Thomas MILES lived in Shenton and was a wealthy man. The little we know comes from his last will and testament in which he gives his loving wife Mary a feather bed, Robert, his younger son, two hundred pounds (worth about £400,000 in 2020) and everything else to his eldest son Thomas.
It appears that Thomas and Mary had another daughter, Mary, who died in 1684.
He appears to have died shortly after writing his will in 1694.
I had thought that Thomas was the son of William MILES and Elizabeth ASHBURNER of Shenton, however that Thomas died shortly after birth.
Another Thomas MILES, son of Thomas Miles, was baptised in Mancetter in 1646 but that Thomas also died young in 1647.
A parish record exists the marriage of Thomas MILES and Elizabeth SKETCHLEY on 29 May 1667 in Shackerstone. This may have been an earlier marriage or unrelated.
In 1650 a Nathaniell MILES of Shenton willed his estate (after nine small bequests to various nieces and nephews) to be split between his nephew Thomas MILES and his niece Ann CROWDER.
In 1657 Thomas MILES of Witherley (5 miles from Shenton) leaves his estate to his son Thomas MILES with a small provision for his wife Alice. Later, in 1670, his wife Alice leaves her estate to her daughter Alice with a small bequest to her son Thomas.
It is not clear how or if these families are related to each other or whether they are related to my 9th Great Grandfather Thomas MILES, however as a wealthy man he must have inherited land from earlier generations.