♂Henry Tilly

Henry Tilly (died 1520) was a man of Henlow in Bedfordshire, England, who died in the last months of 1520, leaving his wife Johan, two sons and the children of his son Thomas. He was the fourteenth great-grandfather of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), through his son Thomas Tylle (died 1556).

The will

Henry is said to have made his will on 1 September 1520. Johan and Henry had two sons, Thomas and William, and by 1520 Thomas had children of his own. William was to have the place after his mother, Johan, and was named executor; Thomas was named supervisor, the man who was to see the will carried out, and his children were remembered in it. The will was proved on 4 December 1520, so Henry died in the three months between.

Descendants

Through Thomas, Henry was probably the great-great-grandfather of John Tilley^W and Edward Tilley^W, two brothers who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. John’s daughter Elizabeth married John Howland, and Roger’s line runs through her.

Notes

The will

Henry’s will (made 1 September 1520 and proved 4 December 1520 by William Tilly as executor, in the records of the Archdeaconry of Bedford) is known here from Robert Leigh Ward’s transcription in The American Genealogist^W, volume 52 (1976), pages 198–199, as quoted on WikiTree. It calls Johan “my wiff”, William “Willm Tilly my sonne” and Thomas “Thomas Tilly my sonne supervisor”, and it remembers “the children of Thomas Tilly my Sonne”.

His sons and his parents

The will names two sons only, Thomas and William. That this Thomas is the Thomas Tylle of Henlow who made his will in 1556 follows Ward’s account of the Henlow Tilleys. Henry’s own parents are not known; the parents given him in an online family tree have no source behind them.