Joan Owsley

Chillington, Somerset → Ilminster, Somerset

Children include John

Joan Owsley came from Chillington in Somerset, a parish near Ilminster. She married Robert Marshall of Ashwell in Ilminster, a man who owned tanning vats and a mill for grinding bark.

Her family appears in the will of her brother, William Owseley of Chillington, dated 8 October 1558 and proved on 14 January 1558/9. He asked to be buried at Chillington. He left forty marks to his son William and named his daughters Joan and Catherine. A mark was a sum of money, two thirds of a pound, so forty marks came to twenty six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence. He named "my brother Roger Owseley," the "Children of my sister Joane Marshall," and "my brother William Owseley," a second brother with his own name. His wife Alice was his executrix. So by 1558 Joan was married with children, and she had at least three brothers.

The copy of the will in the court's register has a memorandum after it. It seems to say that the dying man "called to hym" Roberte Marshall, John Membrye, George Trotte and John Gyllett to witness a change to the forty marks for his son. The page is hard to read and that reading is uncertain. If it is right, her husband was at her brother's deathbed.

The Trowbridge genealogy of 1908 calls her "daughter and heir of Owsley of Chillington." With brothers living in 1558 she cannot have been her father's heir. She may have been an heiress through her mother, or the phrase may be the compiler's. The same book says she "appears to have brought him some property," which is its reading of how her husband arranged his will.

Her husband made his will on 7 August 1576 and left her sole executrix and residuary legatee. She proved it herself on 9 October. Their sons John, Nicholas, William, John the younger and Thomas were all under age, and two more children, Roger and Anne, appear afterwards. John the younger went to Exeter and became its mayor. Her own death is not recorded.

A Katheryne Owsley of Crewkerne, a widow, made a will in 1575/6. She was born a Chubb, and her brother was William Chubbe of Crewkerne. Nothing in her will connects her to Joan.

Children

John Marshall of Exeter

Sources

Francis Bacon Trowbridge, The Trowbridge Genealogy: History of the Trowbridge Family in America (New Haven, 1908), Introduction, pp. 39 to 40, drawn in the main from The Genealogist (London, 1880), vol. iv, p. 11 · archive.org trowbridgegeneal1908trow, leaves 58 and 59

Francis Bacon Trowbridge, The Trowbridge Genealogy (New Haven, 1908), Introduction, quoting Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Wells, 22, and Carew, 29

If Joan Owsley is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Joan Owsley", https://heirology.com/ancestors/joan-owsley-707d19.