Robert Jecks (2/4), his son, Thomas (3/2), and Jecks descendants in Bunwell

After leaving Aslacton at some point in the early to mid 16th century, ROBERT (2/4) Jecks established himself on a farm in Bunwell parish. 

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Robert (2/4) is mentioned in Volume 5 of Blomefields History of Norfolk (printed 1806) page 130.  An item features a manor by the name of Bokenhams in Carleton Rode, a parish immediately adjacent to Bunwell and equally important to the Jecks family.

 

"In 1570, return was made that Thomas Knyvet, junior, James Hubbard Gent, Anthony Denny Gent, Robert Grey, Rob Jexe, and John Randolf were lords here, and that the honour of Richmond and the Earl of Arundel were chief lords of the commons."

 

The Bunwell Register includes seven christenings and three burials of Robert’s family, as noted below.  The list following begins with the names of another three children of Robert Jecks born just before the Register began:

 

  Agnes dau of Robert (born about 1546)

  Thomas son of Robert (born about 1548)

  Henry son of Robert (born about 1550)

1551    Agneta (Agnes) Jex filia Robti Jex buried 22 April

1551/2 John Jex filius Robti bapt fuit March 24

1553/4 Robert Jex filius Robti bapt fuit Feby 12

1556    Christopher filius Robert Jex bapt fuit March 25

1557    Xporus (Christopher) filius Robti Jex buried 7 June

1558    Alicia filia Robert Jex bapt fuit May 10

1559    Margareta filia Robert Jex bapt fuit November 5

1560/1 Alicia filia Robert Jex bapt fuit March 23

1561    Alicia filia Roberti Jex buried 19 September

1563    Richard filius Robti Jex bapt fuit December 21

 

The Bunwell Registers record the burials of Robert (2/4) and his wife:

 

1592    Robertus Jex buried 25 May

1588    Alicia uxor Robti Jex buried 23 Nov

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Although Robert (2/4) did not leave a will, an administration of the intestate Robert Jeckes snr’s goods “was granted to Thomas Jeckes the natural and lawful son of the deceased”.  This confirms not only that Thomas (3/2) was a son of Robert, born therefore in the few years before 1551, but also he was the eldest surviving son at the time.  Shortly after he was granted administration, on the 17th June 1592, Thomas supervised and presented a full inventory of Robert’s personal estate.  The inventory listed goods situated firstly in Aslacton, in John Jecks’ house, and secondly at Robert’s own house in Bunwell.  This demonstrates the continued tie of the Bunwell Jecks to the earlier Jecks of Aslacton – John (3/4) was another of Robert’s (2/4) sons.  The inventory totalled to a value of £23 3s 2d, including four cattle each valued at 35s or £1.75 (in 1592 value), beds, bedding, tables, pots, clothing, and one gun.

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HENRY (3/3) Jecks

Henry, one of Robert’s (2/4) elder sons, also lived in Bunwell.  Two of his children were christened there, and later, one of them died in the same place. Another son was christened at neighbouring Carleton Rode:

  

Henry (3/3) Jecks died in 1594 leaving a will dated the 19th of May, which usefully proves certain relationships.  Henry began:

 

“I Henrye Jecks of Bunwell in the Countie of Norfolk husbandman … my bodye I will to be buryed in the Churchyard of Bunwell…”. 

 

Strangely, his burial was either not recorded or has not been sighted in the Bunwell or nearby Registers.   He gave to his wife “Marye”, while she lived, his “howses and all my landes lyinge wherever … in Bunwell as in Carleton…”.  After her death, his son Robert (4/9) was to have the properties, although he was obliged to pay sums to John (4/13), another son who was a minor, and to Henry’s daughters Maryon (4/10), Margaret (4/11), and Margerye (4/12).  Henry went on to appoint “my brother John Jecks [and] my brother Robert my executors…” in the presence of four witnesses, one of whom was Thomas (3/2) Jecks.  The executors, John (3/4) and Robert (3/5) Jecks, were both younger than Henry.

 

One of Henry’s sons was John (4/13) Jecks.  This John in 1630 married Susan Nudds, the “kinswoman” of Richard (4/4) Jecks, shortly after Richard died in Tharston.  John and Susan Jecks christened at least four children in Long Stratton (aka Stratton St Mary), a parish a little to the east of Bunwell and Carleton Rode.  Their eldest son was named, not surprisingly, John (5/34), and he had three sisters: Barbara, Ann, and Martha (5/37).  John (5/34) married Mary Smyth in Norwich in 1658, and three sons were born in Stratton – John (6/23), Richard (6/24) and lastly, James (6/25) in 1669. 

 

The last named James (6/25) was a third cousin once removed of James (7/14) Jecks born 1688 in Norwich.  James (6/25) married Mary of an unknown family about 1693 and had at least six children before she died.  Their children were all (except one) given familiar Jecks family names: Thomas (b 1694), Mary (died aged two), Elizabeth (died aged one), Richard (died aged two), Martha, and lastly, Robert.  Mother Mary and baby Robert both died in 1712, he barely a week old.  At this point, as best can be ascertained, each of James (6/25) Jecks and James (7/14) Jecks married in the parish of Shelton, both within the year 1712.  James (6/25), newly a widower, married Elizabeth Lord of Shelton.  James (6/25) and Elizabeth appear to have christened two children in Stratton – Richard and John – although the first of the two was apparently born before the death of James’ first wife, Mary, and marriage to Elizabeth.  This allows for obvious doubt and the possibility Richard should have been recorded with Mary named as mother.  Given potential for confusion over which James was which, no further speculation has been undertaken here.

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JOHN (3/4) Jecks

A certain John Jex was recorded in the Bunwell Manor Rolls.  This must be John (3/4), the third son of Robert.  Among the list of manorial fee payments, a “John Jexe” is listed “for his copiholde land holden of his manor xix £ x s (£19/10/-) … also of him for his five home(?) lands lying in diverse(?) yards iii £ ii s (£3/2/-) … in the 17th year of King James (1620).”

 

John continued to live in Aslacton.  He held some of his father personal effects at his house there when Robert died in 1592.  He married for the first time in Bunwell in 1579.  Sadly, his wife Joanna died in 1583 very soon after the birth of their only child, Alice (4/14), named after her grandmother Jecks.  John married again four years later in Norwich to Margaret Cooke by “lisence”, common for a second marriage or parties resident in different parishes

 

John had five more daughters, all born in Aslacton, but no sons to continue the Jecks name.  However, it is this John who left evidence that the lands held by the early Jecks in Aslacton remained within the family.  In 1605, John Jeckes of Aslacton sold land and woods in both Bunwell and Aslacton, which “were the messuages lands tenements & hereditaments of Robert Jecks deceased father of the said John Jeckes”, along with other land sold by Robert Sherwyn also of Aslacton, to the Brownes of Tacolnestone. John died in 1626 in Aslacton, apparently not leaving a will.  Robert Sherwyn was a grandson of James Sherwyn.

 

Of John’s daughters one, Grace (4/16) Jecks, died very young.  Four others married: Alice (4/14) to Thomas Pecke and lived in Redenhall and Great Moulton, both neighboring parishes; Margaret (4/15) who married John Moore and lived in Forncett and Aslacton; Marie (4/17), who married William Woolnough and lived in Redenhall; and Mary (4/18), whose husband was Edmund Field, a resident of Aslacton.  The youngest daughter, Suzane (4/19), was born 1595 in Aslacton – however her fate is, at present, unknown.

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ROBERT (3/5) Jecks

Next to consider is Robert snr’s fourth son, also named Robert.  At some point, whether upon retirement or earlier, Robert moved to Tibenham, a parish immediately to the south of Bunwell and Carleton Rode.  Regardless, he chose to baptize four of his children at Bunwell. No baptismal entry has yet been found Robert’s eldest son, also Robert.  His existence is known by means of a mention in Robert’s (3/5) will.

  

Robert (3/5) died in Tibenham leaving his eldest son Robert (4/20), two more underage children, Thomas (4/23) and Mary (4/22), and his wife, Margery.  Therefore, the other two children must have died before Robert.

 

Robert dated his will the fifth of October in the seventh year of the reign of King James, or 1609, and declared that he was “Robert Jeckes of Tybenham in the County of Norfolk”.  This was only two days before he was buried in Tibenham. 

 

Firstly, “I give to Marjery my wife my tenement with all and singlery appurtenants situate and beinge in Bunwell in the County aforesaid duringe the terme of her naturall lyfe and after her deceasse I give the same to Robert Jecks my sone and his heires forever.” 

 

Through his will, Robert (3/5) then instructed his wife and his son, Robert (4/20), who must have been old enough to carry out the obligation, to pay “unto Thomas my son when he shall accomplish the age of 21 years twenty pounds of lawful English money and also … shall pay … unto Mary my daughter and her heirs twenty marks of lawful English money when she shall accomplish the age of 21 years.”  There were three witnesses to the will, none of them Jecks.  The will was proved a week later, on the 12th of October 1609.

 

Whenever he was born, the eldest son, Robert (4/20) remained in Tibenham, where he married Margaret Crossman in 1610.  They had at least three children in the same place, Samuel (5/38), Grace (5/39) and Susanna (5/40).  Samuel died aged 23 in Great Moulton, while the fate of the remainder of the family remains unknown.

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CHRISTOPHER (3/6), ALICE (3/7), MARGARET (3/8), ALICE (3/9), RICHARD (3/10) Jecks

Christopher and the first Alice died very young.  Other than a mention in their father's will, nothing further is known of the remaing three youngest children of Robert (2/4) Jecks.

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THOMAS (3/2) Jecks

The eldest son of Robert (2/4) Jecks was Thomas (3/2).  Like many others he would have spent most of his life within one Parish, although he did hold properties in places other than Bunwell. He was born, almost certainly, in Bunwell about 1548.  Like most of his brethren of the time he described himself as a yeoman, which indicates he had a position of some standing in the parish.  He married Anna Taylor in his home parish of Bunwell in 1575, and his children were all christened there.  Thomas’s wife was buried in the churchyard, 40 years after their marriage, two years before Thomas, and so Thomas did not mention her in his will.

  

Thomas and his wife Anne were buried at Bunwell, in the same parish in which they had spent most of their lives:

 

1614    Anne the wife of Thomas Jex buried 14 December

1616    Thomas Jex was buried August 8

 

Of his eight children, all are mentioned in Thomas's will of 1616 except Anna (4/6) and Christopher (4/7), who died before their father, both buried at Bunwell:

  

During his lifetime, which began in the last years of Henry VIII, Thomas would have known England in a memorable era. Queen Elizabeth I reigned 1558 to 1603 during times which included Drake's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the same year as Thomas's youngest son was born.

 

Thomas was a prominent citizen of the parish of Bunwell.  In 1614, when he was already elderly, the High Constables issued Orders to the Parish to ensure Thomas Jeckes and William Brett attend a muster at Wacton Green, each with one petronel (a black-powder muzzle-loaded firearm), and to produce a list of men able to serve, also indicating inhabitants possessing armor.  Thomas probably persuaded his eldest son, Robert, to carry out this task for him.

 

When Thomas died he was aged about 68, which represented a relatively long lifetime.  It was not uncommon to live fewer than 50 years at that time. Other than the fact his will makes no mention of the reigning monarch in its preamble, as was customary, it begins in the usual manner:

 

“In the name of God Amen I Thomas Jeckes of Bunwell in the County of Norfolk yeoman being sicke in bodie and in perfect remembrance thanks be to God do ordayne and make this my last will and testament first I bequeath my soule to Almightie God and my bodie to be buried in Christian buriall”

 

The handwriting in the will makes it difficult to decipher whether the name is written as Jeckes or Jecks, although Jeckes seems more likely.  In either case it is not of great importance, as either spelling appears to have been used at this time almost interchangeably.  Even within this will, the name is also spelt as Jex.

 

Thomas’s (3/2) will indicates that his forbears had property in Carleton Rode.  The will specifies the property had been purchased in that parish by his father, whom he did not name, but we know to have been Robert (2/4).  Thomas mentions seven children in his will, although one in passing only, as she was “deceased”.  At appropriate times Thomas distinguishes between two of his sons given the same name – Robert (4/1) the “elder” and Robert (4/8) the “younger”. 

 

Thomas left a sizeable bequest to his only living daughter, Margaret (4/2), £80, and some household goods:

  

The first son given part of his lands was Thomas (4/5), specifically lands in Besthorpe.  As was common in wills of the time, the legatee was given the property on strict condition that a cash sum be paid to a less fortunate legatee - he was to give his brother John £60.  In the typically verbose manner of wills of that time John was then given the right to take the money from Thomas if it was not paid.  Directly after this condition, John is given some property of his own, but without any conditions - a tenement and three acres in Bunwell. 

  

The other three sons were then given other property and legacies

 

“Item I give and bequeath unto Robert Jex my youngest sonne and to his heirs forever all those my lands which my father purchased of Thos Molle and Alice his wiffe excepting one meadow called Weste meadowe the which I give unto Robert Jex my oldest sonne  Item my will and mynde is that Robert my oldest sonne shall have a little tenement or howse that I purchased of Rychard Mayne and five acres of arable land beinge in Springe Field in Bunwell be the same more or less which I purchased of diverse men provided alwayse notwithstanding that my will and mynde is that Robert my oldest sonne shall paye or cause to be payed unto John my sonne fortie pounds and unto Rychard my sonne fyftie pounds of lawfull monie of England".

 

Done with his bequests, Thomas then appointed his son, Thomas, his executor with obligations towards daughter Margaret as noted above.   Finally, Thomas decided to leave a small momento of himself to the poor people Bunwell ... 20 shillings "... to be dystributed amongst them that have most neede at the discretion of my executor or some how or there of his kindness or fairness”.

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The will appears to have been written hurriedly, perhaps while Thomas was on his deathbed, and only just able to make the required declarations.  As a result, some of the handwriting is almost indecipherable.  The document was read, dated and declared in the presence of witnesses on the fifth of August l6l6 and signed "Thomas Jeckes" in a hand which seems very weak and almost unrecognisable as a signature.  The will was proved on the 20th August 1616, only 12 days after Thomas (3/2) was buried. 

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Total cash bequests in the will amounted to £230, which of course bears no resemblance to that sum today.  In addition, Thomas (3/2) held several properties that must have been worth a considerable amount in income.  Clearly, Thomas (3/2) was indeed a Yeoman: a distinct class of English citizenry who often leased farms long-term and operated them on their own account. 

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The children of Thomas (3/2) Jecks

 

Of the five surviving sons of Thomas, at least three left wills, each of which is more readily decipherable than their father's. 

 

ROBERT (4/1) of Runhall

Robert Jecks, the eldest son of Thomas, and the elder of Thomas’s two sons named Robert, took up a life at Runhall but maintained his ties with Bunwell through at least one his elder sons.  He was the second of Thomas's sons to leave a will. Details of Robertin Runhall, his family and will are contained in Part C of this Genealogy.  Later in this section (Bunwell) see details of Thomas (5/1), Robert's eldest son, who continued to live in Bunwell and Carleton Rode.  Similarly for Robert (5/6), Robert's (4/1) fourth son, details follow those of Thomas (5/1) in this section.

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MARGARET (4/2) was the eldest daughter of Thomas’s family.  She was alive in 1616, aged about 39, when her father died.  Through his will Thomas gave her the sum of £80 plus a list of household and personal effects found inside the house.   

 

JOHN (4/3)

One of the two sons of Thomas (3/2) who did not leave a will was John (4/3) Jecks – he in turn had three sons and one daughter.  These children survived beyond early childhood, since they are mentioned in the wills of two of John’s brothers, which is the source of the information as to their existence.  Parish record inform us that John married Grace Dawdery at Bunwell in 1610. 

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John was alive in 1630 when his brother Richard died.  The same in 1646 when another of his brothers Thomas wrote his will instructing payments to John be made within the parish Church of Carleton Rode.  Two years later, in 1648, there is a burial at Carleton Rode for John Jex. 

 

Two of John’s sons were Richard (5/22) and Robert (5/24).  Whether these two Jecks brothers had any descendants is not known.  Robert may be the Robert Jecks who died at nearby Attleborough in 1669.   Another of John’s sons was also named John (5/23).  He married Bridgit Eaton in 1644, in a Norwich church. John lived in neighboring Carleton Rode where his son Thomas was born and died. Soon after, the daughter of John and his wife Bridget, also Bridget, was born in Bunwell in 1647/8. 

 

John’s daughter, Bridget (6/19) married for the first time in Norwich to Robert Watson in 1665, when she was 17 or 18 years old.  They had children in Bunwell and Carleton Rode before Robert Watson died.  Bridget Watson married for the second time, when she was 34 years old, to Robert Curtis, himself a widower.  Bridget and Robert Curtis had at least four children in Carleton Rode before Robert Curtis died in 1694 and Bridget, sometime soon after.  Bridget’s first cousin, Thomas Jecks the Younger, remembered the children of his deceased “kinswoman” Bridget in his will dated 1712, and left them each the sum of £2.

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RICHARD (4/4)

At the age of 21, the third son of Thomas Jecks, Richard (4/4), was married at the Church of Carleton Rode, next to Bunwell, to a widow, born Thomasin Nudds:

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Richard’s will indicates that he had no surviving children after 26 years of marriage; he therefore shared his estate amongst his brothers and their families.  The same practice was later to be followed by his younger brother Thomas (4/5), and we may note that each will confirms the genealogical details of the other.

 

Although he lived at Tharston – to the east of Bunwell – Richard’s properties were situated at Great Moulton (which was the new name for most of the old parish of Moulton, a little to the south of Bunwell) where his great grandfather John Jekks had held lands, as well as in Carleton Rode and Tharston.  Richard died less than nine days after making his will.  He first saw that his wife was not left destitute and then bequeathed the major part of his estate to a nephew of the same name, Richard (5/22) Jecks.  Typically, though, Richard (5/2) was obligated to pay sums to ten of his siblings, all carefully named, being those born at that time (many more siblings were born after his uncle Richard (4/4) died).  Richard (4/4) then left bequests to his remaining brothers and their families, and to his relative, Susan Nudds.

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THOMAS (4/5)

Thomas Jecks (4/5), the fourth son of Thomas Jecks (3/2), had been the executor of his father's will in l6l6.  The same will saw him bestowed with lands in Besthorpe, northwest of Bunwell, and Carleton Rode, where he made his home.  Thomas’s wife from 1623 was Anne Newnham, widow of John Smith alias Foulsham.  Only a year after they were married, the pair and Anne's brother had to defend an action against them by John Smith's brother.  John claimed they were illegally occupying his land, but their defence was that Anne had been given the lands by John's father as a marriage settlement in 1616. 

 

Properties in each of the aforementioned parishes appear as part of Thomas's (4/5) bequeathed estate.  Thomas died in 1650 (March 1649 per old calendar), aged 65, and his wife Anne, in 1656; both were buried in Carleton Rode churchyard:

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Like his elder brother Richard (4/4), Thomas died childless, and so left his estate to family members.  He left a total of £300 in cash legacies, and some other small amounts, as well as the properties.  The will begins:

 

“In the name of God Amen the second day of Aprill in the yeere of the raigne of our Sovereigne Lord Charles by the grace of God of England Scotland France & Ireland. Kinge defender of the faith this the two & twentieth anno dom 1646 I Thomas Jeckes of Carleton Roade in the County of Norfolk beinge of good & perfect memory thanks be given unto Allmighty God doe ordaine & make this my last will and testament in manner & forme followinge ....”.

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Thomas (4/5), like his elder brother, left his wife well cared for, in possession of the dwelling where they lived and the use of the little buttery adjoining for the rest of he life.  However, Anne had to pay £5 per year to their nephew Thomas (5/1) of Bunwell.  Thomas spread his estate among his brothers or their heirs except for his brother Richard (4/4), who had pre-deceased him by 19 years.  The mechanics Thomas employed to achieve the desired distribution was to bequeath his property to three sons of his deceased elder brother Robert (4/1), but oblige each of the three to make cash payments to others in the family.  Thomas (4/5) appointed Robert (5/6) "sonne of my brother Robert Jeckes deceased", one of the three nephews, as his executor.  His estate included several properties in Carleton Rode and Besthorpe.

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ANNA (4/6), Thomas's only other daughter, Anna, died in the year she was born, 1585.

  

CHRISTOPHER (4/7), was the seventh child of Thomas, born 15 months after Anna, and named after his grandfather Tayler.  He lived until the age of 21, when he died in 1608 at Bunwell.

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ROBERT (4/8)

Robert Jecks, the younger of Thomas’s two sons named Robert, also survived to establish a family. He appears to have remained in Bunwell at least part of his life, where in 1609 he married Amie Taylor and six of his children were christened, Anne, Rachell, Thomas, Ame, Richard, and Timothy.

  

The wills of his brothers show that Robert (4/8) had two other children - both daughters – Sarextha (5/30) and Marie (5/31), born about 1617 and 1619, respectively.  In fact, the children’s Uncle Richard in 1630 went to the extent of clearly stating that Robert had eight children, then listed out all eight by name.

 

The Register of Burials at Bunwell includes the death of this, younger, Robert in 1646 and his wife Anna at Tibenham three years earlier.

 

Regarding Robert’s (4/8) children, the eldest, Anne (5/26), married Thomas Funnell.  They lived at neighboring Tibenham, where they had two children.  Thomas Funnell died a few months before his second child was born.  Anne Funnell died at Tibenham in 1676.  Robert’s next daughter, Rachell (5/27), married Thomas Cullier and they had only one child.  Both Rachell and her child died only days after the child was born in April 1635.  Little if nothing is known at this time of the next five of Robert’s children, despite one of them being lucky or unlucky enough to be given such an unusual name as Sarextha – as appearing in a will – whether her actual name or a nickname. 

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Timothy (5/33) Jecks, Robert’s youngest child, married three times.  He and each of his wives lived in Attleborough, one of the neighboring parishes of Bunwell.  Although his third marriage gave him two daughters, Anna (6/20) and Maria (6/21), their son, Jeffrey (6/22), died aged less than one month.

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THOMAS (5/1)

Thus the family lands at Bunwell fell into the care of Thomas (5/1) Jecks, the eldest son of Robert (4/1) Jecks of Runhall.  As the eldest, Thomas had been given special consideration by his father when Robert wrote his will.  At that point in time, February 1642 (per new calendar), Thomas was about to marry Dorothy Buxton of Wreningham, and in his will Robert confirmed a settlement on the marriage of lands in Bunwell and Wymondham.  The settlement should become a bequest if he, Robert, died before the marriage took place and had not yet signed over the lands.  No record of the marriage has been located, although the event must have taken place within a few months, because their first child was born early 1643 (new calendar), at the beginning of the English Civil Wars.  Their second and third children were also born during the wars when the upkeep of church registers was often understandably haphazard.  To date, no trace of their baptisms has been found.

 

Thomas became one of the permanent and more prominent residents of Bunwell.  This is apparent from a note written into the Church Register of Christenings:

 

“We the inhabitants & townsmen of Bunwell in Norfolk whose names are hereunder written have nominated and doeth chosse Thomas Mottram to be our Regester according to the nowe Acte of parliament for marragies christings and burialls (signed) Thomas Jeckes & 10 others. Memorandum that I have approved & sworn Thomas Mottram to be register for births burialls & marriages in the town of Bunwell aforesd according to the law as in that case provided  In witness wherest I have sett my hand this 25 day of Jannuary 1653. Tho Kidd ".

 

Thomas (5/1) had inherited lands in Bunwell and Wymondham; by the time he died he also owned lands in Carleton Rode.  These Carleton properties may have been part of his wife's dowry, as they were in the use of one William Buxton.  His will begins:

 

“In the name of God Amen the 6th day of May the sixteenth yeare of the reigne of our Sovereign Lord Charles the second now King of England [i.e. 1664] etc I Thomas Jeckes of Bunwell in the County of Norfolk Yeoman ...

 

and continues to the benefit of his second son, Thomas (6/2), who was given all his lands, tenements & hereditments in Carleton Rode. Thomas (5/1) then divided his remaining properties between the eldest and youngest of his three sons:

 

“Item I give & bequeath unto John Jecks my youngest son all those my lands called or known by the names of Brossits cont[eyning] by est two & twenty acres & an half  ...  Item I give and bequeath unto Robert Jeckes my oldest sonne & his heirs all the residue of my lands tenements & hereditiments ... "

 

This residue almost certainly included the Jecks lands in Bunwell handed down now through at least four generations.  Bunwell is mentioned by Thomas (5/1) in connection with Robert's (6/1) legacy:  “upon condicon that the said Robert ... doe pay unto John Jecks aforesd the sum of thirty pounds ... payments to be made … within 3 years … att or within the south porch of the parish Church of Bunwell."

 

Another legatee, Thomas's (5/1) sister Mary (5/4) Pitcher, already a widow, was given the right to take possession of a meadow in Bunwell, part of the properties given to Robert (6/1), if Robert did not pay over her legacy of £3 per year.  In 1635, Mary Jecks had married John Pitcher in Norwich. in 1643, John Pitcher was named as a co-partner and son-in-law of Robert Jecks in Norwich. 

 

Thomas (5/1) made his middle son Thomas (6/2) sole executor of his will, which was proved in July 1664.  Thus Thomas was 60 years old at the time he died.

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The three sons of Thomas (5/1) Jecks: ROBERT (6/1) & THOMAS “the Elder” (6/2) & JOHN (6/3)

 

Of Thomas's (5/1) sons, only one is known to have left a will.  However, enough information can be deduced from this to determine what happened to the Jecks lands at Bunwell. 

 

JOHN (6/3) Little is known of John, the youngest son. No mention of him or any family is made in the will of his brother, so it is safe to guess that he died some time before his brothers, leaving no children.  In all probability, the burial entry at Bunwell reading “John Jacks (sic) was buryed August 31 1686” was for John (6/3) Jecks.  There is no other entry in the Bunwell registers for anyone of the family name “Jacks”. 

 

ROBERT (6/1), the eldest of the three brothers, was born in Bunwell in February 1643 (per the new calendar).  He died before his brother Thomas (6/2).  The Registers of Bunwell include two entries describing the circumstances surrounding his child – named, no surprise, Thomas (7/1).  The first of these for the birth of his son leaves a blank space where the name of Robert’s wife would normally be, while the other entry, for his death, was written in a particularly clear and legible hand.

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When Robert (6/1) died in Bunwell, an administration his estate was granted in June 1708 to “Thomas Jecks of Bunwell in County Norfolk yeoman and Guiliolinas (William) Pullyn of Carleton Rode schoolmaster."  Robert's brother Thomas (6/2) was granted the administration under the usual conditions ... "Thomas Jecks natural & lawful brother and administrator of all and singular the goods rights credits and chattels of Robert Jecks late of Bunwell aforesaid County intestate ...". The document was signed by both Thomas and William Pullyn, who was obviously a friend of the family as his name appears in two subsequent Jecks wills in the next four years.

 

Robert's (6/1) widow, Mary, is mentioned in the wills of both his younger brother Thomas (6/2) “the elder” and his "kinsman" Thomas (6/5) “the younger".  The latter Thomas (6/5) wrote into his will dated 1712: "Item I give and bequeath unto Mary Jecks widow late wife of Robert Jecks of Bunwell my kinsman deceased the sum of ten pounds.”

 

THOMAS (6/2) Jecks, "the elder", was known as a reliable individual in the parish of Carleton Rode.  In 1694, he acted in what was effectively a trust role to assist the process of endowing lands to a marriage as envisaged by a jointure (marriage contract).  The future groom, James Howse, sold for a nominal amount, to Thomas Jecks and Simon Brooke, the brother of the intended bride, Mary Brooke, nine acres of lands in Besthorpe and Carleton Rode, effectively in trust.  James Howse had previously been given the lands by Simon Brook, the elder, father of the bride and Simon jnr.  The purpose given was that Thomas and Simon jnr would receive the lands upon trust to such uses, intents and purposes as would be spelt out in a separate and related agreement, according to the law for the transfer of lands in effect at the time.

 

Thomas’s (6/2) wife Mary died in 1691.  He had no surviving sons and so when he died left his properties in Carleton Rode, Bunwell and Besthorpe to the children of his two daughters, Mary (7/2) and Anne (7/3). Thomas’s only son, Robert (7/4), unfortunately had died in 1684 aged only two years.  As Mary "Jaques", his younger daughter married John Moore in Old Buckenham in 1688, while Anne, the elder, married James Briting.  Both husbands died early and Thomas's daughters both remarried.

 

Thomas (6/2) Jecks died in December 1710 leaving a will dated in May earlier that year.  He described himself as Thomas Jecks the Elder of Carleton Rode, yeoman.  The reference to “Elder” was appropriate. Thomas’s elder brother Robert (6/1) and nephew Thomas (7/1) each in turn had reason to be the elder of the family because they were descendants in the direct line of the eldest son of the eldest son. However, both had pre-deceased Thomas (6/2).  More to the point, there was another Thomas Jecks (6/5), also of Carleton Rode, alive at the same time, who was known as Thomas Jecks “the Younger” to distinguish him from his cousin, “the Elder”.  Although the two Thomases were of a similar age, Thomas (6/2) was “the Elder” by virtue of being the son of the elder of their respective fathers, each of whom was a son of their common grandfather, Robert (4/1) Jecks of Runhall.

 

Thomas gave his Bunwell properties to Robert Moore, his grandson.  One condition was he "shall well and truly pay or cause to be paid out of the same unto my aforesaid five grandchildren his brothers & sister the full sum of twenty pounds good and unto James Briting my grandson the sum of ten pounds either at their respective ages of one & twenty years or within one year next after the death of Mary Jecks widow my sister in law which shall next happen."  Another condition was that he shall "pay or cause to be paid out of the same unto my Mary my daughter now the wife of James Briting one annuity or yearly rent of eight pounds for and during the term of her naturall life".

 

Thomas (6/2) likely inherited the Bunwell lands from his brother, Robert (6/1).  He mentions a specific requirement left by his brother: 

 

"Item I give unto the poor peopell of Bunwell twenty shillings yearly from the time of my decease till the end of seven years from the decease of Robert Jecks my late brother accordingly as he ordered me ..."

 

Thomas (6/2) finally directed that all his lands in Besthorpe and also others in Bunwell should be sold for the best price and the proceeds equally shared between his five Moore grandchildren. 

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Thomas indicated he was a member of a dissenting church based at New Buckenham, a small parish attached to the south corner of Carleton Rode.  He wanted an accredited minister of that church to preach his funeral sermon.  Robert Moore was appointed sole executor and Thomas's (6/2) "respected kinsman and friend Thomas Jecks the younger and William Pullyn both of Carleton Rode" were appointed supervisors.  Like his father, grandfather and great grandfather, Thomas was able to sign his own name to the will.

 

Thomas's (6/2) death saw the end of continual Jecks ownership of Bunwell lands for at least the previous century.  

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One of Thomas’s daughters, Anne (7/3), had married James Briting (aka Brighting, Brightwin and other variations).  Ann and James had four children, two born in nearby Deopham, and two in Carleton Rode.  James died in 1694, before his father-in-law, so it was left to Thomas to assist James Briting, his grandson, with a £10 bequest.  Anne died in 1717, leaving her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, all of her estate. 

 

Thomas’s other daughter, Mary (7/2) Jecks, married John Moore and had six children, all in Bunwell, the eldest named Robert.  But John Moore died at an early age, in 1702.  As a widow, Mary Moore witnessed the will of Robert Edwards in 1703.  Then in 1704 Mary married again, to James Briting, thereby explaining who Thomas, Mary’s father, referred to in his will of 1710 – his daughter “now” married to James Briting.  This James Briting was obviously not Mary’s deceased brother-in-law, and in fact, neither was he one of Ann’s sons also named James Briting.  Mary (7/2) was given a lifetime annuity of £8 by her father in his will to be paid by Robert Moore, her son.  Robert Moore was the major beneficiary of the estate of Thomas Jecks, the Elder.  After her second wedding, Mary Briting, formerly Moore, nee Jecks, moved to the parish of Loddon with her husband James Briting.  She died there apparently in 1734, when her will was proved by her son, John Moore.

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ROBERT (5/6) & THOMAS “the Younger” (6/5)

 

The only son of Robert (4/1) other than Thomas (5/1) to remain in Bunwell was Robert (5/6).  The other sons lived in Runhall along with their father, Robert (4/1).

 

ROBERT (5/6), the fourth son of Robert (4/1), had been left lands in Deopham by his father in 1643 as well as properties in Carleton Rode, when his uncle Thomas (4/5) wrote his will in 1646.  Little is known of this Robert – he appears to have died suddenly or unexpectedly at a young age.  He married Jane about 1640, but from what family she hailed we do not know.  Very likely, Robert continued to live in the Carleton Rode area.  Their only child, that we know of, was Thomas, known eventually as Thomas Jecks “the Younger”.  Robert died at an unknown place or date, but estimated to be 1650, right in the middle of the third and last part of the English civil wars. Robert was alive in March 1650 (new calendar) to appear in Norwich at the probate hearing to be appointed his Uncle Thomas’s (4/5) sole executor.  In any case, he was obviously rather young when he died – and he left no will.  His son, Thomas (6/5), seems to have been the sole heir.  Years later, when writing his will, Thomas added an illuminating comment recording that his lands “came to me by right of inheritance by and after the death of Robert Jecks my father”. 

 

Robert (5/6) Jeck's widow, Jane, married again to Robert Edwards about 1650-51, and so Thomas (6/5) Jecks gained several half-brothers and half-sisters of the surname Edwards.  Jane Edwards, earlier Jane Jecks, died in Bunwell in 1688.