Ann (Merrill) Spencer (abt. 1505 - bef. 1560)

Born about 1505 in Bedfordshire, England [uncertain]

Wife of John Spencer — married about 1530 in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 16 Jun 1560 before about age 55 in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Jack Wise [send private message], Peter Spencer [send private message], Stephen Schauer [send private message], Raymond Nichols [send private message], Bekka Spencer [send private message], and Robert Spencer [send private message]

Biography

Ann (Merrill) Spencer was born in Bedfordshire, England.

Ann was born in the early years of the sixteenth century possibly in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire (her brother John died there and owned property there)

She married John Spencer about 1530 in Edworth, two miles south of Biggleswade along the Great North Road.

John and Ann were the parents of three sons: Michael, John and Gerard.

Ann was buried at Edworth on June 16, 1560.^[1]

The parish recorder in entering the burial of Ann Spencer, widow, paid her respect by the following tribute:

"the good hospitality keeper; and she did give to the towneship of Edworth ii of her best bease [beasts] to be lett to ii pore folks in the towns for iii s. a cow & the parson & churchwarden to have the letting of them & the distributing of the money to the poor & to se the stock maintained etch of them to have iii d. of the vi s. for the panes to se this truly done acording to her last will."^[2]

"Her will, dated 13 June 1560, proved 21 Apr 1561, calls her Widow, in Edworth, Beds., and names her son Gerard (aged 17); son Michael, to have the chest that was his brother John's; John Spencer, son Michael's child, to have £20; Elisabeth Lymer, to have £4 at marriage; Alice Aystin, to have a calf; servants; for the mending of "London Brygge waye," 10 s.; brother Edward's children, to have the £1 that he borrowed of her, and the barley he gave her sons to his children; Nicholas Merryll and John Merryll his brother, to have the barley their father gave her sons; and the poor of Edworth, to have the gift already mentioned. Michael Spencer was a witness."^[2]

"From this will we gain the impression that our Spencer family at that period was of the yeoman class, and somewhat better off than the average village family of the time and place. Whether they were in origin a young branch of an older gentry family, or a more humble clan which by industry and good fortune had improved its lot, we are not in a position to affirm. It would be necessary to prove the parentage and more remote ancestry of John Spencer, Sr., by documentary evidence, before claiming any specific connection with any other Spencer family in England. From the terms of the will, it would seem that Anne's brother was Edward Merryll or Merrill, and that this was her maiden name. A search of Merrill wills might confirm this conjecture."^[2]

Family

Children:^[3][2]

1. Michael Spencer, b. probably 1530-1535.
2. John Spencer, bur. at Edworth, 21 Apr 1560, as son of Ann Spencer, widow.
3. Gerard Spencer, b. ca. 1543; d. at Biggleswade, Beds, ca. 1577; m. at Edworth, 30 Jul 1568, Ellen Whyston. His will, dated 8 July 1576, proved 20 May 1577, calls him of Biggleswade, yeoman, and names son Richard, under 21 (to have £60); daus. Agnes and Johan Spencer (under age) and child unborn, to have 40 marks apiece at 18 years; wife Elen; god-daughter Johan Spencer, my brother's dau. (to have £1); brother Michael Spencer (to have 5 marks); wife Helen and brother Michael, executors. (P.C.C. Doughtrey, 19.) Children: Richard, Agnes, Joan, and A child, b. 1576-7.^[4]

Research Notes

Disputed Parentage

Whilst parents were included here, they have now been removed. The parents shown in the profile were from Wherstead and can't have been Ann's parents, as her brother Edward died in Bedfordshire, not Wherstead in Suffolk.

Ann Merrill was born about 1509 in Bedfordshire, England. Anne was the daughter of Edward Merryll Sr. (is there a source for this statement?) and sister of Edward Merryl and John Merell.

John, son of John from Wherstead, Suffolk died in Wherstead in 1552, and didn't have a son Nicholas. As John, brother of Ann, didn't die until 1558 in Biggleswade, the one in Wherstead can't have been Ann's brother and so the whole Wherstead argument collapses, and the couple should be removed as Anne's parents.

The will of John Merell, husbandman of Biggleswade, made 12 Oct 1558, proved 5 Dec 1558, mentions his brother Edward Morell of Stratton (a hamlet of Biggleswade) and his sons Nicholas and John (compare with Ann Spencer's 1560 will), And to confirm the hypothesis that Anne Spencer was née Merrill "To his brother* Spenser's children at Edworth a quarter of barley each." which ties in with Anne's will "Nicholas Merryll and John Merryll his brother, to have the barley their father gave her sons..."^[5]

• brother was also used for brother in law.

Sources

1. ↑ "The Parish Register of Edworth 1552-1931". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1931. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari02bedf/page/14
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} "The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants," Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A. The American Genealogist 27:79. (1951) Ann on pp 80,81
3. ↑ Genealogy Of The Spencer Family.
4. ↑ "The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants," Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A.
5. ↑ Bedfordshire Archives online catalogue. http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110149098

See also:

• The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants, Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A., The American Genealogist, 27 (April 1951) [1]

• Spencer Line, Compiled from Church Records of Ebworth and Stotfold, Wills, Chancery Calendar, Conveyances, Hartford Church Records, etc. By Mrs Emily Wilder Leavitt, John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass., and His Descendants, Press of David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1901-1905.

Acknowledgements

• Merrill-1744 was created by Scott Hufford through the import of Me.ged on Nov 9, 2014.