William Isaacke

William Isaac was born about 1483, probably in Patrixbourne, as he was "18 years or more" in 1501/2 the time of his father's inquest. It is certain all his children were by his wife Margery Hawte, daugher of Sir Thomas Hawte of Bishopsbourne, his near neighbor.

William was living Nov. 26, 1515, when he, his stepfather Lewis Clyfford, and others were grantees of a rent of 20 pounds anually from the manor of Eshall.

He died a young man, before 1518, in the reign of Henry VIII and his widow Margery Isaac married Thomas Wyatt of Tillingham, county Essex. She and her new husband were sued in Chancery by her sister-in-law Elizabeth (Isaac) Grey and her husband Reynold Grey at an unknown date between 1515 and 1518.

If Margery Hawte's grandfather, Sir William Hawte, was son of his father's second wife Joan Wydville, the Isaac's gained through the Hawte marriage, kinship with the reigning house of Tudor, shared by many other families of Kentish gentry.

His grandfather, John Isaac, left William a handsome legacy "to find his way to court" consisting of the manors of Dene and Dane, and other houses and lands, all in the parish of Chilham, but it is not know if he pursued this course ( he was only sixteen when his grandfather drew his will). He most probably lived as a country squire.

In 1506, William Isaac, was one of the foefees of various estates which Lewis Clifford (his stepfather) settled for life on his prospective wife Bennett (Guildford) Isaac, widow of James Isaac and mother of William. He was a member of a commision to inquire into murders and felonies in the county of Kent in 1509.

In the summer of 1512, William Isaac, armiger, son and heir of James Isaac, swore fealty for the inheritance of the fee farm for the city of Canterbury, which the Isaacs had been enjoying for about one hundred and fifty years. On October 22 of that same year, however, he secured a license to alienate it to trustees, to hold for the benefit of Robert Rede, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and his heirs. His sale included both the annual income from the property of his ancestors for six generations but also an additional share which his father had bought from his distant kinsman, Richard Mayhew. Again in this document the long descent from John Cundy is set forth, step by step, " a valuable and uncommon gift to inquiring descendants."

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Source:

The Ancestry of Mary Isaac, C. 1549-1613: Wife of Thomas Appleton of Little ... by Walter Goodwin Davis