Help needed with 2 surnames from a 1700 will

[horselydown86]

There is an ff in the first extract:  ffor the better enabling...

Comparing that to the name in the third extract I'd say it's most likely to be Hort.  The second extract is Hort.

[Edward Scott]

Thanks, I will proceed with caution as I cannot locate a Mary Prentice in Lincolnshire at the right time.

Edward

[Edward Scott]

Can anyone decipher the word above 'five' which follows Mary's surname? Some of the letters are very similar.

Edwrad

[horselydown86]

...afore^sd twelve pence apiece & to y^e serv(an)ts...

[Edward Scott]

The ie in apiece looks very similar to last 2 letters of the surname.

Thoughts?

Edward

[horselydown86]

I did (and do) consider it a possibility.

The problem is, what is the letter or letters before the i?

Immediately before has to be a consonant, which makes that an h, since it can't be a ti.

Generally, he doesn't start the second part of his h that low.

I think it's most likely that the next letter forward (the one which would be an n in Prentice) is an a.  An ah letter combination is unusual (but possible) in English.

I think the two letters before that are re.  So we'd have ?reahie.

So while it's a possibility, I can't make a name from the parts.

[Edward Scott]

I think the 3rd or 4th letter from the end may be a 't', have a look at these 2 extracts

Edward

[horselydown86]

I think the 3rd or 4th letter from the end may be a 't'

I also think it's a t.  But that poses the question, what is that after it?

If the last two letters are ie, we would have tiie.

ADDED:  Have you been all the way through the will?  Might we be lucky enough that Mary is mentioned again?

[Edward Scott]

Sadly Mary is about the only person mentioned once

It doesn't even give me a clue on her parents and as the grandmother married at least twice (and had children) during the interregnum, it is almost impossible to work out any ideas for them.

Still letter match searching.

Edward