Francis left
a son, John, whose son was another John. This last John settled at
Broadford (while his father remained at Grovehurst), and, when quite
young, married Elizabeth Weller. He seems to have been a careless,
easy-going man, who thought frugality unnecessary, as he would succeed
to the estate on his father's death; but he died of consumption in 1704,
a year before that event took place. One of his sisters married into the
family of the Stringers (neighbours engaged in the same trade as the
Austens), and numbered among her descendants the Knights of
Godmersham--a circumstance which exercised an important influence over
the subsequent fortunes of the Austen family.

Elizabeth Weller, a woman happily cast in a different mould from her
husband, was an ancestress of Jane Austen who deserves commemoration.
Thrifty, energetic, a careful mother, and a prudent housewife, she
managed, though receiving only grudging assistance from the Austen
family, to pay off her husband's debts, and to give to all her younger
children a decent education at a school at Sevenoaks; the eldest boy
(the future squire) being taken off her hands by his grandfather.[6]
Elizabeth left behind her not only elaborately kept accounts but also a
minute description of her actions through many years and of the motives
which governed them. It may be interesting to quote one sentence
relating to her move from Horsmonden to Sevenoaks for the sake of her
children's education. 'These considerations with y^{e} tho'ts of having
my own boys in y^{e} house, with a good master (as all represented him
to be) were y^{e} inducements that brought me to Sen'nock, for it seemed
to me as if I cou'd not do a better thing for my children's good, their
education being my great care, and indeed all I think I was capable of
doing for 'em, for I always tho't if they had learning, they might get
better shift in y^{e} world, with w^{t} small fortune was alloted 'em.'

When the good mother died in 1721, her work was done. Schooldays were
over, the daughter married, and the boys already making their way in the
world.

The young squire and his son held gentle sway at Broadford through the
eighteenth century; but much more stirring and able was the next
brother, Francis. He became a solicitor. Setting up at Sevenoaks 'with
eight hundred pounds and a bundle of pens,' he contrived to amass a very
large fortune, living most hospitably, and yet buying up all the
valuable land round