STEPHEN ALDOUS was born in Fressingfield, Suffolk, England, in 1637. When he was a few months old his father, STEPEHN ALDOUS, died, and in due time his mother remarried. STEPHEN became a tailor, and in about 1661 married URSULA WYARD, of Earl Soham, Suffolk, the parish where she had been born in 1641. The couple's first child was born at nearby Eye in 1662.
In April of 1664 URSULA's father, FRANCIS WYARD, died, and in his will bequeathed ten pounds to "STEAVEN ALLDIS my sonn in lawe." He also gave "unto URSULA ALLDIS my daughter that my messuage [a house with its outbuildings and yard] or tenement in Earlesoham . . ."
STEPHEN and URSULA evidently moved to their inherited property, as their next three children were born at Earl Soham, in 1664, 1667, and 1670.
The next year they moved to Fressingfield, STEPHEN's native parish, and here six more children were born.
STEPHEN's father, at his untimely death in 1637, just after young STEPHEN was born, had stipulated in his will that his widow was to have his property as long as she lived, and then it was to go to his son STEPHEN. She, ANNE, lived to be quite old, and the Court Rolls of the Manor of Chevenhall alias Chepenhall, under sate of 17 March 1697 we find the following (abstracted): "STEPHEN ALDOUS, formerly a copyhold tenant, died long since, and ANNE DAINS, widow, formerly ANNE ALDOUS relict of said STEPHEN,is also now dead. She held for her lifetime, by virtue of the will of her dead husband STEPHEN ALDOUS, premises called Babilons alias Bourneys alias Peasley, which he inherited (Court Record 1 October 1628) under the will of his father STEPHEN ALDOUS. Now comes STEPHEN, only son and heir of the first mentioned STEPHEN ALDOUS and ANNE his wife, and is admitted tenant." This record gives us three generations of STEPHEN ALDOUS'.
URSULA died in 1701, and in 1704 STEPHEN married SUSAN MORCE (or MERCE). In the marriage entry he is called "STEPHEN ALDOUS Senr Taylor." When he wrote his will the next year, 1705, he called himself a yeoman (farmer of his own land), so he himself probably considered being a yoeman more important than being a tailor.
In his will STEPHEN gave to his son STEPHEN "all that my Messuage or Tenement wherein I now dwell together with all & every the houses Outhouses Yards Gardens Orchards Lands meadows pastures Feadings hereditaments & appts whatsoever to the said Messuage or Tenement belonging Scituate lying & being in Fressingfield . . ." Son STEPHEN. in turn, was to pay legacies, some of twenty pounds and some of ten pounds, to his brothers and sisters FRANCIS ALDOUS, WILLIAM ALDOUS, MARTHA, ANN ALDOUS, MARGARET ALDOUS, THOMAS ALDOUS, JOHN ALDOUS and JAMES ALDOUS; also "to URSULA ALDOUS my Grandchild ten pounds when eighteen." (URSULA was daughter of STEPHEN.)
STEPHEN lived for quite a few years after his will was written, having almost reached the age of eighty-four when he died and was buried at Fressingfield in January of 1722. (The date was 1721 by the calendar then in use in England; up until the year 1752 the first day of the year was March twenty-fifth.)
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