Thomas & Clement Senneburye of Saintbury (d. 1559 and 1560) ... and the earliest Wiltshire Sainsbury

Two early Gloucestershire wills record the estates of Thomas and his wife Clement Sainbury of Saintbury, Gloucestershire.

The village of Saintbury is generally thought to be the place that led to the surnames Sainsbury and Sansbury. So finding residents of that village with a close variant of the place name does suggest a strong connection.

In Thomas's will, the place name is spelt with a "t" (as it is still spelt today) but the surname lacks the "t." 

Thomas Senneburye of Saintbury died around 1559, the year his will was proved. He left his estate to two daughters, Cicely and Joan, his son John, and his wife Clement.

In the name of god Amen the firste day of September in the yeare of our lord god a thousand five hundred fiftie and eyght. I Thomas Seynneburye of Seintburie in ye county of Gloucester, husbandman, being sicke in bodie...

Clement died the next year. In her will, the two names are spelt identically:

I clemente Senbure wydow in the p[ar]ysh of Senbure...

Were the Sainburys of Saintbury in Gloucestershire cousins of the Wiltshire family?

By the time Thomas and Clement died, the Sainsbury surname was established in that county. But only just.

As early as 1486 or as late as 1504 a John Sainsbury made a claim against the estate of John Sturgess and a property in West Lavington:

And in 1507, Henry VII had granted John Sainsbury (the same one?) a 7-year lease on the manor of Easterton. For what, we don't know. Where John was from, we don't know.