Testament from the 1600s

[WillowG]

Hi!

I am really hoping that somebody that can help me I think I have deciphered most of it, but this part has me stymied. In addition, it is a kind of perplexing and important part!

Thank you on beforehand

Adding a second screenshot as I thought the first was a bit blurry.

[Greensleeves]

Hello Willow, and welcome to Rootschat.  It would help if you could post a larger piece of the document, so that we can tell the context of the passage, and get the 'feel' of the hand.

Kind regards
GS

[arthurk]

Yes, a bit of context would help, but in the meantime I'm wondering about "sonne of my Nephew". My main doubt is that there isn't much of a descender on the "p" of Nephew.

[WillowG]

Thank you so much!

Yes, Sonne of my Nephew was my guess as well! But when I now post the next part, you will see how that does not make any sense at all

(Actually I would love to get this entire bit translated, especially the whole sentence I posted the snippet from, and a couple of the following, but I didn't feel like I could ask for too much to begin with!)

Now you see? The sentence reads to me:

"Item I give and bequeath to my cousin Thomas son of my nephew Edward" ... lol

[WillowG]

It wouldn't allow me to upload both snippets at the same time.

[arthurk]

If the two extracts run together, it does seem to make sense:

"...my Cozen Thomas ___ sonne of my Nephew Edward ___ late of Marston..."

Unfortunately the testator couldn't remember their surnames, so spaces were left.

[WillowG]

Hi!

Sorry, yes, the two extracts do run together. They are from different pages.

Thank you so much for trying your hand at this

But how can he both be a cousin and the son of a nephew at the same time?

This has confused me all day long, lol

[Bookbox]

At this early period, cousin could be used rather loosely for a wide range of relatives. 

The primary definition of cousin as given in the Oxford English Dictionary ...
1.
†a. A collateral relative more distant than a brother or sister; a kinsman or kinswoman, a relative; formerly very frequently applied to a nephew or niece. Obs.

[goldie61]

In the 1600s, and even much later, the term "cousin" did not necessarily mean the same as we would think now.
It was a loose relative term.

See this page about the use of the word in Shakespeare;http://www.shakespeareswords.com/cousin

Added: I see you typed quicker than I did Bookbox!