholas was about 13 years old when his grandmother died. A witness to her will was Toby Sudbury a kinsman to Thomas Danford’s wife Jane.
KING JAMES STUART of GREAT BRITAIN
Queen Elizabeth also died in 1603 aged 69, after 45 years on the throne. Elizabeth was never married and had no children, and the son of her Catholic rival Queen Mary of Scotland, became king of England. James Stuart had been taken from his Catholic mother as a child and raised by the Protestant followers of John Knox of Scotland.
James I ruled from 1603 to 1625 and the Puritans briefly hoped for better times as this king had been brought up in a Presbyterian church but he also developed policies to curb the growth of the Puritan movement.
In July 1603 one of the first things that King James did was make Thomas Howard the 1st Earl of Suffolk even before his coronation on 25 July. The following year in 1604 King James became the first monarch to assume the title of Great Britain as he was king in Scotland as well as England.
Also in 1604 the Protestant clergy approached the new King and requested a new translation of the Bible to replace the Bishop's Bible that was first printed in 1568. Among the Puritans, the Geneva Version of the Bible was popular because of its excellent scholarship, accuracy, and exhaustive commentary. However, the leaders of the Anglican church desired a Bible for the people, with scriptural references only for word clarification or cross-references. This new translation would be called the Authorized King James Version and it has lasted over 400 years. However it was the Geneva Bible that nonconformists brought to the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. America was founded upon the Geneva Bible, not the King James Bible. The Anglican Church’s King James Bible took decades to overcome the more popular Geneva Bible.
In 1611 the “King James Bible" a "translation to end all translations" was printed from the result of the combined effort of about fifty scholars. The first printing was 16 inches tall and chained to every church pulpit in England; but by 1612 King James Bibles were produced so individuals could have their own personal copy of the Bible. Thomas Danford left a Bible to his son Robert as his legacy but whether it was a Geneva Bible or a King James Bible is unknown but either way they were still quite expensive to own.
King James I, as did Queen Elizabeth felt that the Puritans seemed bent on subverting Anglicanism. Puritans and non-Puritans alike had shared a common Reformed theology of John Calvin during most of Elizabeth's reign, but beginning in the 1590s anti-Calvinists appeared in the universities to combat Puritan leaning clergymen.
Puritans favored a rigorous observance of the Sabbath Day that was devoted exclusively to religious activities . They were shocked when King James issued the "Book of Sports" in 1618 which specifically forbade Puritans from discouraging any "lawful recreations" once the second service of church was completed on Sunday afternoons. Such lawful recreations included dancing and May Pole games, all of which could now legally take place in the churchyard.
One of the main differences between the Anglicans and Puritans was that in Puritan services the Clergy gave sermons in the form of preaching from the Bible while the Anglican establishment believed that “nothing more was needful for the State and Church, than prayer." The Archbishop of Canterbury sought the “peace of silent pulpits” and insisted on the use of the Book of Common Prayer.
King James tolerated the Puritans however during much of his reign because they had power in Parliament. Puritanism eventually became the religion of the gentry, yeomen, and middle classes of England. The very rich and very poor remained strict Anglicans which strong Catholic sympathies however.
The Puritan belief system while today may seem very archaic and conservative was by 16th and 17th century standards very radical and progressive. They questioned the very basis of English class system and on the most part Puritans were liberal thinkers.
The Puritans held that every Englishman had the right and duty to follow the dictates of his own conscience and should not be compelled to worship in a manner he felt offensive to God. This was a radical and to some a dangerous concept in an age of absolutism when all earthly power was derived from a king who felt that he was appointed by God Himself to rule over his subjects. The doctrine of "Divine Rights of Kings" would collide eventually with the Puritan's belief in the duty of man to follow his own conscience.
As subversive as Puritanism seemed to the establishment, Catholicism was seen as more dangerous and treasonous. On 5 November 1605 a plot to blow up both Houses of Parliament was foiled when a Catholic plotter named Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar below the Parliament building with 36 barrels of gunpowder. Fawkes was arrested for trying to kill King James I and the members who were scheduled to sit together in Parliament the next day. As Fawkes was executed he cried out "Remember, remember, the Fifth of November". Which is still celebrated as a National Holiday in England.
THOMAS SUDBURY
Jane Sudbury's father, Thomas Sudbury held extensive property in Suffolk County and died in the Spring of 1606 when his will was probated in the Consistory Court of Norwich. Thomas Danford’s father in law Last Will and Testimonywas recorded 18 February 1605 [1606] and proved 10 May 1606. He was survived by his wife Alice.
Thomas Sudbury left legacies to his wife, to “Nephew: Tobie Sudbury, lands and tenements in Bliboro”, “Thomas Sudbury son of William Sudbury and brother of said Thomas Sudbury lands in Middleton”. Middleton was 5 miles east of Kelsale and 12 miles from Framlingham. Other legatees were “John and William Sudbury, sons of brother John”, Niece: Amye wife of Robert Appleyard”, “Children of niece Susan wife of Mr. Tafts Susan, John, Roger, and Amye”, “Mary and Jane daughters of Jane Danforth”, “Anthony Sudbury”, “Frances Sudbury my niece” and “Robert Gooch”.
His brothers appear to have been William Sudbury whose son Thomas inherited lands in Middleton. There was a brother John Sudbury who had two sons John and William. A nephew Tobie [Toby] Sudbury received lands and tenement at Bliboro. Nieces mentioned in his will were Amy wife of Robert Appleyard probably son of Thomas Appleyard of Little Waldingfield Suffolk County. Mrs Susan Taft and her children Susan John, Roger, and Amy. Frances Sudbury niece of Thomas Sudbury. A man Anthony Sudbury with an undertermined relationship was also mentioned in the will as well as a man named Robert Gooch who may have been from Fressingfield, Suffolk.
THE LAST WILL and TESTAMENT of THOMAS DANFORD
Thomas Danford made out his last will and testament 20 April 1621 but it was not probated until 7 September 1621. He was probably near 61 year old when he died."Thomas Danforth of Framlingham at castrum [castle], yeoman, To my son Robert my best Bible & the desk that lyeth on. Daughter Mary, daughter Jane. Land & 2 little houses called Bugles I bought of uncle Robert Danforth, deceased. Son Nicholas to be executor. John Powesse of Framlingham & Roger Smalett of Ike to be supervisors." Arch. Suffolk Original Wills, No. 67
Thomas Danford stated he was by occupation a "Yeoman" which meant he was a land owning farmer. In his will he bequeathed to his second son, Robert Danforth, "my best Bible" and the desk that that supported it. As it was his best Bible it can be inferred that he had more than one in his household. To his daughters, Jane Danforth and Mary Danforth he bequeathed, "Land I bought of uncle Robert Danforth deceased". He named his eldest son, Nicholas Danforth, the executor of his will but devised no legacy to him. Thomas may have already given his home and lands to his eldest son Nicholas already as that other than being an executive, he was not mentioned as receiving a legacy from his father. Nicholas was married and raising a family in Framlingham and the laws of Primogeniture made land automatically descend to the eldest son. Roger “Smallett” was most likely Roger Smallage his nephew who lived in the small village of Eyke about 14 miles south of Framlingham.
Daughter Jane Danforth was about 20 years old when her father died and Mary Danforth would have been a little older at the time of their father's death. There’s no indication in the will that they were married by 1621. Perhaps this land was meant to be a dowry for them.
Robert Danforth made out his own will in 1640 after his brother Nicholas Danforth had already died in New England. He was a weaver by trade and perhaps due to the persecution of Puritans, Robert was not able to provide economic security for his family. His father in law left to his wife Susan Danforth in his will more money than the rest of his children because of Robert’s "poverty". On 7 August 1635 the burial of a son of Robert named Daniel Danforth was recorded.
At the time of his death he owned a home on Lincoln Street in Framlingham. He must have been sickly as that he made out his will 30 January 1639 [1640] and it was proved 11 March 1639 [1640]. He was about 46 years old when he died.
Robert Danforth of Framlingham, Weaver, 30 January 1639 [1640] Proved 11 March 1639 [1640] Sons Jasper, Robert, and Nicholas. Daughters Ann and Susan Danforth as they arrive at age. Wife Susan executrix. Freehold tenement in Lincoln Street. Robert Bradshaw of Framlingham, yeoman and Nicholas Partridge of Framlingham, tailor to be supervisor.
Christening records at St. Michaels show that Robert had eight children how ever only five are mentioned in his will. Children who died before their father were sons Daniel and John and daughter Mary. His eldest son Robert was about 19 at the time of his father's death and Nicholas was about 18. None of his children had reached the age of majority, 21 years. Ann Danforth was about 16, Jasper was about 10 years old, and Susan was about 8 years old.
Robert Danforth died just before the English Civil War between the forces of Parliament and the royal forces of King Charles I. It is possible that one or more of his sons would have served in the English Civil War. His son Nicholas Danforth's burial was recorded 28 January 1647 [1648] which was during the time of the Civil War.
THE ENGLISH COLONIES IN AMERICA
In 1607 the London Company and Plymouth Company founded Jamestown, Virginia, as the first permanent English settlement in North America. At the same time the explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Upper New York Bay and began to explore the Hudson River.
Of Thomas Danford's surviving sons, Nicholas Danforth and Robert Danforth, Nicholas's descendants would find their homes in New England while Robert Danforth's descendants continuing to live in Suffolk County. Thomas Danford’s posterity would be on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but there are no records of Nicholas’ posterity ever returning to the old country to visit his brother Robert's family.
THOMAS DANFORD
born 1560 Framlingham, Suffolk County, Englanddied 1621 age 61 years Will proved 7 September 1621 Framlingham, Suffolk, England
married 24 January 1585 St. Michael Church, Framlingham, Suffolk, England
JANE SUDBURY daughter of Thomas and Alice Sudbury
born circa 1565 Kelsale, Suffolk, Englanddied 1602 age 37 burial 21 March 1601 [1602] Framlingham, Suffolk, England
CHILDREN-
NICHOLAS DANFORTH
Born 1586 christened 6 November 1586 Framlingham, Suffolk, EnglandDied 1589 burial 6 February 1588 [1589] age 2 yrs 8 mo Framlingham, Suffolk, England
NICHOLAS DANFORTH
Born 1590 christened 1 March 1589 [1690] Framlingham, Suffolk, Englanddied April 1638 age 48 years Newtown [Cambridge], Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony
married 11 February 1618 Elizabeth Barber the daughter of William Barber
married 15 October 1623 Alice Duckett "solutos, de Pesenhall"
married Elizabeth Symmes
ROBERT DANFORTH
Born 1592 christened 16 November 1592 Framlingham, Suffolk, EnglandDied 1593 burial 3 January 1592 [1593] age 1 ½ month Framlingham, Suffolk, England
ROBERT DANFORTH
Born 1593 Christened 11 November 1593 Framlingham, Suffolk, England1640 Will proved 11 March 1639 [1640] age 46 years Framlingham, Suffolk, England
Married circa 1618 Susan Baker daughter of Nicholas Baker
1. Robert Danforth christened 15 June 1619 Framlingham
2. Nicholas Danforth christened 13 March 1620 [1621] Framlingham burial 28 January 1647 age 25
3. Ann Danforth christened 22 September 1622 Framlingham
4. Daniel Danforth christened 1625 Framlingham burial 7 August 1625
5. Mary Danforth christened 25 January 1625 [1626] Framlingham died before 1640
6. Jasper Danforth christened 1 March 1628 [1629] Framlingham
7. John Danforth christened 1 March 1628 [1629] Framlingham burial 30 Oct 1630
8. Susan Danforth christened 28 August 1631 Framlingham
MARY DANFORTH
Born circa 1595 Framlingham, Suffolk, EnglandDied after 1621 Framlingham, Suffolk, England unknown
JANE DANFORTH
Christened 22 September 1600 [1601] Framlingham, Suffolk, EnglandDied after 1621 Framlingham, Suffolk, England unknown
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