2:5 Golding of Suffolk
John “of Beauchamp” Golding
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John "of Beauchamp" Golding, the son of Roger Golding was born in 1505 in Belchamp Walter, Essex, England and he died in 1551 in Belchamp Walter, Essex, England. He married Joane Gosnold the daughter of Sir Robert "The Elder" Gosnold and Agnes Hill about 1522 in England. She was born about 1505 in Netherhall Manor, Otley, Suffolk, England but the exact date of her birth is not known. She died after 1591 in Suffolk, England and after the death of her first husband John Golding she remarried John Brymley.
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The marriage of two Golding brothers to Gosnold sisters is related in Gosnold and Bacon by Lea, p. 18:
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“Katherine and Joane, daughters of Robert Gosnold of Otley, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of John Hill of Ashe Becking, and the aunts of Anthony Gosnold of Grundisburgh, married respectively to Thomas Golding of Poslingford, County Suffolk and John Golding of Walter Belchamp, County Essex, brothers, and sons of Robert* (or Roger) Golding of Grays, County Suffolk.” (Lea, 1902, p. 18)
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Belchamp Hall and St. Mary the Virgin at Belchamp
File:Belchamp Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1000673.jpg; Created: 8 October 2008 Photo by Keith Evans
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The will of John “of Beauchamp” Golding
The will of John "of Belchamp" Golding gives the names of his family and those who were associated with him in life.
THE WILL OF JOHN GOLDING OF BEAUCHAMP ESSEX, GENTLEMAN 10 DEC 1551
To the poor 20; To repair the highways 40
To my son ROBERT all tenements and lands in Framesden, Gretyngham and Goham, Suffolk which I lately purchased of ROBERT GOSNOLD Esq and JOHN ROYDON. My copyhold lands at Shelley and Leygham, County Suffok to my wife JOHAN until my son JOHN comes to the age of 21. To son JOHN lands in Otley. To son ROGER lands in Olyngton and Ashen County, Essex. To wife for life a messuage in Sudbury and land in Beauchamp, WILLIAM after to son ROGER. My four daughters ALICE, URSULA, KATHERINE and THOMASIN. To son JOHN the copyhold lands in Otley that I have lately purchased of my uncle EDMUND GOSNOLD. To my god-daughter MARGARET POTTER 20. Detailed bequests of goods to wife and children. Bequests to servants. Res: son ROBERT Ex: wife and son ROBERT. Supervisors: my brother-in-law ROBERT GOSNOLD and my brother THOMAS GOLDING. Wit: THOMAS GOLDING, RICHARD GOLDING of Sudbury, ROGER GOLDING of Cavendish and EDWARD ALSTON of Bulmer.
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The will was proved 30 Jan 1551 by the relict and the son ROBERT in the person of THOMAS GOLDING, the brother of the deceased. (others, 1910)
Katherine and Joane Gosnold, the daughters of Robert Gosnold of Otley by his first wife Agnes, the daughter of John Hill of Ashe Bocking and the aunts of Anthony Gosnold of Grundisburgh, married respectively to Thomas Golding of Poslingford in County Suffolk and John Golding of Belchamp Walter in County Suffolk, both the sons of Robert (or Roger) Golding of Grays Cavendish. Joane Gosnold was still living in 1591 and had remarried a man named Brymeley, probably John Brymeley who appears as witness to her son's will. The Thomas Golding named in John Golding’s 1551 will was his brother, Thomas “of Poslingford” Golding.
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From the text of the Will the following facts can be determined:
I. John Golding's will was probated 10 December 1551. He was of Beauchamp (Belchamp) in Essex and was a gentleman. That means he was of social rank above Esquire but had not been knighted.
II. He had tenements and lands in Framesden, Gretyngham and Goham in Suffolk, England and they were recently purchased from his uncle Robert Gosnold and John Roydon. The map below (Source: googlemaps) illustrates the locations of the extensive holdings of John Golding.
III. John Golding held properties in Suffolk and Essex Counties
“Framesden” more than likely refers to Framsden, Suffolk, a village and civil parish that is located about ten miles north of Ipswich and three miles south of the small market town of Debenham.
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“Gretyngham” Gretyngham, Suffolk is now called Cretingham and it is a village in the East Suffolk District located on the River Deben four miles west of Framlingham and eight miles northwest from Woodbridge. It was called "Gretingeham" or "Gretingaham" in the Domesday Book. Points of historic interest in Cretingham are The Church of St. Peter, which dates from the 1300's and The Old Bell Inn, now a dwelling called Dial House. It is interesting to note that during renonvation work on a hunting lodge near Aldeburg in 1996, a carpenter happened to uncover a plank of wood that revealed a chilling message that read "A fearful murder was committed the first day of the month (October 1887) at Cretingham. A curate cut the vicar's throat at 12 o'clock at night". Sheila Hardy later wrote a book about it called The Cretingham Murder.
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“Goham” in Suffolk probably refers to Finley Gorham, Suffolk.
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“Shelly, Suffolk” is a small village in Suffolk located on the River Brett about three miles from Hadleigh. Elizabeth Gosnold Tilney, the sister of Bartholomew Gosnold is buried in the All Saint's Church there and some effort has been made to use the DNA from her remains to identify the remains buried at Jamestown that are believed to be that of her brother.
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“Leygham, Suffolk” refers to Layham, a small village in southern Suffolk County, situated between the towns of Hadleigh and Raydon. The two villages of Upper Layham and Lower Layham are divided by the River Brett.
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“Otley” is a village located in Suffolk about eight miles north of Ipswich. The location is of most importance to the Golding family because Otley Hall, which is located there is historically the seat of the Gosnold family.
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“Olyngton, Essex” – This is an unknown place
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“Ashen, Essex” is a village and civil parish in Essex, England located about 5 miles southeast of Haverhill and 22 miles north of Chelmsford. It lies on the Stour River where it forms the boundary with Suffolk. The village is in the district of Braintree and is in the parliamentary constituency of Saffron Walden. It is a very small place, with a population reported in the 2011 census of only 323 people. It is notable for the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury.
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Other important places that were within this area were Belchamp Hall, the ancestral home of the Golding family of Suffolk and Castle Hedingham, the seat of the powerful de Vere family, patrons and relatives by marriage of the Golding family of Essex, of which Arthur Golding the translator was a notable member.
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Castle Hedingham and Castle Hedingham Mansion
The bequests named in the 1551 will give the names of the children of John Golding and his wife Joane Gosnold as well as the names of some of the people they knew.
1. Robert was their son. He was given land and tenements. Robert "of Beauchamp" Golding was born about 1535 in Belchamp Walter, Essex, England and he died about 1591 in Belchamp Walter, Essex, England. He married Elizabeth Reynolds. She was born about 1535, no confirmation of that date but only based on the approximate date of her husband's birth but their marriage is recorded as having taken place on November 27, 1578. She may more probably have been born around 1555 but this is not known.
2. Robert Gosnold was the brother-in-law of John Golding and John Roydon was his uncle. The will states that John Golding recently acquired lands from them, and he gives those lands to his son Robert.
3. John was their son, and he had not yet attained the age of 21. He was to be given copyhold lands at Shelly and "Leyham" but until he was of the age of maturity those lands were to be held for him by his mother. He was also to have lands in Otley. By my estimation John Golding was born about 1540 in Belchamp, Essex, England but no other information is known about him.
4. Roger was his son and he was to have lands in Olyngton and Ashen, Essex. Roger Golding was born about 1540 in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England and he died in 1592. His will is on file in Bury St. Edmonds. He married Elizabeth Lenton. She was born in Belchamp, Essex, England.
5. John Golding's wife Joane Gosnold was to have the dwelling places (in Sudbury and Beauchamp (Belchamp).
6. William was their son, and he supposedly was to acquire the dwelling places in Sudbury and Beauchamp after the death of his mother, and after his death they were to go to his son Roger. William Golding was born about 1540 in Belchamp, Essex, England. No other information is known.
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Four daughters are named: Alice, Ursula, Katherine and Thomasin.
7. Alice Golding, born about 1525 in Belchamp Walter, Essex, England. Her birthdate is entirely an educated guess and her date of death is not known to me.
8. Ursula Golding, born about 1526 in Belchamp, Essex, England. Death date not known.
9. Katherine Golding, born about 1535 (not established), death date unknown. She too was probably from Belchamp but that is not known for certain.
10. Thomasin, also spelled Thomazin, Golding was born about 1535, probably in Belchamp. She died in an undetermined year.
11. Edmund Gosnold was the uncle of John Golding.
12. Margaret Potter was his god-daughter. Her exact identity is not known but there was a Potter family of Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England and a Sir Thomas Potter, born 1510 the son of Nicholas Potter and Lady Agnes Potter.
13. Thomas Golding was the brother of John "of Beauchamp" Golding. He married Joane Gosnold’s sister Katherine. He was of Poslingford.
14. Edward Alston was a friend. The Alston family were small landowners on the Suffolk and Essex border by the 14th century and by the 16th century their property was centered on Sayham (or Siam) Hall at Newton. The Edward Alston referred to in the will was born in 1507 and he died in 1592 and he was the common ancestor of the Alstons of Newton and later of Odell and the Alstons of Chelsea and Bradwell Abbey. (Blogspot: Landed Families)
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Edward Alson’s mother was Ann Symonds, and I do not believe it is a coincidence to find that members of that family later intermarried with the Harlakenden family and eventually moved to Massachusetts. Her father was Thomas Symonds, born about 1450. The Visitations of Bedfordshire for 1566, 1582 and 1636 give the following;- (Ann) daughter of (Thomas) Simonds. Azur, a chevron inter 3 trefoils slipped d'or. Ann Symonds Alston left a will dated 14 May 1564 in which she states she was living in Newton, Suffolk, England at the time of her death. She lists her son Edward, another son William and her husband William Alson who predeceased her. (The visitations of Bedfordshire: 1566, 1582, 1634, 1884)
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Symonds and Harlakenden
There was a separate Symonds family line, beginning with Robert Symonds, born about 1420. His son was Thomas Symonds born in 1475 and died sometime after 1505. I have as yet been unable to definitely link these two family lines, but they must be related because both John Symonds who married Margaret Maynard and William Alston who married Ann Symonds were of Newton in Suffolk, England. The line of Robert Symonds continues to Samuel Symonds of Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts. He married Dorothy Harlakenden and the Harlakenden family have connections to the Golding family in both England and Massachusetts.
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Richard "of Sudbury" Golding is also named in the 1551 will. He was born about 1540.
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Additional information from John Golding’s will
Based on the information in John's Will, when might the children of John "of Belchamp" Golding and Joan Gosnold have been born? One can only made an educated guess because even with the Will there's a lot of missing information. I don't know any of the exact dates; only that all of the sons and daughter called out by name in the 1551 Will seem to be over the age of 21 with the exception of the son named John. He is under the supervision of his mother until he reaches his age of maturity.
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John "of Beauchamp" Golding died at a relatively young age as he was only in his 40’s at the time of his death. The date of his marriage has not been determined, neither actually has the exact date of his birth. He might have been born earlier and so also might have Joan Gosnold. The only thing that is known for certain is that Joane Gosnold is mentioned in the Will of her son, Robert Golding. She was still alive in 1591 when he wrote his will because he calls her his mother and names her as Joan Brymeley, which was the name of her second husband. The year 1551 minus 21 years (except for John) is the year 1530, meaning all of the children of John Golding and Joan his wife must have been born before that date. Joane had 7 children supposedly over the age of 21 in 1551, and even considering the possibility that she might have had them in rapid succession, that's quite a feat of engineering unless her birthdate is pushed back a few years. I give it as abt 1505, and her marriage to John at 1522, but that's entirely an guess based on the information available. That means the children, with the exception of John were born (again, I'm guessing) between 1522 and 1530. Even with those minor adjustments, Joan was still an 86 year old woman at the time of her death, assuming she died at about the same time as her son Robert.
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A crucial generation
The generation that comprised the children and grandchildren of John “of Beauchamp” Golding and Joane Gosnold was a crucial one, unfortunately the information that might give some evidence of the generation of this family that may have gone abroad is largely missing. Perhaps it is to be found in the records of Suffolk, England; hopefully so because they are essentially the link between England and the emigrants to Massachusetts, Bermuda and Virginia.
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Of the sons John, William, Roger and Richard there were probably children who would have children that would one day sit by the fire at Otley and listen to their uncles and cousins tell stories about the adventures they might have in a far off place called Virginia. One of those cousins, related to the Golding family through their grandmother Joane Gosnold was Bartholomew Gosnold, probably the one individual who was most responsible for the establishment of British North America, a man who history ought to be more recognized in history as one of the primary Founding Fathers of the Jamestown colony, because it was his vision, enthusiasm and organization that resulted in the formation of the Virginia Colony over 400 years ago, and it was through him and others of that elite and adventurous circle that the Golding family of Suffolk gained their inspiration to voyage from their England home to America.
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References
Lea, J. H.-1. (1902). Gosnold and Bacon: The Ancestry of Bartholomew Gosnold. Boston, Massachusetts: David Clapp & Son. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/gosnoldbaconance00leaj
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others, e. b. (1910). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol 41 "A Digest of Essex Wills". New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. (The text is from p. 369-370 of THE NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, Vol. 41 "A Digest of Essex Wills", ed by Richard Henry Greene)
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The Visitations of Bedfordshire: 1566, 1582, 1634. (1884). London: Mitchell and Hughes. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/visitationsofbed1921harv
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Blogspot: Landed Families, "Alston of Odell Castle, baronets", https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2014/03/117-alston-of-odell-castle-baronets.html
