John "the shoemaker" Beebe, Sr.

Source: http://www.kellner.eclipse.co.uk/genuki/NTH/beeby.htm

4. John Beeby b. ABT 1590/91, Gr Addington, Northamptonshire, England, occ. Shoemaker, m. 1623, in Podington, Bedfordshire, England, Alice Stratton, d. BEF 1672. John died 1 Aug 1638, Gr Addington, Northamptonshire, England. His birth date is based on the statement at his brother's Inquisitor Post Mortem that he was age 40+ in Nov 1632. He purchased land in Great Addington in 1610 with his father and named co-supervisor of his Uncle John's will in 1622. He is called eldest son in his father's will. John was born and died in Great Addington, Northamptons, England. His will is dated 30 July 1638 and he is described as John Beby of Great Addington, Yeoman. It reads: To John Beby, my second son, messuage or tenement wherein my father lived. James Beby, my third son; William Beby my forth son; sister Sara; son Alexander; James my brother deceased; All properties to be used by wife Alice to raise children under age 21. Wife Alice sole executrix. Friends, Mr. Cox (he was rector of the parish) and Mr. Bletso, overseers. It was proved 11 Sept 1638. A document filed in London covers an Inquisitor Post Mortem, held in Kettering (a town close to Great Addington) 6 Sep 1639 which describes his lands in Great Addington and mentions his heir as Alex Beeby, age 13 years, 8 months and 10 days at the time of John's death. John was a yeoman which in English society is generally meant to be a free landowner of a rank lower that gentry. A descendant tells that a note in the Great Addington Parish register (now lost)said that "in 1638 at harvest time, which was an extreme hot time, many people then at work in the fields at Addington fell sick and some d'yd." Alice: On 18 Nov 1626, her mother is buried in Podington, Beds and 3 Jun 1627 her father, John Stratton, yeoman, wrote his will. It includes a statement "to John Bebie his wife a black ____". In 1650, she is shown as the wife of Henry Hemington on a Gr. Addington deed. (He was of Great Addington 1647-68 and of Sudborough 1671). She evidently died before 1672 because a Henry Hemington is recorded as marrying an Elizabeth Beal in that year.