"About three years agoe (by the perswasion of some friends) I was resolved to take a catalogue of those rarities and curiosities, which my father had sedulously collected, and myself with continued diligence have augmented and hitherto preserved together."
He then proceeds to account for the delay in the publication of the work in these words:
"Presently thereupon my onely son died, one of my friends fell sick," &c.
Again, in Ashmole's Diary we find the following entry:
"Sept. 11th, 1652. Young John Tredescant died."
And, further on, Ashmole states that
"He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth Churchyard."
The word by, in the quotation, meaning, by the side of, close by his grandfather. The burial register of Lambeth parish gives the date of the interment, Sept. 16, 1652. Ashmole's Diary, as quoted by Dr. Rimbault, and the burial register also, give the date of the death of Tradescant No. 2., who survived his son ten years: the family then became extinct.
Ashmole, who became acquainted with the Tradescants in 1650, never mentions the grandfather (No. 1.), nor is his name to be found in the burial registry; and consequently the date of his death, as far as I have read, has always been set down as uncertain. There are other parish records, however, than burial registers; and I was well repaid for my search by finding, in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, Lambeth, the following entries:
"1634. June 1. Received for burial of Jane, wife of John Tradeskin, 12s."
"1637-8. Item. John Tradeskin; ye gret bell and black cloth, 5s. 4d."