inherited the estates. This John ffrance married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Roe, of Out Rawcliffe, and by that union became possessed, later, of Rawcliffe manor and Hall, to which the family of ffrance removed. John ffrance, of Rawcliffe Hall, the son and heir of John and Elizabeth ffrance, of Little Eccleston Hall, and subsequently of Rawcliffe, died childless in 1817, aged 91 years, and bequeathed his property to Thomas Wilson, of Preston, who assumed the name of ffrance.[1]
HESKETH OF MAINS HALL.
This family was descended from the Heskeths, of Rufford, through William Hesketh, of Aughton, the sixth son of Thomas Hesketh, of Rufford. Bartholomew, the son of William Hesketh, of Aughton, succeeded to his father's estates, and married Mary, the daughter of William Norris, of Speke, by whom he had one son, George, residing at Little Poulton Hall in 1570. George Hesketh married Dorothy, the daughter of William Westby, of Mowbreck, and had issue a son, William, who, on his father's death, somewhere about 1571, inherited considerable property, comprising possessions in no less than twenty-eight different townships in Lancashire. William Hesketh, who was living in 1613, married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Allen, of Rossall Hall, and sister to Cardinal Allen. The children springing from that union were William and Wilfrid. William, the elder son, is the first of the Heskeths mentioned as inhabiting Mains Hall, and he appears to have been living there in 1613. We have no documents throwing any certain light upon the way in which he gained possession of the seat, but it is most probable that he purchased it. William Hesketh, of Mains Hall, espoused Anne, the daughter of Hugh Anderton of Euxton, and had issue—Thomas, Roger, John, William, Hugh, George, Anne, Alice, and Mary. Thomas, the eldest son, was nine years old in 1613, hence it is extremely likely that he was the first representative of the family born at Mains Hall. Thomas Hesketh was twice married; the first time to Anne, the daughter of Simon Haydock, of Hezant-*ford, and after her decease, to Mary, the daughter of John Westby,
- ↑ See Out Rawcliffe in the chapter on St. Michaels' parish for the Wilson-ffrance descent.
