Thomas Stearns

Biography

Thomas Stearns, whose surname also appears as Sterne, was a yeoman of Much Fordham, in Essex in eastern England. His will of May 20, 1599 was made during illness and describes a household supported by farming, cattle, grain, and leased rights to parish tithes.

He left his wife Dorothy £40 and the use of the dwelling farm, with the profits from twenty milk cows, until the following Michaelmas. Supplies of wheat, mixed grain, malt, and dairy produce were assigned to help maintain the household and children during that interval. Dorothy also received horses, silver spoons, and other household possessions.

Thomas provided money for his children, generally payable when they reached twenty-one. For Marie, Susanne, and Isaac, he directed that their portions be paid to Dorothy, who was to keep and raise them until adulthood. His son Thomas received a leasehold interest in the tithes of Much Tey as well as money and furniture.

He nominated his brother-in-law John Plampyn as executor, with Dorothy to take the role if John declined within a week. Thomas’s recorded burial at Fordham falls in May 1599; the will was proved on June 30.

The family genealogy identifies the son Isaac as probably Isaac Stearns of Watertown.