Unfortunately compressing this document has made it slightly less legible (if necessary I can put it into Dropbox?). I don't need to comprehend every word, but would like to be able to verify names and dates and perhaps a couple of other words for curiosity value. Everything except the
can be ignored - have just added a few words as a guide.
James Balne of the city of Bristol (
) Taylor
[a district of Bristol], but now of (
) otherwise (
) [Colonel?] Regiment of Volunteers...ffirst my son John being fully provided... only one shilling...my beloved wife Betty all my (
) to my ground
or known by the
in the parish of
in the said County of Somerset...
[next bit not very important and I get most of it]...my said brother Gyles in trust for my youngest son James to be paid and delivered to him at the age of 21... or if said son dies... to sister Sarah
of London(?) widow and in
said sister Sarah
should die... to her daughter Mary Rutson oldest daughter of my said sister Sarah wife of
(aar) Rutson bookbinder...
nominate brother Giles to be executor, etc....
seventeenth day of December 1761(?)...
This Will was proved at London on the 3rd day of January 1767(?) before... Prerogative Court of Canterbury...
Something I am also trying to understand is why this Bristol man is writing his will in Canterbury, and also why it seems to be 5 years before it is "proved". It seems that he signed up for an army, and Wikipedia tells me that Britain was involved in the Seven Years' War at that time.
(I'm still in the early days of trying to untangle some older generations of Balnes again and I see some conflicting relationships in Ancestry.)
Attachment removed
