William Kerrich
William Kerrich was born about 1540, the third son of Robert Kerrich of Bedfield, a well-off yeoman with lands in Saxtead, Earl Soham and Framlingham. His mother's name is not known. He married a woman named Margery and they lived at Saxtead, where his grandfather had held the family's old tenement.
Their daughters were Isabel, Margaret and Mary, all born in the late 1560s, then Rose, baptised at Saxtead on 13 April 1572, and Margery, baptised there on 6 July 1574.
His father made a long will on 27 January 1577/8 and was dead by April. Most of the land went to William's eldest brother, John, but John was to pay William "three score and ten pounds": £10 at the feast of St Michael next after the father's death, 29 September, and £10 every Michaelmas after until it was paid. If John failed, the land passed to the next brother, Thomas, on the same terms. William also had his father's tenement in Earl Soham, bought of Thomas Sparhawke, and four of the best milch cows.
The household was shared out among the sons. William had a feather bed, a bolster, a coverlet, a pair of blankets and a pair of sheets. He also had two pewter dishes, the next best brass pot, two pillows, a cushion and a chair. He and Thomas shared the candlesticks, the coffers and the timber about the house. A hanging in the cellar was also his. There was a separate line for him: "To William Kerrich seven combs of oats, three combs of barley, and a bushel of pears." A comb was a measure of four bushels. He was to pay for the house he lived in for half a year after his father's death. He, John and Thomas were the executors.
His wife and every one of his daughters were named in the same will. Margery had a bequest, Isabel a two-year-old heifer, a pewter dish and a little kettle, and Rose £5 at twenty-one with a copper stand and a pewter dish.
He died in March 1593. On 28 March, before Richard Chamberly and John Wyth, he declared his will aloud, a nuncupative will. It made his wife executrix and gave her half his goods, and the other half went to his children without naming them. He was buried at Saxtead two days later, on 30 March. Margery proved the will at Ipswich on 1 April.
His daughter Rose married Thomas Clarke of Westhorpe at Saxtead in 1600. Four of her sons went to Rhode Island.
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Cite: Heirology, "William Kerrich (1540-1593)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-kerrich-1540-1593-d2648e.