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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Redworth on Wednesday 30 March 11 20:02 BST (UK)
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Hi All,
I have just received a Will from the GRO dated 1785. I am unable to read this document as the writing is in Old English script. Does anyone know of a free service that might be able to help me.
Regards to you all.
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Hi Redworth ;)
I m sure that if you post it here in smallish excerpts, there will be lots of RootsChatters willing to help :D
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Hi old timer,
Thanks for your advice. However, as the Will has been downloaded in PDF format I am not able to attach as portions and the whole document is too big for an attachment. If I can convert it to ordinary text then I will do as you suggest.
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Hi Redworth :)
I'll PM you my email address and you can then send the file to me. I'll crop it for you and post the first bit here for people to help you with. Alternatively, if you have a graphics program such as Irfanview, Photoshop, Paintbox Pro etc. you should be able to open the PDF in there and cut out bits of it.
You'll find that when you have a section of it transcribed for you, it will become much easier to do the rest yourself, but if you are still stuck you can always post more ;)
Cheers
Prue
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Redworth
As has been said you can get the hang of the old lettering with practice. The first few lines are all very similar and your will probably starts something like this transcript of one of my old relatives:
"In the name of God Amen I John Allin of Fryup in the Parish of Danby and County of York Yeoman being of sound and perfect mind and memory praised be almighty God for the same do make and ordain this my present last will and Testament in manner and form following, first and principally I give my soul to Almighty God that gave it me and my body to be intered and burried in the parish Church Yard of Danby in a decent manner at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named hoping for a joyfull Resurection at the last day, and as to my Temporal Estate wherewith God have blefsed me with I give and bequeath thereof as follows. "
Bryan
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Hi Brian
Thank you for your advice. I have tried reading the document which I have found quite difficult. The writing style is very flowery, also the spelling is not very decipherable. There are also, Old English or Latin words that I cannot translate.
I am attaching the part that I have managed so far to read so far.
Ray
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I think that would be backside gardens. Eatonbridge is I think the modern Edenbridge. Richard Sutton in 1781 by the tithe roll owned a small house which on later rolls was TA454. He lived at that time in a larger house called Heads, rented from a Mrs. Simpson.
Those of course are only valid if I have the place names correct.
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Hi Ray :)
Got your email with the will attached. It is actually written pretty clearly, so perhaps it's just a case of you getting familiar with the handwriting style and the terminology used in wills. I'll post the first section here and others can comment on your transcription and help you fill in the blanks ;)
Cheers
Prue
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This is the Last Will and Testament of me Richard Sutton of Eatonbridge in the County of Kent Yeoman made published and declared this twenty eighth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty five First my Will is that all such debts as I shall justly owe to any person or persons at the time of my decease shall be truly and honestly paid and discharged and subject thereto and to the payment thereof I give and dispose of my whole Estate both real and personal in the following manner that is to say I give and devise all that my Messuage or Tenement wherein I dwell and the outhouses Buildings Yard Backside Gardens and appurtenances thereinto belonging or appertaining........
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This is the Last Will and Testament of Richard Sutton of Eatonbridge in the county of Kent, Yeoman, made, published and declared this 28th Day of July in the year of our Lord, 1785.
First my will is that all such debts as I shall justly owe to any person or persons at the time of my decease shall be truly and honorably paid and discharged and subject thereto and to the payment thereof I give and dispose of whole Estate both real and personal in teh following manner that is to say I give and devise all that my messuage or tenement wherein I now dwell and their outhouse, buildings, yard, Barkside gardens and appurtenances thereinto belonging or appertaining with one piece or parcel of land thereunto near to and adjoining and now in my tenure or occupation & containing by estimation one acre and a quarter.....
Goes on. Mostly standard lawyerese. Prue is dead right - the writing is very good and clear. Just persevere. The curse of the computer age is that people seldom see real adult hand writing any more.
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........... and therewith by me now used occupied or enjoyed together with one piece or parcel of Land thereunto near adjoining and now in my own Tenure or occupation containing by estimation one acre and a quarter be the same more or less situate lying and being in Etonbridge aforesaid in the said County of Kent and all other my Messuages Saids Tenements and Hereditaments and parts and shares of Messuages Lands Tenements and Hereditaments and real Estate whatsoever and wheresoever which I have power to dispose of whether in possession reversion remainder or expectancy unto my Daughter Harriet Sutton her heirs and assigns for ever ..........
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.......... also all and every my Ready Money Securities for Money debts Goods chattels and personal Estate whatsoever I give and bequeath unto my said Daughter Harriet Sutton her Executors Administrators and Assigns to and for her and their own use and benefit and I do hereby give and dispose of the custody and Tuition of my said Daughter Harriet Sutton for and during such time as she shall remain under the age of twenty one years unto my Brother Thomas Sutton of Penshurst in the said County of Kent yeoman John Humphry of Hever Castle in the parish of Hever in the said county yeoman and Thomas Shorey of Chiddingstone in the said County of Kent yeoman and to the
Graham
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To the OP - I was completely boggled the first time I saw a will with this style of handwriting; like you, I found it almost unintelligible.
However, this is the predominant style of handwriting for wills of this era (and for many years later!) and once you "get your eye in", it's actually reasonably easy to read. You also get used to recognising certain terms and phrases that seem archaic but were commonplace n those days ("messuages and tenements" being one of the most common).
Try reading the transcripts alongside the original to get the practice and hopefully it will become much easier for you.
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The Latin part at the end of the will probably starts with the word Probatim. This means that probate was granted, Latin probates are all so similar that I have posted a generic version of this site under the title Typical Latin Probate. Why not look it up?
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To PruM, Hackstaple, GR2, Annie and Redroger.
Thank you all so much for your help and advice.
I had managed with great difficulty to read about half the first page but had no idea what some of the words were. However, I was trying to read from the very poor quality photocopy of the origional document which I downloaded from the GRO.
In future I must be able to convert these pdf files into a more readable form such as PruM has very kindly done for me, which makes for much clearer reading.
Ray
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Hi Ray :)
All I did was open the PDF in a graphics program (in this case it was just "Preview" on my Mac), crop out everything except for this small section and then convert it to a jpg for viewing online. I haven't fiddled with the appearance of it at all...when you open it in your PDF viewer you should be able to zoom in on it which will help - they're very small if you view the whole page at once.