• Surname has also been spelled as “Holliocke, Holliock, Holiocke, Holiock or Holyocke,” however, he signed his will with “Holyoke.” That being said, in other documents, his surname was spelled in several different ways, including one document where his name was spelled three different spellings all within the one document. During this period of time, before about the late 1600’s, many writers relied on the phonetic / pronunciation because literacy rate of most people of the time was quite low.

• The surname HOLYOKE and all of its variant forms seem to be derived from the holy oak, or gospel oak, an archaic term for a boundary tree. In Anglo-Saxon it is ““hálig āc” (Holy Oak)

• Some records list his year of birth as “1541” which is unlikely given his parents weren’t married till about “1550”

• Some records has his year of death as “1631”

•”During the middle ages and the sixteenth century, it had been common practice to give a new-born child the same first name as an elder sibling, especially if it was the traditional name for the head of the family." … "Nothing better illustrates the resigned acceptance of the expendability of children than the medival practice of giving the same name to living siblings in the expectation that only one would survive."

• John was a mercer, or fabric merchant.

• His will, dated 21 Nov, 1587, was witnessed by his stepfather, William Abell, and also by John Stockton, the parish rector. Rev. Stockton is the father of Prudence Stockton, who would later marry John Holyoke’s son, Edward.


[S:2], [S:5], [S:9], [S:12]

• Also known as “Lady Elizabeth Stokes”


[S:2], [S:12]