♀Johane (surname unknown)

Johane (living in 1514) was a woman of Marden, in Kent, England, who was named executrix of her husband Thomas Fowle’s will in 1514. She was the thirteenth great-grandmother of Frederic Roger Curtis (1928–2007) by two separate lines of descent, most likely through her son Richard Fowle (1514–1572).

Thomas made his will on 28 September 1514 and was dead by 7 November, when it was proved. In his will Thomas asked to be buried in the church of St Michael at Marden, and he left the residue of his estate to his wife, Johane, whom he made his executrix. Thomas and Johane had a daughter, Constance, and most likely a son, Richard, born about 1514, who later lived at Frittenden and held lands in Marden.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through Richard, his son Thomas Fowle (1540–1592), Thomas’s son Richard Fowle (1569–1632) and Richard’s daughter Joan Fowle (1604–1688), who married Richard Borden. They meet again in Salena Sherman (1806–1842), whose parents Waite Allen (1766–1850) and Batchelder Sherman (1761–1828) both descended from Thomas and Johane.

Notes

Sources

Johane is known only from her husband’s will, as abstracted by G. Andrews Moriarty in “Fowle-Borden”, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 75 (1921), pp. 226–233, at p. 227. The will was proved on 7 November 1514 in the Archdeaconry of Canterbury (vol. 12, f. 370).

Her name

Moriarty gives only her first name. Her surname, her parents and the date of her death are not known.

Parentage of Richard

Moriarty calls Richard Fowle of Frittenden “probably a son of Thomas Fowle of Marden, co. Kent, the testator of 1514, and his wife Johane”, and places Richard’s birth probably soon after 8 September 1514. He gives the link as probable, not proved; Richard’s lands in Marden fit a family of that parish.