Sinnocks and Kin – People
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Name

John Senoke

Birth

Abt. 1540, probably in Eastbourne or Ticehurst, East Sussex

Marriage

TO: Margarett Meriall (possibly)
25 Jul 1564, Goudhurst, Kent

Death

27 Aug 1604, Eastbourne, East Sussex


5406 descendants including 1263 Sinnocks


St. Mary's Church, Eastbourne

NOTE:  John Senoke had nearly 5400 known descendants and their spouses, through six children all born in Eastbourne, mother(s) unspecified. Their baptisms are recorded in the St. Mary's Church register ranging from 1569 (Julyan) to 1588 (Jone), including an entry for 17 Apr 1580 for the direct ancestor of all us Sinnocks "Christopher the sonne of John Sevenocke christened". Christoper, in turn, is father of Elias Sinnock, who with Margery Frankwell account for 5376 of John's 5394 known descendants. The bapstism entry for John's first son "Julyan the supposed bastard of John Senocke christened" paired with Julyan's death entry in 1611 "Julian the bastard of John Senock buryed" suggest it must have been quite a scandal if they were still talking about it 41 years later. These entries also indicate varied name spellings for the same people by barely literate vicars or, more likely, their young assistants. John's name is varioulsy spelled Senocke (1), Senoke (3), Sevenocke (2), Zenoke (1) in the parish register. I use "Senoke" as the earliest standardized family name because it is the most commonly used spelling in several parish registers among several generations of family members. Parish registers are the first systemmatic accounting of "commoners" births, marriages and deaths as well as names, especially last names. The registers were begun by order of Thomas Cromwell in 1538, minister for Henry VIII. Most parishes didn't comply until the late 1500's, fearing a tax purpose, but Thomas just wanted to know how many soldiers he could conscript. However, by the mid 1600's the information was indeed used for taxing. The St. Mary's Parish in Eastbourne started recording in about 1555. After a few sporadic entries, page 4 contains the first recorded entry for any "Sinnock" in Eastbourne on 24 Nov 1559 "Christopher Senoke was buryed". Christopher was John's presumed brother or perhaps his father. However, John's parentage is unknown, but I assume he is a son of a Senoke, perhaps Christopher or Robert. This single person is assumed to be the father of John's six assumed siblings. Seven people with the same or similar surname, married, had children or died in the Eastbourne area in the late 1500's. They are all assumed to be siblings; accordingly, John has five brothers, Mathew, William, Chrisopher, Thomas, and Robert, and one sister, Jane. However, information is available only for their marriages, burials and/or childrens' baptism dates so it's impossible to tell how or even if any of these Senokes were related. On the other hand three criteria: (1) rarity of last name, (2) common locations in Eastbourne, and (3) compatible dates of deaths, marriages, and childrens' baptisms together strongly suggest at least two or perhaps several of these 7 Senoke's were indeed siblings, or at least cousins. The Family link below shows this possible early Senoke-Sinnock family. The name spread from Eastbourne to nearby Hastings, Arlington, and perhaps for Willaym, a possible seventh son, faraway Ticehurt in the same area (within 2 miles) where John Senoke (perhaps this John) married Margarett Meriall in Goudhurst, now in Kent. Willaym appears only in the now defunct International Genealogical Index (IGI), but the marriage of John in Goudhurst according to the Tyler Index to Parish Registers and the IGI entries for Willaym's family suggest a possible link for the origin of the Sinnock family inland along the current East Sussex-Kent border near Ticehurst-Lamberhurst-Goudhurst on either side of Highway A21 about half-way between Sevenoaks and Hastings.

Links
His Forest
(mostly)
His Family
(possibly)
Sam's 5th ggfather Geo's 6th ggfather Pom's 8th ggfather