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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Dorset => Topic started by: Paul Caswell on Friday 13 June 08 23:43 BST (UK)
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I made this wonderful discovery the other day. Its the will of my seventh great grandfather Simon Stockley 1680-1733. There's a letter and an itinerary that goes with it.
My interpretation of it is:
September the 29 : 1733
I do give this house and goods to bety stockly
durin her life if she have any a cason to
sel any of the goods for her conuence she
may and after her deces the goods and the
ener chamber is marys as long as she lives a
singel life and the house is georges deuren
johns life and I do give john ane shining and
this is my last will and testament
sind seld and delivered by Simon Stockley
X his mark
john north
george osmond
witnesses
the goods is marys
for ever after her
mothers deces
It has a wonderfully poignant feel. Poor old John (my 6th gt) being cut from all inheritance. He must have been a troublesome (the word used in the letter) boy.
Oh yes! My questions. ::)
What does conuence mean? I think I can guess it means something like convenience is used nowadays. Was there a true meaning?
Am I right in interpreting and I do give john ane shining as meaning john gets nothing? Is this an unusual/local phrase?
Paul
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It must have been a deathbed will as he is recorded buried on 2 Oct 1733, just three days later.
Paul
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Hi Paul
I have a will where a son was given a "shilling"
Someone told me that possibly
1/ He had already had his inheritance from the father
or
2/ Giving him a shilling would ensure he could not contest the will
Sylvia
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Paul,
What a wonderful find!
In Jean Cole and John Titford's book, "Tracing Your Family History", they say "... a token shilling may be left ... to a son who had already been given land or financial help during the testator's life", so that accounts for the single shilling.
feelng very envious,
Viv
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What clear writing. That other legal script is awful to try and read.
I think you're right that conuence is like a phonetic spelling of a spoken accent, so convenience.
A cason - occasion
Very literate though, I wonder what his occupation was.
modify: just having another look, I see he made his mark, so it was a dictated will.
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Here's the letter. It adds more story to the situation. :)
I think I hit lucky with this.
Here's my transcription:
Dear Sir
I have here sent you the will
of Simon Stockley and a true
inventory of his goods his widow
is hardly able to be at the expence
of taking out letters of administration
but she was forced to do it in order
to silence a very troublesome son
I am yr humble servt
Jno Pope
Corfe Castle
nov 13 : 1734
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And just for completeness, the seemingly quite meagre inventory.
An inventory of the goods of Simon Stockly
of Corfe Castle Mason taken Oct 22 ??34
In a Buttery
A Cubboard
Two small iron Potts
One Ladle
An old Table Board
One Trendle
In a dwelling room
Half a dozen of plates
seven small puter dishes
seven of chairs
one small pro?d
two small ske?ers
two of table board
In a inner chamber
an old feather bed with headboard
two pillows two blanketts &
one rug
In a outward chamber
an old feather bed rug & Blanket
two pair of sheets
two of chairs
four old boxes
a little old table board
Such a shame the address is not mentioned.
I wont post the image, it doesn't add much but I would welcome any ideas on what these items are, and what on earth was a trendle?
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The second one might be 'two small skillets'
Jennifer
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Well, if it's any help, here's a picture of a trendle ;D http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/images/Darmusf.gif
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Now you point it out Jennifer it does look like Skillet, and a skillet would be appropriate here. I missed the vary faint high upstroke of the 't'. Thanks for that. :)
Paul
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One small crock ? (best I can do)
Jennifer
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Hi Jennifer,
I thought of 'crock' but here's a 'c' from the same image. It doesn't look much like it, or does it?
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And back to the 'shining'.
Much as I want to, I really cant see any 'L's in here. Any other ideas?
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I thought of 'crock' but here's a 'c' from the same image. It doesn't look much like it, or does it?
No, I can't see much similarity. At the moment I can't make anything else out of it.
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How absolutely lovely , to see what people had in those years. And to leave a will for them gives an idea of how people lived, and really how precious they were when you weren't on the wealthy side, leaving sums of cash etc.
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Much as I want to, I really cant see any 'L's in here. Any other ideas?
I can only see 'shining' - did it have some other meaning to that which we use today?
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Paul,
I don't think this is a legal will, mainly because there's no preamble, and also because there is the Admon (inventory). But that doesn't mean it's any less precious! These are examples of how fairly ordinary people - but the cream of the ordinary people, because they had access to people who could write - of how they lived, what they found essential for life. Interesting that there are no mason's tools in the Admon.
BTW, Paul, you can find the christening of the 'troublesome son' (we all have them - nothing changes!) at the Corfe Castle section of the Dorset online parish clerk records at
http://www.opcdorset.com/CorfeCastleFiles/CorfeCastleBaptisms1700-1739.htm
John, christened 28th Oct 1702, and
George, 23rd Jun 1706,
and
Mary, 18th Mar 1715
Very big gap between christenings of George and Mary ...
Also, at
http://www.opcdorset.com/CorfeCastleFiles/CorfeCastleBurials1668-1744.htm
there's a burial recorded for a John Stockley.
For the Admons I've seen, Simon had a lot of goods, and a four-room house - that's big for those days! Does it say who did the inventory of goods? No need for an address - in those days, everyone would have known where Simon and Mary lived. Small village.
It's very frustrating not to be able to work out those words - 'crock' and 'skillett'. The words need to be taken in the context of the writing style of whoever wrote the list. And as for 'shining' - seems to me to be the work of someone concentrating so hard on writing that he doesn't realise he's made a mistake, simple as that. It definitely means shilling!
I hope you realise how lucky you are, to have such wonderful pieces of paper from over 250 years ago!
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I should think the will is quite legal, although not drafted by a lawyer. Ones like it today are alsol legal.
And also 'Bety' is having to take out letters of administration, even though she can't afford it.
Great information though VivP, and I do agree that the social history background, and the ownership of it is something to be rather envious about.
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Thank you ViV and silvery,
The gap between George and Mary is neatly filled by Martha who was baptised 20 Aug 1710. Martha married in 1732 so she was presumably not considered at the time, being both female and married.
John and George were also married by the time Simon died but Mary didn't marry until 1735.
I am guessing the inventory was done by the same person who wrote the letter as the inventory is mentioned in the letter. His name looks like John Pope. I haven't found anything on him yet.
Paul
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I hope you realise how lucky you are, to have such wonderful pieces of paper from over 250 years ago!
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Oh I do ViV. :) I am trying sooo hard not to gloat. :)
This is the first will I have managed to get. You don't realise how things like this make the names into real people until it actually happens. ;D
Paul