Gisleham and Spexhall. REYNOLDS.

[LizzieL]

Page 4 of this

http://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Data/Sites/1/media/parish-histories/gisleham.pdf

has the school date as in the 1840s, much later than the will and closer to the date of litigtion.

[LizzieL]

Legacies: Sarah Downing £50 a year for life. (Notes suggest she was 45).
Executors £50 each
£400 for establishment in perpetuity of a school in Gisleham to teach 6 poor boys to read.
Residue to nephews and nieces, children of my brothers and sisters, share and share alike, and if deceased to their children.
Scribbled note: value £614 duty paid £36.17 which I take to be the total value of his estate.

If the estate was only worth £614, the executors remuneration and the bequest for the school would only leave less than 3 years annuity for Sarah Downing and nothing for the nephews and nieces.
I wonder who she was? At 45, she had the potential for quite a few more years,

[LizzieL]

I checked freereg again for the "Livah" baptism it was the same date as the badly spelled Leonora not the 17th July. The reference was Archdeacon's transcripts not the PRs that Leonora came from. So with one more copying stage, less likely to be reliable.

[davidjculley]

Metyer Reynolds started at Cambridge in 1733. Suppose he was 20, that takes us to 1713. John Reynolds is baptised to Thos and Mary 1712 and I have found no other references to him.
The Metyer family male line died out in 1727 leaving a widow and a paternal aunt, either of them might have tried to perpetuate the name.
I've emailed the Emanuel College archivist. We'll see how friendly they are.
Maybe I've misinterpreted the note added to the will suggesting its value. Of course Metyer may have given gifts during his life. In addition to Leonora's annuity, there is the estate of Metyer Reynolds Allen.
He was transported in 1824 for theft of an Ass. In 1892 Sophia Reynolds Allan Allen (don't ask), his niece, is granted administration of his estate valued at £50. Presumably by this time they though he would be deceased. Now presumably he wouldn't have been stealing Asses if he'd had £50 to his name in 1824. Could this be his share of the will, only paid out after a long delay?
Can't do much more for now. Will come back if anything arises.

[davidjculley]

Apologies! John is the son not of Thomas and Mary but Thomas and (I think) Elizabeth.

[davidjculley]

Hi,
No further records at Emmanuel. One little give away I think. Both the Norfolk Gazette and Ipswich Journal report the death of Metyer Reynolds, grocer of Norwich early in 1790. The Gazette gets the name correct: Metyer Renolds. The Journal has "John Metyer Reynolds". Seems like someone knew something but wires got crossed. I've written the story for publication in The Norfolk Ancestor. If you'd like a draft copy (3 sides) please advise how I may reach you. The attachment options provided above this message as I write seem fairly opaque....probably not appropriate for this purpose.
Regards. DC

[jtpoutdoor]

It may be of no help to anyone but FYI Lt Jay Bracey was later found dead on a beach! Sorry don;t have the details to hand- my interest is in a Thomas Bracey a sailor who first shows up in Devonport in 1791 and Portsmouth 1795. I suspect he may have been born in Yarmouth- as was Lt Jay. There is a will listed for jay Bracey on the A2A site which may have further leads for the OP.