Thomas Wetherhyll

     Important Notes: There is no direct proof that Mary is a daughter of John. There is though an accumulation of facts and circumstances that point to this conclusion. From the wills of the two brothers John and Thomas, since neither mentions any other sibling then each other, it appears that there is only these two brothers, at the very least, the only two siblings in the parish of St. Mary Woolnoth. Since there is no question that our Mary is of the parish then the two choices we have for her father are the two brothers John and Thomas. As for Thomas he does not mention the names of any children in his will, but there is also no known record of his having a daughter christened in St Mary Woolnoth or elsewhere by the name of Mary. Sadly, it appears that none of Thomas’ children survived into adulthood and it appears that only two children survived his death. Both of them die within days of each other in 1563.
As to John, he has a daughter Mary mentioned in his will, but there is no mention of her marriage. However, there are no marriages mentioned in the will except for his daughter, Lea’s, who he uses her recent marriage as a means of effectively disinheriting her by giving her marriage portion to her husband Humfrey Streete, a small sum of 40 marks or less than 27 pounds. Lea and her husband are not mentioned again in the will. John has 16 known children at least 5, and more likely, 7 are born before 17 December 1559, the date of the first recorded christening at St. Mary Woolnoth. From the order which is specifically given as the order of birth, Mary would have to be, at the youngest, 25 at the time of the writing of his will, and more likely considerably older. Thus, Mary is certainly of an age to have been married to William Feake. It could also be noted here that Mary, the daughter of John, is alive in 1578. If she is not the Mary married to William Feake, then we have no record of her marriage.

Another point of reference is to look at the christenings. Again, the first known christening at St Mary Woolnoth was of Margaret on 17 December 1559. The next few christenings are less than 15 months apart, the last three about a year and a half apart, it is unlikely that after already having 5 to 7 children, that the births would still be this close together. If it were true than the mother would have given birth to 16 children, possibly more, in less than 22 years. Another clue, the first born child is Sara, the first male child is John, the child named Elizabeth is born towards the end. Another point of this nature, Mary names her first daughter Mary, her first son, William, and the next known daughter was named Sara. This later giving credence to a first wife named Sara and also credence to Mary being a daughter of John. Another point, most of Mary’s children’s names can be traced to John Wetherell’s family. The exception being Thomas, which throws in questions, but then, John only had two known sons.
A last look at the will of John and his wife Elizabeth, it is unfortunate that the only marriage partner mentioned in either will is that of John’s daughter, Lea. This can not mean that there were no children that were not married. At the writing of John’s will there were between 6 and 8 children over the age of 18, it seems very unlikely that none of them were married. At the time of Elizabeth’s will, there were several with known recorded marriages at St. Mary Woolnoth. Therefore, again, there is every reason to believe that Mary is a daughter of John.

Again, there is no definitive proof of the parentage of Mary Wetherell. She is the daughter of either John or Thomas, that we can be verily certain, but which one is a question that has no definitive answer at this time, and in all likelihood, never will.

Thomas was born in England. Thomas married Margaret (?) circa 1536 in England. Thomas made his will on 1 April 1554. He leaves his estate to his wife, Margaret and his children, not named. He mentions his brother, John Wetherhill.² Thomas departed this life before 27 April 1554 in London, County Middlesex, England. He was buried at London, County Middlesex, England, in the cloister of St. Mary Woolnoth Church. His brother, John, was later buried near him.³ His will was probated on 11 May 1554.