Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Death: 1556 (or 1555).
Place of Death: probably Lydd, Kent.
The date 1556 is given on her monument in the parish church of Lydd. However, the churchwarden's accounts of Lydd record Joan's husband Peter paying for ringing the knell at her burial in 1555.
Relationships
Father: John Epps.
Mother: Alice.
See the Commentary section.
Spouse: Peter Godfrey. Married 24 April 1540 in Old Romney, Kent (St Clement).
The marriage is recorded in the parish register. This relationship is given in the 1619 visitation of Kent (p. 132). The name Jone is given on her monument in the parish church of Lydd (Howard, p. 262).
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. The two further sons are mentioned in Peter’s monumental inscription. They may have been born between 1545 and 1548 when the registers are faded and difficult to read.)
William Godfrey (baptized 9 September 1542 in Lydd - buried 20 September 1542 in Lydd)
Alice Godfrey (baptized 15 October 1543 in Lydd - buried 25 November 1570 in New Romney, Kent) married Thomas Plommer 2 October 1559 in Lydd.
Katherine Godfrey (baptized 15 September 1544 in Lydd) married John Berry 18 August 1562 in Lydd.
Susanna Godfrey (baptized 4 May 1551 in Lydd) married (1) Edward Wilcocks 5 October 1567 in Lydd; married (2) John Fowler 11 October 1580 in Lydd.
Peter Godfrey (baptized 17 July 1552 in Lydd - buried 8 December 1566)
Thomas Godfrey (baptized 26 March 1554 - buried 24 February 1623/4 in Lydd) married (1) Mary Partridge 14 September 1578 in Benenden, Kent; married (2) Elizabeth Pix 16 June 1582 in Folkestone, Kent; married (3) Alice Allard 24 February 1589 in Lydd.
Two more sons and one more daughter.
Commentary
Joan’s parentage
In the 1619 visitation of Kent (p. 132), Joan is described as “filia Joh’is Epes”.
Joan was married in 1540 in Old Romney. In his 1526 will, John Epse of Old Romney named his daughter Johan.
John also, in his will, named his wife Alys. In her 1526 will, Alice Eppse asked to be buried in St Clement in Old Romney and named her daughter Johane.
References
Parish registers of Lydd, Kent. Digital images on Findmypast.co.uk accessed 1 May 2020.
Parish registers of Old Romney, Kent. Digital images on Findmypast.co.uk accessed 2 May 2020.
The Visitation of Kent: taken in the years 1619-1621. (Harleian Society, 1898).
“The Visitation of the County of Kent, Taken in the Year 1619” Part III (J.J. Howard ed.) in Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. VI, (1866) pp. 251-301.