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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Vimeira on Monday 10 April 23 10:36 BST (UK)

Title: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Vimeira on Monday 10 April 23 10:36 BST (UK)
Can anyone make out the final word please? It’s from the 1618 will of a Staffordshire widow - she’s leaving items to her daughters. It looks to me like “a pe are of sylk ?oobe” - perhaps "a pair of silk ...."? Is Glove(s) a possibility? Thanks!
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: goldie61 on Monday 10 April 23 10:51 BST (UK)
a peare of sylver .....
I think the last word is hookes
Can you find that first letter in another word?
It would be helpful to see more of the text - can you post a bigger bit?
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Vimeira on Monday 10 April 23 11:11 BST (UK)
Thanks Goldie, I'm attaching a bigger slice which I have as reading:
Item I geve to Margery Davy.. my Daughter my beste sute of appell [apparel]
Item I geve to the same Margery Davy a pe.are of sylver ?oo?e
Item I geve to Joane Nabbe my daughter my best newe ?cowlet [coverlet]
Item I geve to Margaret Longdon my daughter a chaffinge Dyshe
Item I geve to Elizabeth Goodden my daughter a Brazen chaulnes

No, I can't see that initial letter anywhere else. Yes, I think you're right about "silver". Not sure about hooks - the h's elsewhere are very curly. Any guess at the final word please? Cauldron?
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Vimeira on Monday 10 April 23 12:37 BST (UK)
Back to the initial letter: it could be a rather straightened out Sh as in the attached but "a pair of sylver shoobe" doesn't help either.
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Bookbox on Monday 10 April 23 12:47 BST (UK)
I agree with Hook(es). I think it’s a capital H, which is why it’s different from the others.

The daughter Margery’s surname is not Davy… The 3rd letter is k. I suspect Dakyn, or variant, with another letter originally between the y and the n and deleted with a vertical stroke. For what it’s worth, there are Dakyn in Staffordshire at this period.

The last word looks like chaukno, or chankno (have you cut off the last letter?). In the middle I believe it’s a k, not l. No ideas at present, sorry.
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: ajm314159 on Monday 10 April 23 13:01 BST (UK)
chaudron
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Stanwix England on Monday 10 April 23 13:12 BST (UK)
This link has some early examples of silver hooks, from the Tudor period. Earlier than you are looking at I know but I can imagine this sort of thing was still in use.

https://www.antiquities.co.uk/shop/ancient-jewellery/brooches-pins/selection-of-tudor-silver-clothes-hooks/
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Vimeira on Monday 10 April 23 13:20 BST (UK)
Thanks - I’ll go with Hooks then - and thanks for the link Stanwix. Yes, I imagine things were passed down for generations.

Thanks also for pointing out the Dakyn name.

There’s an s on the end of the Chau/n word, right at the edge of the paper, and it’s the end of a sentence. Attached. His writing’s worse than mine! Assuming it was a clerk and she didn't write it herself.
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Bookbox on Monday 10 April 23 14:01 BST (UK)
I think it’s not an s on the end, but a yogh – a hangover from middle English, usually rendered gh or y in modern spelling. But I haven’t found a suitable word yet.
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Vimeira on Tuesday 11 April 23 10:45 BST (UK)
Yes, it does look like a yogh, thanks. Maybe a misspelling of chandelier?
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Bookbox on Tuesday 11 April 23 11:01 BST (UK)
On balance, I still think in the middle it's a k, rather than an l or d.

But if I'm wrong, and at a big stretch, it could be a variant local spelling for chaunlor/chaundlor, meaning candlestick. Brass candlesticks are commonly found in probate inventories etc.
Title: Re: Help with a word from an old will please?
Post by: Vimeira on Tuesday 11 April 23 11:33 BST (UK)
I need a list of 17th-C Staffordshire dialect words! I'm about to attempt the inventory so maybe something will emerge there.