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Hi easternhammer, those are the 5 will copies that I have and I agree with your impressions of the kind of people that they were and what was important to them, Aunt Philadelphia leaves her mother, Mary Boys childbed linen to her niece Philadelphia, as well as a ring with her sister Jane's hair, Jane Simons died on the 21st of February 1724, her brother William and his wife Elizabeth had a son born after Boys in 1723, Edward was born in 1724, he died aged 2 years in 1726 and was buried with his Aunt Jane, William and Elizabeth then had another son in 1727 and gave him the name Edward.
Philadelphia's nephew Boys gets a few bits and pieces in the will as well as a picture of her mother, Mary Boys, that picture is later handed on to Mary Simons by her mother Hester, I would love to see it, I wonder who ended up with it.
With regard to the Sharp family I found a will of a John Sharpe of Northiam in the County of Sussex,
1683, Probate 1687, he has sons John and Thomas, as well as land in Northiam he has property in Sandhurst, I thought that he may be the ancestor of our Sharpe's.
 My 4th Great grandmother Priscilla Elizabeth Sharp was born in Sandhurst in 1768, she married John Hopgood born Staplehurst, B 1764, in All Saints, Maidstone, on the 2nd of February 1784, she was 16 and he was 20, that's very young, I have to wonder about that one, they had 11 children, John Hopgood, Marden, 1785, Thomas Hopgood, Staplehurst, 1788, Priscilla Hopgood, Boughton Monchelsea, 1791, Philadelphia Simmons Hopgood, Marden, 1794, Robert Hopgood, Boughton, Monchelsea, 1796, Samuel Hopgood, Boughton, Monchelsea, 1798, Mary Anne Hopgood, Boughton, Monchelsea, 1800, Boyce Simmons Hopgood, Boughton, 1806. Elizabeth Etherington Hopgood, Boughton, 1806, died 7 months, Sarah Etherington Hopgood, Boughton, 1808, died in Plumstead 1809 at 19 months, Caroline Hopgood, Woolwich, 1814.
Priscilla Elizabeth Hopgood ne Sharpe died in 1840 and was buried St Nicholas, Deptford, her son Samuel, B 1798 emigrated to Victoria in 1849 with his second wife and their daughter, his older son Samuel, born to his first wife, along his family joined him in 1854, they had a Dairy Farm at Duck Pond near Lara outside Geelong, Victoria.
Priscilla Elizabeth's daughter Priscilla Hopgood was my 4x Great grandmother, she married Charles Jenner, their oldest son Charles Jenner, 1812, sailed for Sydney Australia with his wife and children aboard the Java in November 1852 arriving in Sydney in April 1853, this journey was horrific, many died, about 40, mainly children, there is a diary online for this voyage,
Priscilla's youngest daughter Eliza Jenner married William Jones, their son Major Jones was my Great grandfather, he came out to Victoria in 1875, he went to live and work on his mothers Hopgood relatives Dairy Farm at Duck Pond, he later became a Butcher and raised a large family in Warracknabeal.
I am very interested in your families history also, your family are a fairly new arrivals to Australia, there are now many of us descendants of my Great Grandfather Major Jones living in Australia and New Zealand.
The next item I want to send for from the Marden History Group, is a 1732 Marriage Settlement of Edward Simons, I think that would be very informative, that would involve his marriage to Hester Chilman I would say.

My condolences Maggie on the death in your family, it seems that we are probably 1st cousins many times removed, I am an Australian descendant of Boys sister Philadelphia, born about 1729 and her husband Thomas Sharp, through their daughter Priscilla Elizabeth Sharp, b 1768, Philadelphia was my 5th Great Grandmother.
It seems that the descendants of Philadelphia Simons also had been told stories of a Great Grandmother Lady Elizabeth and were aware of their Royal Heritage, although it seems the stories changed over time.
Some of Philadelphia's descendants emigrated to Australia in the 1850's and later,  some went to NSW and some to Victoria, the Victorian lot were Dairy Farmers.
I have had a ball researching our Royal ancestors, because of their strategic marriages we actually descend from 3 of King Edward the 3rd's sons, as well as Lionel of Antwerp, we also descend from John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock, many of our ancestors were executed or died in battle.

Lovely idea but I don't think that's them.

Boys' mother was Hester Mary Simmons (her burial is in the St Michael list). Her baptism was on 17 December 1784 at Chatham in Kent
Her father was Boys Simmons, baptised in Marden on Christmas Day 1747 (her mother was Martha Barton)
Boys Simmon's father was also Boys Simmons, baptised 28 March 1734 (typo, that should read 1723) in Southwark - which is where we move back from Kent.  His mother was Hester, surname unknown
The earlier Boys Simmon's father was William Simmons, but from there we are getting into conjecture.   He stands out like a sore thumb (in my family anyway!) as on Boys' baptism records he is a 'gentleman' - and in my tree we don't get many of them to the pound!   
There is a baptism that could be William's in Shoreditch on 14 August 1692, and if it is 'my' William Simmons then  his parents were William Simmons and Elizabeth. 
If that is him, then you have 2 generations of Williams suddenly followed by 2 generations of Boys, which is what leads me to wonder if Elizabeth was Elizabeth Boys?   So far I've not managed to get any further in this, but brick walls in 1692 are always easier to live with thnat brick walls in the 1820s which is where some of my other lines stop.
The one thing I do know for sure is that the Simmons line, where the Boys name originates, moves out of Kent and goes back to London in the earlier half of the 1700s.

p.s. actually on second thoughts that doesn't preclude the 1717 Staplehurst marriage - the fact they have one son baptised in 1718 in Kent doesn't stop them having a second baptised 6 years later in Southwark - oh lord don't these things get complicated!  Thanks for the lead, I will follow it up

I have been researching the Marden Simons for a number of years and I have recently found out where the Boys Simons name came from, it comes from the grandmother of Boys Simons Born 1723,
Mary Boys, she married William Simons, 1655, the son and heir of Edward Simons, 1626-1676, Gentleman of Marden and his wife Ann Maplisden also of Marden, Edward and Ann married in St Mary Magdalene, Old Fish street, London, 28/10/1647.
William Simons, B 1655, married Mary Boys the daughter of Samuel Boys of Hawkhurst, Kent and Philadelphia Parker, daughter of Sir Thomas Parker and Philadelphia Lennard, the daughter of Sir Henry Lennard, Lord Dacre of the South and Chysigona Baker.  at the Parish Church of Hawkhurst, Kent, on the 10th of January 1687,  they had 4 children, Philadelphia Simons, 1689,  Jane Simons, 1695, Edward Simons, 1696 and William Simons, 1703, all born in Marden, Kent.
Philadelphia never married, Jane died at 22, Edward married Hester Chilman, he died in 1740 when Hester was pregnant with their second child, Mary Simons B 1740,  the widow Hester Simons nee Chilman then married Edward's nephew Boys Simons, B 1723 son of William Simons B 1703 and Elizabeth unknown, in 1743 and had the 4 children with him.
I found the marriage of William Simons B 1655, of Marden, Kent, to Mary Boys in the "Platagenet Roll, The Blood Royal" Mary Boys descends from King Edward the third, through his second son Lionel of Antwerp and Lionel's granddaughter Lady Elizabeth Percy nee Mortimer. through the Lennard line.
She also descends from the the Spencer's through the third wife of Sir Nicholas Parker, Catherine Temple, whose mother was Susan Spencer, Susan Spencer and John Temple were the 11th great grandparents of Lady Diana Spencer, there are many titled people in Mary's family lines which make it easier to search.
I have the wills for Edward Simons, Gent, D 1676, his granddaughter Philadelphia Simons, Spinster, D 1742, grandson Edward Simons, D 1740, the daughter and son of Mary Boys, also Hester Simons nee Chilman, D 1783, the wife of both Edward Simons D 1740 and his nephew Boys Simons, these are obtainable from the Marden Historical society and have been a great help with my research in tying these people together
The marriage of William Simons 1655, and Mary Boys can be found at Familysearch, Hawkhurst,Kent, 10 January 1687

Google : The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal The Mortimer-Percy Volume,     Descendants of Philadelphia Parker married at Willingdon 1 February 1649, Samuel Boys of Hawkhurst, 1a to 7a, on page 518,  they had 1 son and 6 daughters, Mary Boys is 5a, on page 520.
There are heaps of trees, tombs and paintings online for Mary's ancestors.