Ancestors

Rose Kerrich

Rose Kerrich was baptised at Saxtead, in Suffolk, on 13 April 1572: "Rose Kerrich daughter of William." Her parents were William Kerrich of Saxtead and his wife Margery. She had three older sisters, Isabel, Margaret and Mary, and a younger one, Margery, baptised in July 1574.

Her grandfather was Robert Kerrich of Bedfield, a yeoman assessed higher than any other man in his parish. She was five when he made his will in January 1577/8, and he remembered her more than once. "To Rose Kerrich, my belchild, daughter of William Kerrich. To the same Rose, my belchild, £5, to be paid at the age of twenty-one years, and, if she die first, then to such of her sisters as be living." A belchild was a grandchild. He also left "To Rose Kerrich, my belchild, William's daughter, a copper stand and a pewter dish", and he told his son Thomas to give her "one good pair of sheets" out of the linen when she came of age.

There were three Roses in that will: his own daughter Rose, and two granddaughters of the name, one a daughter of his eldest son John and one a daughter of William. John's Rose was the elder of the two cousins.

Her father died in March 1593, when she was twenty. He made his will by word of mouth two days before his burial and left half of everything to her mother. Her mother lived on at Saxtead as a widow until 1610.

On 13 May 1600, at twenty-eight, Rose married Thomas Clarke at Saxtead. He was of Westhorpe, some miles to the north west, where his family had farmed since the 1560s, and they made their home there. Her husband kept the family Bible, and the births of their eight children are in it in his hand: Margaret in 1601, who died young; Carew in 1603; Thomas in 1605; Mary in 1607; a second Margaret in 1608; John in 1609; William in 1612; and Joseph on 9 December 1618. She was forty-six when Joseph was born. The name William was her father's and was new among the Clarkes.

Thomas died on 29 July 1627. Rose died on 19 September, seven weeks later, and was buried at Westhorpe the next day. The Bible entry was made in another hand: "Rose Keridge, his wife dyed the 19 of September, in the yeare of our Lord 1627." Her youngest son was eight.

Four of her sons went to Rhode Island. Thomas settled at Newport in 1638. John became Dr. John Clarke, physician and minister of Newport, who obtained the colony's royal charter of 1663. Carew followed them. Joseph, her youngest, was the only one of the four to leave children in America.

If Rose Kerrich is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Rose Kerrich (1572-1627)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/rose-kerrich-1572-1627-b62b19.