John Maude 'senex' of Alverthorpe

  General Notes:

John Maude of Wakefield the elder made his will 21.1.1634/5.
He says he was seized in fee simple of a messuage called Cliff in Westgate.
The property was left in a complicated manner: "to John Maude my grandchild, son & heir apparent of John my eldest son, with reversion to Daniel, younger son of my first son, then Gideon, another son of John, with reversion to Joshua, my grandchild, another son of John, lands at Alverthorpe to Barnabas my second son & Margaret his wife,for their lives, reversion to their eldest son, reversion to Brian, second son of Barnabas, reversion to 3rd son of Barnabas. Testator's wife Jane.Elizabeth, dau. Of son John by his first wife. Sarah, wife of son John. Son-in-law William (it looks like Norlyn, gent. in the MS but other sources indicate it should be Yarburgh) and Elizabeth his wife, Gervase Norton Gent, my son-in-law & his wife, my daughter Mary Gill, widow, Edward Wilson, son of my daughter Rebecca, and Eliz. her daughter when of age. John, son of my brother Brian."
Executors were John Maude and 'Francis Oley, Clerk, my brother-in-law.'

John Maude 'senex' lived at Alverthorpe Hall near Wakefield, Yorkshire. Senex is Latin for 'old man', but a more meaningful interpretation would be 'the elder' as he was named thus to distinguish him from his son and grandson, both also named John.
Alverthorpe Hall was built by the Maude family in 1585.

John was a yeoman which is defined by Collins as 'a member of a class of small freeholders who cultivated their own land'.
John was the first member of the Maude family to settle in Wakefield. There are references in the Wakefield Court Rolls to John Maude in and around Wakefield holding land from the Lord of the Manor of Wakefield.
Bob Chantler holds a copy of a Bill of Surrender dated 10th November 1616 which records John Maude the elder of Wakefield, yeoman, at the manorial court of Wakefield and a piece of land in Alverthorpe called Stringer Ing. This document is in John's handwriting and is signed by him. John Maude Senex was churchwarden of Wakefield parish church in 1593, 1601, 1615 and 1628. !

  Noted events in his life were:

• Will, 5-21 Jan 1634, Wakefield, YKS, England, UK. His will was proved at York 1635. (vol.42, fol.461) There is an MS transcript of abstracts of a number of Yorkshire Maudes' wills, made by Radcliffe at YAS. (Radcliffe's Yorkshire wills, MS 128. John Maude of Wakefield the elder made his will 21.1.1634/5. He says he was seized in fee simple of a messuage called Cliff in Westgate. The property was left in a complicated manner:
"To John Maude my grandchild, son & heir apparent of John my eldest son, with reversion to Daniel, younger son of my first son, then Gideon, another son of John, with reversion to Joshua, my grandchild, another son of John, lands at Alverthorpe.
To Barnabas my second son & Margaret his wife,for their lives, reversion to their eldest son, reversion to Brian, second son of Barnabas, reversion to 3rd son of Barnabas.
Testator's wife Jane.Elizabeth, dau. Of son John by his first wife. Sarah, wife of son John. Son-in-law William (it looks like Norlyn, gent. in the MS but other sources indicate it should be Yarburgh) and Elizabeth his wife, Gervase Norton Gent, my son-in-law & his wife, my daughter Mary Gill, widow, Edward Wilson, son of my daughter Rebecca, and Eliz. her daughter when of age. John, son of my brother Brian."
Executors were John Maude and 'Francis Oley, Clerk, my brother-in-law.'

John married Jane. (Jane died in 1645 ².)