Thomas Sakett

Thomas Sakett, of Minster in Thanet, Kent, was born in the early 1400s. He died after 14 January 1473/74 when he made his will at Minster. The will was proved at the Archdeaconry Court, Canterbury, but the probate date is not recorded. The will names his wife, Alice.
     Thomas left his lands and tenement to his wife Alice until his children had attained the age of 20. The will mentions his eldest son Thomas and two other sons, William and John. Also mentioned are two brothers: John Sakett and Helbe Sakett. Thomas's wife Alice and Hugo Sakett were appointed executors of the will.¹
     An Alice Sakett made her will at St Peter in Thanet on 13 July 1476. She died before 6 November 1476, when the will was proved at the Archdeaconry Court.²
     She was presumably the widow of a Sakett, but whether this was Thomas Sakett is not clear. They made their wills at different places, he at Minster in Thanet, and she at St Peter in Thanet. However, there is mention of St Peter in Thanet in Thomas's will, and he may have had lands there. Although he made his will at Minster, and requested to be buried there, he had a tenement at "Nich", taken to be St Nicholas at Wade, and had other scattered land holdings, the whereabouts of which have not been identified. His will provided that, should reversion to his brothers John and Helbe become effective, they were to make payments to the churches of Minster, St Nicholas at Wade, and St Peter in Thanet, thus establishing a connection with St Peter, where Alice made her will. Thomas's appointment of Hugo Sakett as an executor with Alice provides a further link with St Peter in Thanet as Hugo made his will there a few years later.
     There is a mismatch in the wills in the names of the beneficiaries. Thomas's will named his sons, Thomas, William, and John. Alice's will named John and Solomon, but it is not clear whether these were her sons. The John in Alice's will may have been the same as Thomas's son or Thomas's brother, or another John Sakett.