On the 12 July 1637 Dorothy Parsons (c.1612-1686) was married in Wells, Somerset, to John Eastmont (d.1668), a rich clothier. After their marriage Dorothy and John lived at Greenhill House (now The Green boarding house) in Sherborne, which had been built in the 17th century by the Eastmonts and is now regarded as the best 17th century house in Sherborne.
Dorothy Eastmont died on the 25 December 1686 and was buried on 1 January 1687 in Sherborne Abbey. By her will (made on 15 December 1686) Dorothy Eastmont left £50 to the master and brethren of Sherborne Almshouse, the interest from which was to be used yearly at the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the 25 March, also known as Lady Day) to buy ‘linen changes for poor old wives and widows of the inhabitants of Sherborne’. Dorothy also left 40 shillings to her chambermaid.
In 1722, Greenhill House was inherited by John and Dorothy Eastmont’s daughter, Dorothy who was married to Carew Hervy Mildmay (1690-1784), MP of Hazlegrove in Somerset. On his death in 1784 Carew Mildmay left his estates to his great niece Jane Mildmay, wife of Sir Henry Paulet St John who took the surname Mildmay.
Rachel Hassall