Thomas Sackett the elder

Thomas Sackett, of St Peter in Thanet, Kent, whose parents have not been identified, was born in say 1530. He was buried at St Peter's Church on 26 March 1595.¹ He married in about 1555, Joane ___.² She was buried at St Peter's Church on 19 December 1593.³
     Thomas made his will in St Peter in Thanet on 30 March 1594, naming as beneficiaries his sons Thomas and George, and his daughters Anne and Mildred.⁴ Thomas's description of himself in his will as a 'labourer' suggests that he was not a wealthy man. However, the fact of his making a will at all, and the bequests to his children, define him as a landowner and suggest that he was a man of some substance. The extent of his tenement and land holdings is not known but the monetary amounts mentioned would have a present day value of a few thousand pounds. The will was proved in the Archdeaconry Court, Canterbury, Kent, on 2 June 1596.⁴
     Thomas died in the same year as, but probably a few months before, the birth of his grandson Simon who was to emigrate to the New World.