John Bankes ²

  General Notes:

Burial in London or Maidstone, Kent, England
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John Bankes of London gent, 8 April 1641, with a codicil dated 20 July 1642, proved 22 August 1642.

To the poor of Ashford in Kent five pounds, to be presently paid and to be disposed of by my two daughters Margaaret Andrew and Elizabeth Grigby. To my kinsman Thomas Clarke and to his sister Margaret Clarke fifty shillings apiece. My servant Elizabeth Oliver. To my four sons in law Mr. John Davie, Mr. Thomas Andrew, Mr. Thomas Grigby and Mr. Nathaniel Wicks eight pounds apiece to make them suites if they please. To my five daughters Margaret, Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia and Priscilla six pounds apiece for a remembrance or for to make them gowns if they please, intreating all my said sons and daughters in the fear of God to support one another in love and all Christian duties. To John my son eight pounds, also my great bible, the which I desire he should well esteem and make it the rule of his life. To him also my best silver cup with two silver spoons marked with I.B. and T.P. To Mary my wife twenty pounds, with all the rest of my plate, linen and household stuff &c. To each of my five daughters twenty shillings apiece. I will that Caleb my son shall well and faithfully pay or cause to be paid all sums of money as he is engaged and standeth bound by bonds unto his sisters or any other persons &c. An I will that if it please God that my daughters Lydia or Priscilla do depart this life before the days of payment come then the portions of them so dying shall be equally divided amongst all my children, sons and daughters, surviving. The residue to Caleb my son whom I make sole executor, earnestly enjoining and requiring him to be very careful in discharging that trust which is imposed upon him and myself concerning my daughter Grigby and her children, that, living or dying, they not be defrauded.
To my son John my two houses, with the lands &c. belonging, in Ashford at a place called Bever (and other lands &c. in Hincksell, Hetcorne and Sutton, Kent), he pay Mary my wife ten pounds a year at her dwelling house, in quarterly payments during her life. The remainder of my lands &c. to my son Caleb, he to pay my wife thirty pounds &c.
Thomas and Nathaniel Wicks were among the witnesses.
In the codicil he speaks of having bought of Mrs. Fisher a house &c. in Maidstone. This Mary, his wife, is to have and enjoy during her natural life and, after her decease, his daughter Lydia during her life, then son Caleb and his children.
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Elected Mayor of Maidstone in 1614 and 1622

John married Mary Fisher, daughter of Alexander John Fisher and Katherine Maplesden, in 1597 in Maidstone, Kent, England. (Mary Fisher was born about 1577 in Maidstone, Kent, England, died after 1654 in Maidstone, Kent, England and was buried in Maidstone, Kent, England.)