Susan (Rogers) Short (aft. 1536 - bef. 1565)

Born after 1536 in Brabant, Belgium

Ancestors

Died before 29 Sep 1565 before age 29 in London, England

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Biography

Susan, or Suzanna, was the daughter of John Rogers and Adriana de Weyden.^[1][2] Her parents married in 1536 or 1537 so she must have been born after that, possibly in Antwerp or in Germany where they lived from their marriage until 1548 (see profile of her father John Rogers for more information and sourcing).

She, along with her mother and siblings, witnessed her father’s burning at the stake in 1555.^[3]

She married William Short, a grocer of London. The parish register of St Mary Woolnoth records that William had the following children, presumably all with Susan:

• Eliezer (a son) died 1563^[4]
• John died 1563^[4]
• Rebecca baptised 1563^[5]
• Eliazer (a daughter) baptised 1565^[6]

In 1563, London experienced a devastating visitation of the plague. St Mary Woolnoth was one of many city parishes that were heavily impacted, with 76 burials during the peak of the epidemic from July to November. By comparison there were five burials for the same period in 1562 and four during the same months in 1564.^[7]

The Short household was greatly affected by the plague. The family's servant, Annes Egginton, was first to succumb, being buried on 23 September 1563.^[4] About two weeks later, son Eliezer died.^[4] He was buried on 7 October 1563. Just three days afterwards, son John was also buried, on 10 October 1563.^[4] On the same day, daughter Rebecca was baptised,^[5] no doubt with the high risk of death looming large in the minds of her parents.

Susan was buried at St Mary Woolnoth, London on 29 September 1565. Her burial record in the parish register reads: "Suzanna, wief of William Shorte, Grocer, and daughter to Mr. Rogers, late burned in Smithfield."^[8]

With at least two young children to care for, her husband William quickly remarried, in February 1565/6 at St Giles Cripplegate, to Elizabeth Wyngate.^[9]

It would appear that all of Susan's children died young, as when William Short died in 1584, the will named his brother Thomas Short as heir and no mention is made of any children.^[10]

Research Notes

The 1634 Visitation of Middlesex gives her husband's first name as John, and describes him as a London merchant.^[1] So do the Visitations of Warwickshire.^[2] Her burial record says he was "William Shorte".^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Sir George John Armitage (ed.). Middlesex pedigrees as collected by Richard Mundy in Harleian MS No. 1551 (the Visitation of Middlesex, 1634), Harleian Society, Vol. LXV, 1984, pp. 84-85, pedigree for Rogers of Sunbury, Internet Archive
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Joseph Lemuel Chester, John Rogers: the compiler of the first authorised English Bible ..., London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861, pp. 222-224, Internet Archive
3. ↑ "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", entry for 'Rogers, John (c. 1500–1555)', print and online 2004, available online via some libraries
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} J M S Brooke and A W C Hallen. The Transcript of the Registers of the United Parishes of S Mary Woolnoth and S Mary Woolchurch haw, Bowles and Sons 1886, p. 187, Internet Archive
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} J M S Brooke and A W C Hallen. The Transcript of the Registers of the United Parishes of S Mary Woolnoth and S Mary Woolchurch haw, Bowles and Sons 1886, p. 11, Internet Archive
6. ↑ J M S Brooke and A W C Hallen. The Transcript of the Registers of the United Parishes of S Mary Woolnoth and S Mary Woolchurch haw, Bowles and Sons 1886, p. 12, Internet Archive
7. ↑ J M S Brooke and A W C Hallen. The Transcript of the Registers of the United Parishes of S Mary Woolnoth and S Mary Woolchurch haw, Bowles and Sons 1886, p. 186-188, Internet Archive
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} J M S Brooke and A W C Hallen. The Transcript of the Registers of the United Parishes of S Mary Woolnoth and S Mary Woolchurch haw, Bowles and Sons 1886, p. 188, Internet Archive
9. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ5Q-R2Z : 10 February 2018), Wyllm Shorte and Elizabeth Wyngate, 28 Feb 1565; citing Saint Giles Cripplegate, London, England, reference , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 380,199, 380,200, 380,201, 380,202, 380,203, 380,204.
10. ↑ William Shorte, Citizen and Grocer of London, will proved 27 July 1584, Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers, class PROB 11, piece 67: Watson (1584), The National Archives, Kew, England; "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 August 2019), Image 333/718 (subscription required).