12. TRIPP

Bray Tree

 JOHN TRIPP and ELLYS (12)

 

JOHN TRIPP was the second child and the elder son of the four known children of George and Margaret Tripp. They lived in the Lincolnshire village of Horkstow, south of the Humber.

John was born around 1550 and lived most of his life in the reign of Elizabeth I.

We have no record of his occupation, but his eldest son Robert became a weaver and his daughter Elizabeth married a weaver, so it is possible that this was John’s occupation too. There was a flourishing wool trade in Lincolnshire.

John’s christening is too early for the Horkstow registers, which begin in the 1560s, but they record his first marriage. His first wife was Jane Pennell.

Marriage. St Maurice, Horkstow.
1571 Aug 3  John Tripp and Jane Pennell.

There was one child from this marriage.

Baptism. Horkstow.
1572 May 17  Elizabeth

Jane died less than three years after their wedding.

Burial. Horkstow.
1573/4 Feb 4  Jane ye wife of John Trip

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ELLYS. We do not have a record of John’s second marriage, and hence of his wife’s surname. She probably came from a parish whose registers do not go back that far.

The early christening registers show only the father’s name. We oweour knowledge of Ellys’s first name to an account of his origins by her grandson, a younger John Tripp, who emigrated to Rhode Island.

Ellys is a variant of Alice.

They must have married between 1574 and 1579.

There wre four sons from this marriage.

Baptisms. St. Maurice, Horkstow.
1579/80 Jan 9  Robert
1581 Apr 30  Thomas
1583 Nov 10  William
1587 May 27  John

Thomas does not appear in his father’s will of 1614 and probably died young.

The Tripps were baptised at the parish church of St Maurice. Legend has it that the church was built by the Knights Templar. It is true that the Templars owned 45 acres of land in Horkstow parish, but the vicars of this 12^th-century church were presented by the Knights Hospitaller. The order of St John of Jerusalem had a commandery in Horkstow. Remains of it were found in 1796.

The. church is originally early 12^th-century, replacing an earlier chapel attached to the Barton, but there have been significant changes in later centuries. It is set into the slope of the Wold escarpment. To avoid deep excavations, the chancel is considerably higher than the Nave. It faces west over the Ancholme valley.

Ellys was buried there on 16 Apr 1691. Her youngest child was not quite four.

John married for the third time to Margaret. Again, we do not have a record of their wedding, but we know Margaret’s name from John’s will.

There appear to be no children from this union.

 

John lived long enough to see the death of Elizabeth I and the accession of James I in 1603 and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He died in 1614, probably around 60.

Burial. St Maurice, Horkstow.
1614 Sep 12  John Tripp the Elder

John Tripp of Horkstow made his will on 10 Sep 1614 while he lay on his death bed. He signed it with his mark.

There were legacies to Francis, son of his son William, to John, son of his son John, to his daughter Elizabeth and her sons John Long and John Cresse, to his son Robert and his children John and Elizabeth Tripp. The residuary legatee was his son William. He made his wife Margaret his executrix, but no bequest has been found for her.

The will was proved in Lincoln on 17 Oct 1614.

 

Margaret died nine years later.

Burial. St Maurice, Horkstow.
1623 Nov 8  Margarett Tripp widdow

Elizabeth married first the weaver Thomas Long and then William Cresse. Robert became a weaver and the youngest son William a labourer. This probably puts John in the artisan class.

 

[1] © Ron Cole