Will - 25 pages long. Is this possible?

[LizzieW]

I've found out that a will my 10 x g.grandfather made dated 1597, is available at Ipswich Record Office on microfilm.  They are happy to print it out for me at £1/page A4 or £1.50/page A3, which they recommend as it is written in old English and would be easier to read.  So far, so good.  But they say the will is 25 pages long.  

Is it usual for someone to have a will that is 25 pages long, bearing in mind that his own father's will dated 1558 was only about 3 pages of A4, or do you think there must be other wills on the same microfilm?

I already know that my 10 x g.grandfather left his manor house to his wife and made her responsible for bringing up the children , which are named,  of his (mentally deficient) daughter and her husband, to ensure they had sufficient meat, drink, clothes and lodgings.  Also he willed that on the death of his wife, the manor house should go to his daughter's eldest son.

I'm sure there is much more in the will, as he owned lots of land and property, but 25 pages?

Lizzie

[nameless]

I've received one today from the probate service and its 8 pages long in small, illegible writing so it could be.

[LizzieW]

If it's 25 pages long in Old English handwriting, it's going to take me ages to decipher it all, I'm sure I'll be putting whole paragraphs on Roots for some clever people to help me.

Lizzie

[nameless]

The one I have is from 1890s  and I can only pick out a few names. 

[coombs]

It is possible if he had a lot of assets.

[frederickay]

hi , i would recheck you are not getting several unrelated  wills ..
 Then  with luck you might be getting bills and accounts as i did in Kendal library but i think it unlikely surely . an ancestor of mine .. i will just drop this in lol.. was a duke and he was loaded , only had three children but his will i got from the archives was only about 5 pages and that was all in Spanish .... you might be getting a bonus of a lot of papers . recheck . good luck ... i also have a lot of letters and after a very short time you will get into the eye/ brain swing of things esp if you have vague knowledge of people names and places ... take your time and enjoy .. ha ha with one that long it might say the 10= grandchild inherits . wouldn't that be nice.
 frederickay .

[LizzieW]

I do know that he mentions the names of his 7 grandchildren, which I already know. 

I'll check with Ipswich on Monday that all the 25 pages related to my 10 x g.grandfather and not to other people as well.

Lizzie

ps.  Coombs - he did have a lot of assets, a manor house, other large houses and cottages with tenants, as well as land etc.

[smudwhisk]

I've seen PCC Wills that long but they tended to be of titled families.  Mind you if he was making provisions for family to benefit but the actually property to be held by others, that may be why its so long.  Also if its an original Will as opposed to a registered copy, I've seen them leave large spaces between lines which may account for the large number of pages involved.

Hadn't realised that Ipswich charge £1 per page to print off Wills on A4, its a shame a researcher we know doesn't go there since I'm after some Wills myself.  

Nicola

[Marmaduke 123]

Could an inventory be attached? That might be quite lengthy if he had a lot of assets. Lucky you if so!

Anne