John was baptised at the Church of St Mary, Brettenham Suffolk on the 24 January 1617, during his life he was married twice, first to Jane Bixby at Thorpe Morieux and second to Mildred Payn in the village of Bradfield St Clare. [2]  His marriage to Jane, who bore all his known children, was the on 8 September 1640. Thorpe Morieux is a village less than two miles to the west of Brettenham.

Jane was married to John for over 18 years until her death in 1658, she was buried at Brettenham Church on the 8 November 1658.

John Raynham's R100 second marriage was on the 27 May 1675, some 15 years after the death of Jane. His new wife Mildred Payn who already had three children, at the time of John's death. These children are assumed to be from a previous marriage.

William , John and Richard Payne [3] were left the sum of 5 shillings each in their step-father's will to purchase a pair of gloves and a further ?10 to John and Richard. A photo of the will and a transcription are shown below. [4]

The will has been transcribed [5] and all words have been correctly spelt.

In the Name of God Amen the eleventh day of November in the yeare of our Lord 1690 And in the second yeare of the reigne of our Sovereigne Lord and Lady William and Mary by the grace of God King and Queen of England &c I John Raynham of Brettenham in the County of Suff yeoman being in health and in perfect memory (praised be God therefore) doe revoke all former Wills and Testaments by me heretofore made and doe make and ordaine this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following vizt Imprimis I give and bequeath unto Mildred my loving wife the sume of thirty pounds of lawful money of England to be paid unto her within six months next after my decease And my mind and Will is that if the said Mildred my wife shall depart this life before the day of payment that then the said thirty pounds shall be equally divided between James Raynham my sonne in Right of his wife and John Payne and Richard Payne my wives two sonnes or the survivours of them Item I give and bequeath unto the said Mildred my wife halfe a Firkin of Butter a quarter of a Wey of Cheese Two Bushells of wheate and one Comb of Mault to be delivered to her within three days after my decease Item I give and bequeath unto William John and Richard Payne my wives three sonnes Five shillings a piece to buy themselves Gloves Item I give and bequeath unto Thomas Raynham sonne of my daughter Katherine Raynham the sume of Forty shillings and unto Robert James Jonathan and Lawrence the sonnes of the said Katherine the sume of twenty shillings a piece to be paid them att their respective Ages of one and twenty yeares And if in case any of the said five sonns shall depart this life before he or they shall attain the age of one and twenty yeares then my mind and will is that the part of him or them soe dyeing shall be equally devided amongst the rest of them that shall survive Item I give and bequeath unto Thomas Hamond my sonne in law the sume of Five shillings and unto my Daughter Katherine aforesaid the sume of Five shillings Item I give and bequeath unto Mary Hammond my Grandchild the sume of Five pounds of lawful money of England to be paid unto her when she shall attain the age of one and twenty yeares Item I give and bequeath unto my Grandchild John Raynham sonne of Thomas Raynham the sume of Forty shillings and I give and bequeath unto my Grandchild John Raynham sonne of James Raynham the like sume of Forty shillings to be paid them at their respective Ages of one and twenty yeares Item I give and bequeath unto all the rest of the Children of my sonnes Thomas Raynham and James Raynham now born by their present wives the sume of Six shillings and eight pence a peice to be paid unto every of them respectively as they shall attaine their severall ages of one and twenty yeares Item I give and bequeath unto my said two sonnes Thomas Raynham and James Raynham all the residue of my Goods and Chattles (not herein before given and bequeathed) to be equally devided between them after my debts and Funerall charges shall be thereout deducted Item I doe nominate & appoint the said Thomas Raynham and James Raynham my sonnes to be Executors of this my last Will and testament In witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seale the day and yeare first above written John Raynham Published sealed and delivered by the said Testator as his last Will and Testament in the presence of us whose names are subscribed in his presence Grace Boughton Maria Whiler sign Hen. Boughton

Proved at Bury St. Edmunds vicesimo tertio die mnsis May 1694 by Thomae Raynham et Jacobo Raynham Exors.

The marriage of John and Jane produced four known children, John R115 baptised in 1614, Thomas R103 my direct descendant baptised 1644, Mary R116 baptised 1654 and James R117 baptised in 1656. A clearer picture of this family can be seen below.

Also depicted below is a chart for John and his second family.

John R115 was not mentioned in the will of 1694 and apparently died in 1683 and was buried at Brettenham Church on the 22 April 1683. The death of his son prior to his own would explain why John was not in the will. John, the son was baptised at Brettenham Church on the 28 July 1641 [6] and he married Katherine Nutt on the 4 September 1666 at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Katherine was mentioned in John Raynham's R100 will and was bequeathed 40 shillings, worth about ?160 today. John and Katherine are known to have had six sons with the first John R123 baptised in 1667, Thomas R118 in 1668, Robert R119 in 1669. All were baptised at Brettenham Church, see extract of tree below.

The remaining James R120, Jonathan R121 and Lawrence R122 no baptism dates have been found. In their grandfathers John's will of 1694 Thomas, Robert, James and Lawrence were left 20 shillings each, John R123 having died in 1686 would not have been alive to benefit from the will.

John Raynham's second son Thomas R103 life and family are dealt with in Chapter 5.

Mary Hammond R116, John's daughter was not mentioned in his will, even though her husband, Thomas and daughter Mary were. This suggests that Mary may have died before her father. What is known is that Mary was baptised in 1653 at Thorpe Morieux and married in 1683 at Bradfield St Clare , Suffolk.

The fourth child James R117 was baptised in 1656 at Brettenham Church and was bequeathed ?10 in his father's will, this is a sizeable amount and would be worth ?790 today.

He married a Mildred Pain at Preston in 1679, Preston is another Suffolk village close to Brettenham ; of interest is whether James's wife is related to his stepmother. This marriage produced six known children, James R124 baptised in 1679, John R125 in 1681, Mary R126 in 1691, Samual R127 in 1693 and in 1695 it would appear that twins Margaret R128 and Frances R129 may have been baptised. All these baptisms were at Brettenham  Church, the Parish Register for Brettenham  confirms that John was buried on the same day as his baptism, see extract of tree below.

James Raynham R117 was clearly a man held in some regard by the local landowners the Wenyeve family. In Sir George Wenyeve's (1626 -1706) will James, a tenant received ?5 quote "for the sake of his honest father, old John Rainham deceased". [7]  James was a farmer and known to have rented a small 47-acre farm at Thorpe Morieux . If you are wondering ?5 then is now worth ?470.

By 1706 James was to follow his father and became a churchwarden, this clearly was to become a Raynham tradition.

James father John R100 was a wealthy man in 1664 the Hearth Tax returns required him to pay for one hearth, but by 1674 this had increased to four hearths. [8]  This last property was named "Popples " and was the main farm on the Brettenham  Hall estate. Prior to John's occupancy it had been the family home of Edward Wenyeve , Sir George's father, in the 1630s before the construction of Brettenham  Hall.

John compiled the 1678 Glebe Terrier , was a churchwarden and a witness to the wills of George Ward, John Wright and Thomas Mootham. All were landowners in the village of Brettenham , he was also charged with the task of bringing up a John Mootham's three children for which the princely sum of 30 shillings was left; about ?140 today. Clearly John was a very respected man in his community.

Throughout the period of John Raynham's life England and Suffolk experienced war and turmoil and life for those at the bottom would have been wretched. The depression of the woollen industry had continued through to the 1630s affecting major areas of Suffolk. Emigration to the North American colonies was in full flow during this same period driven to some extent by the economic problems.

Ship Money demands by Charles 1 not doubt caused those well off to moan and complain although he got his just deserts when he was executed in 1649, following the Civil War. [9]  During this period many Suffolk churches were subjected to the purging of superstitious pictures, religious objects and inscriptions, those found to offend the appointed Parliamentary Visitor were removed or defaced. Winged cherubim was one of many examples of items that were destroyed.

A native of Suffolk, the self styled Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins toured Suffolk seeking confessions and receiving payment for those his trouble. Life indeed would have been tough and fearful for the Suffolk peasant and especially if you were a woman.

The Great Plague and Great Fire of London had occurred in 1665 and 1665 respectively, William 111 of Orange becomes King in 1689, jointly with Mary 11, having previously driven James 11 to France.