♀Johan (surname unknown)

Johan (living in 1520) was a woman of Henlow in Bedfordshire, England, whose husband, Henry Tilly, left the family’s place to their son William only after her. She was the fourteenth great-grandmother of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007), through her son Thomas Tylle (died 1556).

Family

Her surname is not known. Johan and Henry had two sons, Thomas and William, and by 1520 Thomas had children of his own. Henry is said to have made his will on 1 September 1520, calling her “Johan my wiff”. 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. The will was proved on 4 December 1520, so Henry died in the three months between. When Johan died is not known.

Descendants

Through Thomas, Johan was probably the great-great-grandmother 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

Johan is known only from her husband’s will (made 1 September 1520 and proved 4 December 1520 by William Tilly as executor, in the records of the Archdeaconry of Bedford), 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 her “Johan my wiff” and makes William heir of the place after her. That the will’s son Thomas is the Thomas Tylle of Henlow who made his will in 1556 follows Ward’s account of the Henlow Tilleys.

Her surname

The surname Smallacombe given her in an online family tree has no source behind it, and no record names her family.