PotterThomasReynold


Thomas Reynolds, Potter of Cove, died 1636

 

Page prepared by Peter Tipton, The Yateley Society, 19 Oct 2006

 

The photographic reproduction of Thomas Reynolds' will on the microfiche at Winchester is not good. Richard Johnston has enhanced it digitally for me, but evenso the writing is difficult to read in places.

 

The big questions are (a) whether he was related to Herman Reinold the German potter working in Farnborough, and (b) whether he was related to other key Blackwater Valley potters. Thomas' will reveals that he had a son Hermon. I still do not think that Thomas was the son of Herman the German potter of Farnborough, but I am still investigating the connection. I do however think that Thomas Reynolds was of German descent, possibly the nephew of Herman.

 

Thomas Reynolds had a very complicated relationship with the Rogers alias Marner family which, if Thomas does prove to be of German descent, may prove to be very significant. Thomas married, as his first wife, Constance Marner in Farnham on 24 Nov 1600. She was probably the Constance Marner baptised by John Marner in Farnham 28 Jan 1575. This much is available from the IGI. However the full surname of both could have been Rogers alias Marner -- or it could have been simply Marner. The reason why I think that Thomas Reynolds the potter married, as his first wife, Constance Marner in Farnham is that the IGI records the baptisms of 4 children to Thomas Reynolds in Farnham: Thomas (24 Feb 1601) exactly 3 months after the marriage, Joan (16 Jan 1603), John (8 Dec 1605) and an unnamed child was baptised 26 Feb 1609. In his will the potter names his children as Thomas, Joan, Elizabeth, Herman and Jane. The first two named in the will correspond with the first two baptised in Farnham. This is not conclusive evidence, but a good start.

 

If I am correct about Thomas and Constance then she can be identified as the youngest daughter of John Marner alias Rogers (the alias is reversed), glover of Farnham, who made his will in the 22nd year of Elizabeth's reign, proved by his wife Joan 19 May 1580. Since John, the glover, had both a son John Marner alias Rogers, and a brother of exactly the same name, I shall write a separate biography for John Marner in order to try to work out the father of John Rogers alias Marner, the Potter.

 

According to the IGI there were only five girls named Constance who were baptised in Farnham before 1600 but only two would have been old enough to marry: Constance, daughter of Thomas Gates (1570); Constance, daughter of John Marner (1574). Only three Constances married in Farnham: Constance Marner to Thomas Reynolds (1600); Constance Sturt to William Warner (1616) and, interestingly, Constance Renold to John Holloway (1628). Constance Sturt was baptised in 1594. Constance Renold could have been the widow of the marriage to Thomas Reynolds in 1600, so this runs contrary to my hypothesis and needs to be checked from the original registers.

 

In his will Thomas Reynolds made a bequest to Marie Rogers alias Marner of his first wife's (ie Constance's) ring (plus some bedlinen and an apron). I cannot figure out how he could have a daughter-in-law without the surname Reynolds unless his second wife had previously been been married to a Rogers alias Marner, and had had a son who married Marie. So Marie might have been the wife of Thomas' stepson. It gets even more complicated: Henry Rogers alias Marner was Thomas' son-in-law, and to round it off he appointed John Rogers alias Marner as one of his trustees. I have not transcribed the Farnborough Registers into this period to sort this out, but the Farnham registers or readily accessible in Woking.

 

I do have a copy of Thomas Reynolds' inventory which I will transcribe.

 

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