COMPLETED Help with a Will please

[findem]

Hi,

Could some kind, patient person pick the bones out of this will for me please, I'm obviously not asking for a full translation, I wouldn't wish that task on my worst enemy (well maybe) but I would be grateful for any names/relationships, dates, properties, places and if possible what the beneficiaries were given.

I did have a try myself but I found the task overwhelming, I have managed with PRs written in old style writing but of course that's just a case of knowing what it should say and only having to decipher a date and names.  I did spot what appears to be a mention of London, although where London fits into the equation I don't know.

My ancestor William Searle was said to be known in a document as William Searle of a property named Shreeves, his wife's name is Margaret and they raised six known children at Bardfield Saling 1596 to 1619, the baptism of their sixth child Ales in 1619 gave the mother's name.

There is a strong possibility that William had other properties.

I am also hoping this will might perhaps name a brother in law of William Searles so as to give a clue to Margaret's maiden name, William and Margaret are thought to have married pre 1596, I have searched the Bardfield Saling marriage PRs even though they do not start until 1598.

Regards 

[Alexander.]

Hi findem, I started off just reading the will, but in the end it was easier to just transcribe it. I don't see mention of the brother in law you were hoping for. However it looks as if there are more pages so maybe there is more useful genealogical information. All this page mentions is his sons William and James, and brother John Searle. As I only did this quickly there are a few gaps below.

Alexander

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In the name of God Amen The Sixth day of February in the yeare of our Lord god 1637:
& in the yeare of the Reigne of our Sovraigne Lord Charles 23 by the grace of god Kynge of England
Scotland France & Ireland defender of the Faythe etc the Thirteenth: I Wyllyam Searle of great
Bardfeild in the County of Essex & dioces of London Yeoman, Being sick & weake in body and
Lymbes, But of good mynd & memorye, All Lawde & prayse be given to Allmighty god therefore
doe Make ordayne & declare This to be my Last wyll & Testament contayned in theis words wch are
followinge (Thereby Revoking & disanulling all Former Wylls by me heretofore made)   First & princy-
pally I give & bequeath my Soule into the hands of Allmighty God my Maker & Creator & to
Jesus Christe my most mercyfull Redeemer & Assuredly beleyveinge Through his death & passyon
To have Full p[ar]don & Remission of all my Synnes, And my Body to the Earth from whence
it was Taken, To be decently Buryed Att the discretyon of My Executor hereafter named, And
For those Lands & wordly goodes wherewth it hath pleased god of his goodnes to blesse me I
gyve devyse and bequeath Them as followeth    Imprimis I give devyse & bequeath and my wyll
my mynde wholely is That my Brother John Searle shall have hould & occupy All that my Messuage & Farme
wherein I dwell Called Ch... by the name of Newemans of otherqyse By what name or names
soever the same is called or knowne by, wth all the Lands meadowes pastures Feedeings woods Spynyes
Commodytyes Lyeinge & Beinge in great Bardfeild aforesayd Att the Park-gate there   I have & to
houlde all & singuler The sayd Messuage Farme and presmisses wth all & everye the appurtenances for and
duringe the whole Terme & Tyme of Eleaven yeares To enter uppon the same At the Feast day of
St. Mychall the Archangell wch shall next happen imedyatly after my decease (either he the sayde
John My Brother or his assignes) To theise vses intentts and purposes hereafter expressed and declared
(That is To say) To see my Children educated & brought upp in some honest Lawfull callinge & to p[ro]vyde
For them decently & sufficyently untill they shall attayne unto their sev[er]all ages of one & Twenty years a peece
And To paye & discharge all such debts & Summes of Mony Whatsoever wch I shalle prop[er]ly oweinge and
indebted To any Manner of p[er]son at the day of my deceasse, And my Wyll & Mynd is That my Eldeste
Sonne Wyllyam Searle shall go To service, And That my sayd Brother John or his assignes, shall
allowe & give unto the sayd Wyllm my sonne The Sume of Forty shillings the yeare of Lawfull Englishe
mony to be payd unto him at the halfe yeare twenty shillings at a Time dureinge The sayd Terme of eleaven
years For and Towards his Better mayntenance   Item Further I give devyse & bequeath unto my sayd
Brother John Searle The use and Bennyfitt of Those my two tenements sytuate & beinge in the towne
streat of Bardfeild aforesayd nowe in the Tenure & occupation of Daniell Cosse and Katheryne Kepd(?)
Wyddowe or of their assignes To have & to hould to him the sayd John my Brother & his assignes wth all the
p[ro]fytts & commodytes wch may be made of them untyll that James Searle my youngest Sonn shall come
to his full age of one & twenty years, And then I give & bequeath the sayd two Tenemts unto James
my sonn & to his heiers forever Provyded That my wyll and mynd is That my sayd Brother John
shall hould my sayd meassuage wherein I dwell & those two tenemts in the the towne streat wth all the Lands &
commodytyes to them belonginge To him his executors and assigns For & duringe the Terme & tyme
aforesayd not wthstandinge my wyll & mynde is that my sayd Brother John his execurors or assignes
doe mayntayne & keepe my sayd meassuages dwelling house wth all necessary Rep[er]cations & also the other
tenemt when as often as need shall Require And to take but Compen... & needfull Forward on my

[findem]

Hi,

Many thanks for the translation and the extremely rapid response.

Well, thanks to your efforts I've picked up another son for William's family, I hadn't come across James, I have a feeling he and Williams earliest child William may have been baptised in another parish probably Gt Saling whose registers unfortunately start in the early 1700s.

The Will you deciphered had been sent to me by another Searles researcher, I went into SEAX yesterday evening (Aussie time) and checked out the Will myself and found the other page and a small notation on image 3 which I imagine was on the back of Image 2.

I'm wondering if you would mind deciphering the second page and the notation please?

I also found the Will of William's son William, also my ancestor, dated 1669 which I found reasonably easy to decipher.

Regards and thanks.

PS After posting I noticed the notation is of poor quality so please don't bother with it, from what little I can make of it it's not that important.

[Alexander.]

Hi again findem, glad to help. I did a quick go over on this, I didn't spend a lot of time trying to decipher the field and land names because I don't have any local knowledge. However this part does contain some interesting information of genealogical worth - it mentions William's two daughter Mary and Joan, his deceased brother Thomas and Thomas's daughters Ann, Margery, and Mary, as well as the three sons of Daniel Nashe (perhaps a relative).

Good luck with your searches...

Regards
Alexander

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Lands belonginge to my sayd messuage or dwellinge house not makeinge any wast   Item furthir my wyll and mynde
is that if my sayd Sonn James shall happen to dep[ar]te this lyeffe before he shall come to his sayd age of
one & twenty years and wthout ysshue [issue] of his Body Lawfunny begotten, Then I give and Bequeath The sayd
two Tenemts to him bequeathed unto my two daughters Marye & Joane & to theire heiers Forever joyntly
Betweene them: Item moreover I give & bequeath unto the sayd James my Sonn The Summ of twenty
pounds of good & lawfull mony of England To be payd unto him at his sayd age of one & twenty years
By Willyam Searle my eldest Sonne, And yf the sayd Willm my eldest Sonn shall neclect and
Refuse to paye the sayd sume of twenty pounds unto the sayd James my sonne in forme aforsayd Then I give
& bequeath unto the sayd James my sonne; That my Feild called Casam(?) Feild p[ar]cell of my sayd Farme
called newmans whirein I dwell; To him the sayd James & to his heiers forever, To enter thireon
at his sayd age of xxi [21] yeares    Item I give & bequeath unto Joane my daughter The Summ of forty
pounds of Lawfull mony of England To be payed unto hir at hir age of one & twenty years By my
sayd Sonne Willm or his assignes: wch if he shall neclect or Refuse to doe in Forme aforesayd Then
I give & bequeath unto the sayd Joane my daughter All those my two closes or p[ar]cells of Land p[ar]cell of my
farme called newmans aforesayd called Jeppond(?) feild & blackwest(?) contaynine togethir by estymacon fouer
acres & ahalf Be they more or lesse to hir the sayd Joane my daughter & to hir heiers Forever   Item I
give and bequeath unto Mary my dayghter the sue of Forty pounds of Lyk lawfull English mony to be
payed unto hir at hir age of one & twenty years By the sayd John Searle my Brother out of my Messuage
aforesayd called newmans & forth of the Free & Custom[ar]y land to him devised   Item all my moveable
goods of househould stuff wthin my dwelling house of what nature kynde or quallyty soev[er] I give
bequeath them to my fouer children Willm James Joane & Mary to be equally p[ar]ted & devyded
amongest them whence they shall all come & attaine to their ages of xxi years   In the mean
tyme my wyll & mynde is that my Brother John shall have the use of them   Item I give
& bequeath unto the sayd John my Brother The Fellinge of my Three springs to take the under woods of
them to his most advantage soe that he fell them but own in the terme of eleven yeres to him
hereby devised & not to Fell any tymber unlesse for the Reprations of the houses    All the Rest of my move
able goods wthout my dwellinge house as corne on the ground With Cattle horse Cowes sheepe hogges
or of what kind soever not Foremerly bequeathed in & by this my wyll I give & bequeath them wholy
unto the sayd John Searle my Brother To se my debts & legacyes payed & my funerall expences
borne payd & dischardged   And I doe nomynate ordayen declare & appoynt the sayd John Searle
my Brother to be sole executor to this my last myll & testamt to see the same proved & p[er]formed
as my trust & confidence is that he will   Item I give & bequeath unto Ann Searle one of the daughters
of my Brother Thomas Searle deceased the sum of ten shillings of curreant English mony   And to Margarie
& Mary two other of his daughters five shillings a peece of lawl mony To be payd unto them
wthin sixe monthes next after my deceasse   Item I give & bequeath unto the three chidlren
of Daniell Nashe Daniell Willyam & Mathew five shillings a peece to be payd unto them wthin six
monthes next after my decease   Item lastly I give and bequeath unto the poore people of great
Bardfeild the sume of Ten shillings of Currant Englishe mony To be distributed unto them wthin
one monthe next after my deceasse   And in wyttnes that this is my last will & testamt
contayned in theis two Leaves of pap[er] ...d together I have at the upper end fixed my Seal
& to either leafe sett my hand & caused the same to be Reade & declared the same to be my last
Wyll & testamt in the presence of theis wittnesses the day & year first above written

Kellam Collin                                                  The mk of X the
Nicholas Fletcher    witnesses                                 Testator Willm Searle
Henrie Clerke snr

[findem]

Hi Alexander,

Once again many thanks for your help, the will has unearthed a hitherto unknown child Joane, I had previously thought why no child named Joane was found.  The will has also solved a problem, prior to the will I suspected that William's children were the children of a William Searle, baptised at Elmdon and then William took his family to Bardfield (Little) Saling.  I had been told that William had two children John & William born possibly at Gt Saling, however in the four Elmdon children only one name matched the Bardfield Saling children and that was William.  So problem solved, I'll just have to live with the fact that I'll never be able to flesh out William's four children, if only the Gt Saling PRs went back to the 1600s   

Regards

PS I haven't yet come across Daniel Nash in my research.

[findem]

Hi Alexander,

Just to let you know I've found out where the name Daniel Nash fits into the Searles picture.

Three generations back from the William Searle whose Will you kindly deciphered for me, a William Searle, sibling of my ancestor Richard Searle, married Margaret Algor, in Margaret's Will she names the husband of her daughter Martha as Daniel Nash.  So most likely the Daniel in William's Will is descended from the one in Margaret's Will.

I had a heck of a job getting my head round that Will saga because from Richard to the William whose will you deciphered there are three Searle wives named Margaret.

Being now mentally exhausted I think it's time for lunch  .

Regards.

[Alexander.]

Good to know it is working out, findem. You're lucky that the family seem to have left so many wills (not to mention that they are available online!). I did check the SEAX site the other day as I was not aware of it - it seems great. It's a bit disappointing that I have no ancestors from down in Essex. 

Good luck with your search.

Regards
Alexander