Where is the source for Thomas Eldred's will of 1640?

Question

Despite an extensive search by members of the England Project (see this Free Space Page), no source has been found for a will which is extensively quoted on Thomas Eldred's profile. It was supposedly written on 18 October 1640, and proved on 4 December 1640.

We are beginning to consider that it may have been made up to fit a narrative that Thomas was the grandson of another Thomas Eldred, said to be a seafarer, although that Thomas probably died too early to be part of the Cavendish's voyage to circumnavigate the globe.

The will has been copied by many websites, again with no source. If anyone can provide the reference for which court it was proved in, that would be most gratefully received. The significance of the will is to supposedly tie this family to Samuel Eldred, emigrant to Cambridge, Massachusetts

Jo, England Project Managed Profiles team.

Comments

As a supplement, does anyone have access to either of the following books which seem to draw upon the will? We would like to know what sources they indicate, if any.

• Eldred and allied families : Baughman, Cole, Fish, Hutchinson, Marbury, Mumford, Sherman Compiled by E Virginia Hunt 1975
• No Alpha - No Omega, a genealogical history of our Whitaker and Clark families by AnnaMay Whitaker Clark and Johnie E. Clark 1980, page 177

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and to elaborate on doubts about the will:

Mine are: 

1. Use of the word 'namesake' which is first attested according to OED after 1635 and published in 1638, so this would be a very early usage; 
2. The phrase 'is to go to' and others that are not the usual legal phrases of the time for devising and bequeathing; 
3. It may be that this is a modern abstract that someone has treated as a quotation, but why then would they preserve the spelling 'childe', and if it is not an abstract why is that the only archaic spelling?

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I'm not an expert in deciphering wills, and perhaps it is common, but I wonder about granting the sons their portion when they are 20 and would still be minors?

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The Will ( as presented on the profile ) does look strange. People around that time don't use ''childe'' - that is a more specific mediaeval term - they rather use my son, or my daughter, or my grandchild. They also don't use ''birthday'' - I've never seen that in a mid 17th century English Will. They use something like ''when they attain the age of twenty one years''.  In the case of daughters something is usually added like ''or are married''.

Answer 1

Not all the Suffolk wills are catalogued or even indexed online. When the free space page says ''Not found in Suffolk Archives'', does this mean online only, or has someone from the Suffolk team been there to look ?

 I would also have a look in Wills From The Archdeaconry of Suffolk: 1637-1640 Marion E Allen & Nesta R Evans, New England Historic Genealogical Society Boston 1986.

There are copies available for sale online from eBay etc. 

Comments

A link for the search made at Suffolk Archives online is there immediately after ''Not found in Suffolk Archives''

Answer 2

I'm sure the England Project are aware, but there are at least two different or distantly related Eldred families and perhaps more and maybe there has been some confusion.

There is a Thomas Eldred of Ipswich, who was 'employed' with Cavendish (Candish) and is mentioned on 7 Nov 1600 as wanting to be involved in a voyage to the East Indies, though it doesn't mention that he served with Cavendish during the circumnavigation.  See Calendar of State Papers: East Indies 1513-1616, pp. 110-111. I haven't checked but the article in the Dictionary of National Biography has other times he is mentioned in the Calendar of State Papers.

This maybe the same person as the Thomas Eldred of Ipswich who heads up the Eldred genealogy in Visitation of Essex 1634, p. 391 or perhaps the Thomas Eldred who listed as his son in The Gentleman's Magazine Library though the dates don't match.

Then there is the John Eldred who bought the manor and advowson of Great Saxham in Suffolk - see The Manors of Suffolk, vol. 7, pp. 96-98, who seems to be from a different or more distantly related family.