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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Hoo on Saturday 18 December 10 22:24 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone help me with this will from the 1500s. The last part is in Latin. I have tried to decipher it but am stuck. What is 'xpofer'?
Would it be better if I posted it in sections of higher definition?
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xpofer is an abbreviation for Christopher
Will look at willin a minute
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Yes you need slightly higher resolution
Here is a start
In the name of God amen the seconde daie of may in the yeare of our Lord god
i? thousande? free hundrith Seventie ffower I Willm Ellyson of Crollingworthe?
in the p[ar]ishe on Bingley in the Dioces of Yorke sicke of bodie but hole of
minde and of a good an p[er]fecte Remembrance praysed be almightie god do thearfore
constitute ordayne and make this my last will and testament in man[ner] and fforme
followinge that is to suit firste and principallie I give and comende my sowle
unto almightie god, my onelie creator and redemer
Sorry that's it for now getting late
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Here is my effort.
I'll revisit this tomorrow to look again at the missing parts.
In the name of god amen The seconde daie of May in the yeare of our lorde god
thousande five hundrethe seventie ffower I Will[ia]m Ellyson of Coolingworth?
in the p[ar]ishe of Bingley within the dioces of yorke sicke of bodie but hole of
mynde and of a good and p[er]fecte Remembrance praysed be almightie god do thearfore
constitute ordayne and make my last will and testament in mann[er] & fforme
following that is to saie firste and principallie I give and commende my soule
unto almightie god my onelie Creator and redemer fixinge my hole truste and
confidence of my redemption and salvation in the meritte of Christes onelie
savioure his precious Deathe and glouriouse resurrection And my bodie to
be buried accordinge to the usuall mann[er] in that behalffe p[ro]vided, in the p[ar]ishe Churche or Churche
yarde of Bingley aforesaide It[e]m It is my Will that all suche debts whiche of righte?
and ___ I do die to any p[er]son or p[er]sons be well and trewlie contented & paid by my
executors hereinafter named and ordayned and after my debts and funeral expences my
other Debtors Incident be well and sufficientlie p[er]formed & dischardged It is my absolute
Will Intente and purpose That Christopher Ellyson John Ellyson and Jennet Ellyson my
children shall have two p[ar]tes of all and singular suche goods both moveable and
immoveable which I nowe have or enioye or at the howre of my discease when soon
it shall please almighty god of his goodness to dissolve separate and call awaye my soule
frome this Corporal and fleshlie substance ___ of this transytorie worlde unto his
__ I shalbe possessed of in any wise and the thirde and laste parte off all my goods
and cattelle whiche I now have or shall have at the time of my descease beinge
...for... ...p[ar]te accordinge to a Laweful division I give bestowe and bequithe
unto the saide Christopher Ellyson John Ellyson and Jennet Ellyson my children exceptinge
onelie that I give and bequithe to the saide Jennet Ellyson my daughter the halfe
of one ___ in the custodie of the late Wiffe of Will[ia]m Moore? It[e]m I give and bequithe
unto Dorothie Dray daughter of Richard Dray my sone in lawe xxs and one ___
...........................................clothe It[e]m I ordayne constitute
and make the said Christopher Ellyson and John Ellyson my sones my trustees and
lawefull executors to see to the same execution and Lawefull p[er]formation of this
my laste Will and testament accordinge to my p[re]cise meanynge and resolute? mynde?
in the same conteyned and expressed These being witness John Rodley Roberte
humeworthe Thom[a]s Illingworthe and Thom[a]s Hellingswate
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Hi,
I've looked again, but can't get any further. Your thought
about higher resolution might help though.
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I think it might be of some benefit to a wider audience if I point out that an 'X' as in Xopofer is widely used in this period, and somewhat later as an abbreviation for Christ.One I find easily remembered.
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it certainly was redroger, and still is to this day as Xmas, in the UK at least.
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Oddly enough, I had forgotten Xmas!
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:) Well! What can I say. I am a complete novice on RootsChat and never, even in my wildest dreams did I expect this, almost, instantaneous reponse. I am so very grateful to you all, but most particularly to 'veeblevort.' I struggled for weeks, as did other members of my family, and produced a partial transcription but with all the important words missing. To have this, 99% complete version, is absolutely marvellous.
The village mentioned is Cullingworth, now in Bradford Metropolitan District, but then was a scattered hamlet next to Haworth, which, even by 1800, consisted of 36 dwellings only.
This is one of a series family wills held in the Borthwick Institute in York, so I will probably be posting some more of them in the future!
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Hoo,
Sorry i did not notice your post count when replying before. Welcome to Rootschat. :) :)
Thank you for your kind remark, and the PM which I have answered, but am not sure
whether you will receive PMs until you have clocked up a couple more posts.
Looking forward to part two of the series!
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The latin part usually just describes to whom administration was granted by a certain doctor of laws
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Yes, I couldn't make headway with the Latin or the symbol for the year.
What concerned me was that I couldn't see the name of either executor
in full or abbreviated, so I left out the name following the four
witnesses, assuming it may be part of the record of the oath, and not
part of the will. (The name being Henry Taylor clerke).
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Just go to the search function type in the words "Latin Probate" the username "Redroger" and you will find a transcription of a typical Latin probate that i posted for the benefit of users last October.
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:)Thank you for the info, Redroger. I thought it might be a bit of standard jargon.
I understand that what I have is the probate transcription, not the actual will itself. This might explain the way it is set out with no separate paragraphs, although I do not know what the usual form was for documents at that time. Could it be that paragraphing or listing came later?
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Yes, most of the earlier wills that I have seen have taken the form of continous documents, with little or no intermediate punctuation. In some cases it seems as though the person writing the will has been paid by the word rather than the content, they have never used one word when 1,000 will suffice.Another Rootschatter has suggested this is due to a lack of flexibility in the English language at the time concerned.
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Yes you appear to have the Probate Copy, and layout does seem to be a fairly
modern invention.
It became a standard for a long time that no punctuation would be used in a will
because if one person saw a comma, and another one did not, they might read two
different meanings. The exception was that each new clause could start with a
capital letter, so you might find And in the middle of a line and know it was a
new command. Probate clerks did not follow the testator's page and lines, but
just crammed into their register tightly. Sometimes they would write a squiggle
just to show where there was a new line in the original, and often if there was
no room for a word at the end of a line, they would fill up with more squiggles
to prevent insertions, then write the word on the next line. Because of these
practices, often where the signatories write a footnote to say the testator
initialled an alteration on a particular page and line before signing the will
the copy will not match up for page and line anyway and the clerk will not have
copied the alteration either. All that to confuse us, and sure enough it does. :)
You will often see L.S. near the 'signature' on a copy will or other document.
this stands for Locus Sigilli (place of the seal) and shows the position of the
seal on the original relative to the signature. it was important to record the
presence of a seal, because in English law at one time, a signature and seal
carried more weight than a signature alone.
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Hi,
Snowed in so have spent the afternoon splitting the will into bits. I hope it makes it easier to read.
Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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part 5
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Part 6
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Final part
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Name
That's the lot!
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Modified as per Reply #27, including stonechat #25.
Well done Hoo,
That's a brilliant improvement. This is a quick run through without trying to
enhance or enlarge it. It's mostly removing queries I previously had but it has
more new words in there as well. The Latin is going to be total gibberish because
I don't understand it, but someone else hopefully can fix it. I'm off to read
redroger's probate tip now, and I'll look at this in more detail tomorrow. It would be
nice to have your first one complete. Oh, and we have Christopher's name down in
the Latin part, presumably as Executor.
1. In the name of god amen The seconde daie of may in the yeare of our Lorde god
2. thousande five hundrethe seventie ffower I Will[ia]m Ellyson of Coolingworth
3. in the p[ar]ishe of Bingley within the dioces of yorke sicke of bodie but hole of
4. mynde and of a good and p[er]fecte Remembrance praysed be almightie god do thearfore
5. constitute ordayne and make my last will and testament in mann[er] & fforme
6. following that is to saie firste and principallie I give and commende my soule
7. unto almightie god my onelie Creator and redemer fixinge my hole truste and
8. confidence of my redemption and salvation in the meritte of Christes onelie
9. savioure his precious Deathe and glouriouse resurrection And my bodie to
10. be buried accordinge to the usuall mann[er] in that behalffe p[ro]vided, in the p[ar]ishe Churche or Churche
11. yarde of Bingley aforesaide It[e]m It is my Will that all suche debts whiche of righte
12. and debts I do die to any p[er]son or p[er]sons be well and trewlie contented & paid by my
13. executors hereinafter named and ordayned and after my debts and funeral expences my
14. other Debtors Incident be well and sufficientlie p[er]formed & dischardged It is my absolute
15. Will Intente and purpose That Christopher Ellyson John Ellyson and Jennet Ellyson my
16. children shall have two p[ar]tes of all and singular suche goods both moveable and
17. immoveable which I nowe have or enioye or at the howre of my discease when soon
18. it shall please almighty god of his goodness to dissolve separate and call awaye my soule
19. frome this Corporall and fleshlie substance late of this transytorie worlde unto his
20. m[a][ies]tie I shalbe possessed of in any wise and the thirde and laste parte off all my goods
21. and cattelle whiche I nowe have or shall have at the time of my descease beinge poses-
22. sed for myne owne p[ar]te accordinge to a Laweful division I give bestowe and bequithe
23. unto the saide Christopher Ellyson John Ellyson and Jennet Ellyson my children exceptinge
24. onelie that I give and bequithe to the saide Jennet Ellyson my daughter the halfe
25. of one hive in the custodie of the late Wiffe of Will[ia]m Moore It[e]m I give and bequithe
26. unto Dorothie Dray daughter of Richard Dray my sone in lawe xxs and one cott-
27. on shirte a paire of hose and one gowne of Russet Clothe It[e]m I ordayne constitute
28. and make the said Christopher Ellyson and John Ellyson my sones my trustees and
29. lawefull executors to see to the same execution and Lawefull p[er]formation of this
30. my laste Will and testament accordinge to my p[re]cise meanynge and resolute mynde
31. in the same conteyned and expressed These being witness John Rodley Roberte
32. humeworthe Thom[a]s Illingworthe and Thom[a]s Hellingswate Henrie Taylor clerke
33. __ ___ et u[lti]mo die mensis octobris anno dm_? suprascript? ___ de Craven? ___
34. firabit? de ___ ___ testi per testro in testo ___ no[r/c/v]at ......Com__ fuit
35. adm___ ___ ___ executor no[r/c/v]at iment & Saluo Iure C___
36. Christofer Willm _?
37. Ellyson d & f
Line 20, There are omission marks on the m and the t. this may be a standard
abbreviation, but i don't know it. this is just a wild guess.
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It may say U~mo Die
Ultimo - last
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stonechat you are quite right. It's definitely u m o and I didn't see the mark, although it is plain enough, so u[lti]mo it is.
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Hoo,
I have had another look this morning and finished the English part.
To save space I have edited it all into Reply #24.
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.
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What progress :)
Line 17; the word 'enoiye' must mean 'enjoy'? It would make sense.
Line 20: 'm(a)(ies)tie' majesty would also make sense so I think that must be correct.
In both those words the letter j is missing, yet the daughter is Jennett. Did they not use the letter?
The additions/corrections you have made have finished the English part. I've just looked up the original (photocopy) of the document and see that probate was granted on 1/10/1575 so he lived for nearly a year and a half after writing it.
As suggested I will re-post the Latin part, but probably not until after Christmas.
Thank you one and all. As I have written previously, I am thrilled to get this transcription, although William does not seem to have been very wealthy. I am still looking for that distinguished ancestor, tho I suppose that if we go back enough generations we must all have an aristocrat or king somewhere in our trees and also be related to each other. So far I have found a lot of Ag Labs., small farmers, weavers, spinners, watermen and a few paupers. Ah well....
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J. There wasn't, and then there was, and for a time at least, there
was precious little difference between i and j.
I believe the root of it lies in the fact that there was no j in Latin.
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Hi all,
I live in Bingley and am soon moving to Cullingworth. I came across this thread when looking more into the history of the village.
I am loving the will.
For a random bit of information, the award winning butchers in Cullingworth is called "Ellisons". They do amazing sausages!
Let me know if you want me to pop up and look at any gravestones, etc for your as I am only 3 miles away currently.
Helena
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Hi Helena,
I am the Ellison descendant who posted the will. I cannot trace my ancestry directly to to the will writer, William Ellison, but I can get back certainly as far as Thomas Ellison who was born before about 1728 in Cullingworth. As the village was very small (by 1780, 8 farmsteads and a row of tiny cottages in what is now Station Road, then Towngate) it is very likely that he is an ancestor of some sort. I have traced the family back as far as 1378 when a Johannes Ellyson paid 4d (the rate for a married man employed in agriculture) in the Poll Tax of Richard II.
The family were 'Yeoman Farmers' or 'good substantial men' and took over quite a bit of land in the enclosures of 1816.
My mother always said that 'they gave their land to the Church' which caused a great deal of family upset. It is true that in the census returns from 1841 onwards they were not listed as farmers and I think it is very likely that they did give it all away or lose it in some way.
One of them, John Ellison (my GGG grandfather) born in 1756, who was a farmer living in Towngate, gave the Methodists a barn which was converted into a chapel which opened in 1806. His gift was conditional on his being allocated the 'front pew of the gallery, lined with green silk and secured for his use for ever.' I don't know where the barn was as it is not shown on the 1816 enclosure map, but a stone built chapel opened on what is now Church Street in 1824 which is now converted into two houses.
The Parish Church was opened in 1853 to try to stem the spread of nonconformism. Before that time the inhabitants were baptised, married and buried in Bingley. Thomas Ellison (my GG grandfather) was buried in the new churchyard in 1857 and his wife Sarah in 1861. Their gravestone is very weathered but I would be very grateful indeed for any information you could glean from the churchyard. He is the one who seems to be responsible for losing the land.
From the time of the first census in which the records were not destroyed (1841) I have detailed information. There was a row of cottages listed in the later ones called 'Ellison Row' but I have not been able to pinpoint its position. I think it may have run behind the shops where 'Ellison's Butchers is now. I think I must be distantly related to them if they are descended from a Cullingworth family.
I have much more information than I have typed here, but it has all been collected at a distance and I have no prospect of visiting to verify things. The Internet, Google and 'Roots' are wonderful!
Hope you enjoy living in Cullingworth.
Hoo
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Hi Hoo,
I always knew Ellisons is quite a common name locally which was confirmed by a visit to the Cullingworth Graveyard.
We found 3 graves.
Philip Ellison 1952-1953
William Ellison who died August 10th 1910, aged 59 years.
Also of Betty Wife of the above named
William Ellison who died February 9th 1929 aged 76 years
And a final grave that we could really make out
It says:
In Memory of -------------------
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Of Cullingworth------------------
18-----------------------
Also of Sarah W--------------------
Thomas Ellison-------------------
1861----------------------
Also of --------------------
Died Aug-----------------------
Sounds like you have lots of info already but thought I would send you this just in case. Let me know if you need me to check anything physically for you.
Good luck in your research!
Helena
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I forgot to say I have photos of the graves if you want me to email them, let me know. I am not sure how to attach them on rootschat.