FFRANCE OF LITTLE ECCLESTON HALL.
William, the son of John ffrance, who married the younger daughter of Richard Kerston, of Little Eccleston, was the first of this family to reside at the Hall, and he was living there at the beginning of the seventeenth century. William ffrance had two sons and a daughter—John, born 1647; Henry, born 1649; and Alice, born 1653. John, the eldest son, succeeded to the Hall and estates on the demise of his father, and married Deborah Elston, of Brockholes, by whom he had issue—Robert, who died in 1671; Anne, died 1672; Thomas, died 1672; Deborah, died 1673; John, born 1675; William, died 1680; Henry, died 1676; Mary, died 1701; and Edward, died 1703. John ffrance, senʳ., survived all his sons except John and Edward, and on his death, in 1690, was succeeded by the former and elder of the two brothers. John ffrance, like his father, resided at the Hall, and espoused Joan, daughter of John Cross, of Cross Hall, by whom he had issue—John, born 1699; Anne, died 1702; and Henry, died 1707. John ffrance died in 1762, and his eldest son, John, 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.[61]