Shakespeare's Wife, Family and Will

In 1582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. Six months after their marriage their first daughter, Susanna, was born in May 1583. Two years later, in 1585, they had twins, Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare spent most of his time away from his family working and did not have a very happy marriage with Anne.
Anne raised the children in their grandfather’s house because William was always away for work. “There are no known records that show that Hamnet Shakespeare ever attended a school although it was customary for a boy from Hamnet’s background to have had an education. Neither of Hamnet’s sisters had an education and neither of them were able to read or write.”(William Shakespeare, His Children & Grandchildren) None of Shakespeare’s children knew how to read or write, but Shakespeare is known for his writing.
In his will, Shakespeare left most of his fortune to his daughter Susanna. To Judith he left £300 (the modern equivalent of about $260) in her name, and to Anne he left only his second best bed. “Among the very few facts of his life that have been transmitted to us, there is none more clearly proved than the unhappiness of his marriage. The dates of the births of his children, compared with that of his removal from Stratford, the total omission of his wife's name in the first draft of his will, and the bitter sarcasm of the bequest by which he remembers her afterwards, all prove beyond a doubt both his separation from the lady early in life, and his unfriendly feeling towards her at the close of it. In endeavouring to argue against the conclusion naturally to be deduced from this will, Boswell, with a strange ignorance of human nature, remarks, 'If he had taken offence at any part of his wife's conduct, I cannot believe he would have taken this petty mode of expressing it.’" (Mabillard, Amanda) Either Shakespeare disliked his wife and second daughter, or he thought Susanna had more life ahead of her to use his fortune.
Susanna married Dr. John Hall when she was 24 years old. Hall lived in Stratford where Anne raised her children and had a prosperous medical practice, one of the towns leading citizens. They got married on June 5, 1607. This marriage made Shakespeare very happy, he even made John and Susanna executors of his will. They had a baby girl, Elizabeth, eight months after their wedding. Elizabeth married Thomas Nashe in 1629, had no kids, and was widowed after six years of marriage.
Judith was engaged to Thomas Quiney, a vintner and tavern owner. At first William and Anne approved of this because Thomas came from a good family, but when Thomas got another girl pregnant, they changed their minds. The scandal spread through Stratford. Quiney could not get the special license he needed to marry Judith but they did it anyways and were excommunicated. William immediately called upon his lawyer and changed his will to give Judith a sum of money in her name only. Richard and Judith had three children, Shakespeare, who died at six months, Richard, who died at 21 years old, and Thomas who died at 19 years old, all possibly of the bubonic plague.
Hamnet Shakespeare died at 11 years old of the bubonic plague.


William Shakespeare, His Children & Grandchildren, 22 May 2012. < http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-children-and-grandchildren.htm>
Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare’s Last Will and Testament, Shakespeare Online. 21 May 2012 < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespearewill.html>