In the last post I wrote about Magnus Byne of Framfield, Sussex (1576 – 1647), the eldest son of my 11 x great grandparents Edward and Agnes Byne of Burwash. Magnus had four younger brothers, including my 10 x great grandfather Stephen Byne, about whom I will write in a separate post. The remaining three Byne brothers were William, Edward and John.
Old map of Burwash
William Byne was baptised at Burwash on 15th October 1579, He died a bachelor and was buried at Burwash on 28th August 1628. In his will of April that year, William made bequests to John and Magnus, the sons of his older brother Magnus; to Dorothy, Mary and Elizabeth, the daughters of his brother Edward; and to Magnus (my 9 x great grandfather), son of his brother Stephen, to whom he left ‘my peece of silver of 5s. called George on Horseback’. William also left his Bible to John, another son of Stephen, and some household items to Stephen’s daughter Elizabeth and to Agnes, daughter of his brother Magnus.
The residue of his estate William left to his brothers Magnus and Stephen, whom he appointed executors. He divided his lands in Waldron, Burwash and Ticehurst between his brother Edward and his nephews Magnus (son of Magnus) and John (son of Stephen), and bequeathed other property in Ticehurst to his brother Magnus and his heirs.
Parish church, Catsfield
Edward Byne junior was baptised at Burwash on 21st May 1581. In his history of the Byne family, Renshaw states that a number of records place Edward in Framfield (like his older brother Magnus) in the years 1609 and 1612. Intriguingly, one of these records relates to a bill which Edward filed in Chancery against Elizabeth, daughter of John Markwick of Heathfield, yeoman, to recover ‘one goulde ring of the value of 40s. or thereabouts’, which he had entrusted to her as an engagement ring (Renshaw, page 117).
On 4th May 1615 Edward married Dorothy Alchorne at Rotherfield. Afterwards he lived in Catsfield, where on a couple of occasions he got into trouble with the rector for not paying his tithes. Renshaw (page 118) mentions a number of legal cases which provide us with detailed information about Edward’s land holdings in Catfield.
Edward and Dorothy Byne had one son, Edward, who was born in 1616 and died when he was only a few months old, and three daughters: Dorothy, Mary and Elizabeth (all mentioned in the will of their uncle William: see above). Dorothy Byne the younger did not marry and was buried at Catsfield in 1629. Mary, baptised at Catsfield in 1617, married first in 1635 to Edmund Colvill, who died in 1637, leaving a son Thomas and daughter Mary, and secondly in 1637 to John Carpenter; she died in about March 1644. Elizabeth Byne married John Wimshurst, by whom she had a son named Richard and a daughter Dorothy.
Edward Byne made his will on 10th December 1647, appointing his wife Dorothy as sole executrix and his brother Stephen as one of the overseers. The will includes bequests to his daughter Elizabeth of properties in Catsfield known as Heardsbeake, Somerleas and Twiserlye. Since these has once been owned by his father Edward, I was mistaken in assuming that the latter bequeathed all of his property to his eldest son Magnus.
Dorothy, the widow of Edward Byne, made her will in March 1656, appointing her grandson Thomas Colvill as sole executor, and making bequests to her daughter Elizabeth Wimshurst and grandchildren Richard and Dorothy Wimshurst.
Richard Wimshurst and Thomas Colvill sold Heardsbeake, Somerleas and Twyserlye to James Markwick, citizen and clockmaker of London (Renshaw, page 122). The latter may have been a relation of Gregory Markwick of Wadhurst who had married Elizabeth, daughter of my 10 x great grandfather Stephen Byne, in 1632, and perhaps of the John Markwick of Heathfield mentioned above.
Fields south of Ticehurst, Sussex (via geograph.co.uk)
John Byne was baptised at Burwash on 6th April 1589. Like his older brother William he never married. He was buried at Burwash on 7th February 1616. In his will John bequeathed land to his brother Stephen and money to his brothers William and Edward. He left his mother Agnes the residue of his goods and appointed her as his executor, making his brother Magnus and ‘cozen’ David Foster overseers. One of the witnesses was John Byne the elder, whom Renshaw identifies with John, the son of Thomas Byne and grandson of Richard Byne of Ticehurst, who was born in 1576 and died in 1630, and was thus (I think) the second cousin of the testator. This John Byne’s brother Joseph is also mentioned in the will. The will also includes bequests to Ann Lucke ‘my kinswoman’ and to Rose Lucke, who may have been related in some way to Alice Lucke, John’s maternal grandmother.
