Thomas Bacon
Thomas Bacon lived at Helmingham in Suffolk and held land there and in the nearby parishes of Otley, Winston and Petthaugh. His wife was named Joan. He made his will on "the last daye off Julye" 1534, writing the year out as "MCCCCC XXX IIIIth".
He asked to be buried in the churchyard of Helmingham. He left twelve pence to the high altar of Helmingham and twelve to Otley "for my tythes & offeryngs forgotten". A tithe was the tenth of a man's produce owed to his parish church, and the bequest made good any he had failed to pay. There was to be a penny dole at his burial, and meat and drink for all who came.
Joan was to have all his lands for her life. After her death they were to be divided among three children. His son Thomas was to have the tenements called Julkyngs and Stoldyngs, paying the executors five pounds within three years. His youngest daughter Elizabeth was to have Jolyspighttyll and Mosys. His son John was to have the tenement called Ryste in Helmingham and all the lands in Winston and Petthaugh.
John was also to have three acres in Otley called "Goldsmyth otherwysse Tolys", on one condition. He must "kepe or do to be kepte myr Obyte" in Helmingham church, "dyrge & Masse the space of XII yeres after my decease." An obit was a yearly service for a dead man's soul on the anniversary of his death, and the dirge was the office for the dead.
He guarded the division against his son Thomas. If Thomas made "any tytle or claim to any of the said lands and tentts wyllyd by me to eyther of chyldren John my son or Elizabeth my daughter," then Thomas's own lands were to be sold and the money given away "in dedys of charytie & marcye."
His movable goods, "Cornys, Cattells, stuff of Householde, horses, Cartts, ploughs & all other moveabylle goods", went to Joan for her life and then "ffrelye to the said John my son". He made Joan and Thomas Connyngham of Winston his executors, and left Connyngham six shillings and eight pence "for hys dylygent Labor". The witnesses were Robert Downys, Robert Dowe, John Martyn, Jaffrye Dowe and the clerk William Woode, "wt many oths." The will was proved at Ipswich on 28 February 1535.
His children were John, Thomas, Elizabeth and Anne. Thomas died in 1557 leaving a wife Agnes and children Richard, Thomas, Elizabeth, Edith and Joan. Anne married a Dow. Eighteenth century baronetages, the printed books of the baronets' families, make Thomas a son of John Bacon, son of Edmund, of the knightly Bacons of Drinkstone and Hessett. That descent is not proved.
The Winston land he left to John passed in 1557 to John's son Michael, and Michael's descendants were still at Winston in 1639.
Children
Sources
If Thomas Bacon is in your family, start your own tree.
Cite: Heirology, "Thomas Bacon", https://heirology.com/ancestors/thomas-bacon-153fb0.