Brettons and the Heneage family

Two grandsons of the martyr, John Bretton, became Auditor and Estate Agents for two recusant families in the 1600’s. Richard for the Mannock family in Suffolk and Luke for the Heneage family in Lincolnshire. We have tried to trace these two people and their families, if any, so far without success. However a relative of ours, Dorothy Edson from Grimsby, has a great interest in the family and we have been in touch for some time. She has concentrated on the female lines going back to the contacts with the Wentworths from Frances Wentworth and in her searches she has come up with a most interesting piece of information. In the Heneage line she has found an entry which states that “Olive Bretton, daughter of Thomas (Edward ?) Bretton of Felmingham, Norfolk, widow of Thomas Hearne married Sir George Heneage (Vice-Admiral) and died on 3rd February 1632 (oddly my birthday) and was buried at St Martins in the Field.” She therefore died about 10 to 12 years before Luke was appointed Auditor and Estate Agent to the Heneage family.

Is this just a tremendous coincidence or is there some connection between this Olive Bretton and her family and our family back in Yorkshire ?. The only Thomas on our tree would be great, great, great uncle to Luke but bearing in mind that we found another ancestor buried, for some reason, in Nottinghamshire was there any other migration to Norfolk ? and did the family keep in touch ?

Then, as part of our own on-going research, we       came up with yet another marvellous coincidence.     We found that a Francis Mannock born about 1616 of Gifford’s Hall, Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk, married, on the 20th May, 1636 none other but a Mary Heneage of Deene Northampton. Whilst this is not the family seat of the Heneages it is doubtless a branch of the family. (To help trace the family if anyone is interested a daughter, Mary Mannock died at Writtle, Essex on 21st April, 1687 and was buried at Stoke (county ?) on 30th April, 1687.