Author Topic: 1483 Will of John Hever  (Read 3331 times)

Offline MattD30

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1483 Will of John Hever
« on: Saturday 30 September 17 21:38 BST (UK) »
Hi

I am hoping someone can help me with a transcription of this 1483 Will of John Hever of Cranbrook in Kent. I'm posting it in 6 sections as it is easier to do that way.

I have been able to read most of the first few lines and can pick out words in the middle and near the end but any help would be appreciated as it would be great to have a fuller translation of this Will.

Here are sections 1 and 2 of the Will to start with, part 2 should start with the line immediately after the last line of part 1. The two sections should follow on when read.

Matt

Offline MattD30

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 30 September 17 21:46 BST (UK) »
Here's the next pieces of this Will (part 3 and 4).

Matt

Offline MattD30

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 30 September 17 21:49 BST (UK) »
And here are the last two parts, section 5 and 6. I think I am missing the rest of the Will so I probably don't have the probate date.

Many Thanks for any and all help

Matt

Offline horselydown86

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #3 on: Sunday 01 October 17 12:26 BST (UK) »
Matt, because this will, plus the other you posted overnight and most of the text of the Assherst wills in the recent 5 page thread are in Latin, it means that, practically speaking, only one person currently posting on the forum is capable of transcribing and translating them completely.

At the moment you are posting about 3 hours of work per day.  That's going to burn through anyone's good will in a very short time.

You say "it would be great to have a fuller translation of this will", but you don't say what it is you want.  If your interest is speculative, why put someone to the effort of working on all the minutiae of the various bequests?

As Ray of the square brackets is suggesting in the other thread, perhaps you might ask some specific questions, such as "Does anyone named John Smith appear in the will?".  Or, "Does anything in this will relate to bequests made in 1544 by Fred Nurk of Towcester?"

Then, if you are certain the will is of great importance to you and your family, you might post the whole thing, in small sections which can be processed in less than 20 minutes per day.

Just a suggestion.


Offline MattD30

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #4 on: Sunday 01 October 17 20:42 BST (UK) »
Matt, because this will, plus the other you posted overnight and most of the text of the Assherst wills in the recent 5 page thread are in Latin, it means that, practically speaking, only one person currently posting on the forum is capable of transcribing and translating them completely.

At the moment you are posting about 3 hours of work per day.  That's going to burn through anyone's good will in a very short time.

You say "it would be great to have a fuller translation of this will", but you don't say what it is you want.  If your interest is speculative, why put someone to the effort of working on all the minutiae of the various bequests?

As Ray of the square brackets is suggesting in the other thread, perhaps you might ask some specific questions, such as "Does anyone named John Smith appear in the will?".  Or, "Does anything in this will relate to bequests made in 1544 by Fred Nurk of Towcester?"

Then, if you are certain the will is of great importance to you and your family, you might post the whole thing, in small sections which can be processed in less than 20 minutes per day.

Just a suggestion.

Hiya

I'm sorry to cause any confusion or problems for anyone, it just seemed easier for me to post all the sections in one go. I did think of posting only the first two parts and then posting the rest later in the week but as the Will is short it seemed to make more sense to put it all on here so people can read it and post back their ideas when they are able.

I posted this quiet late at night and so didn't really have time to write a full list of question really. I had intended to come back to that this morning but again didn't get around to it. Sorry about that.

I thought the Will might be in Latin but wasn't totally sure. I must also confess that I'm not very good with Latin in Wills, unless I can locate names of people or words I recognise and I have had problems doing that here. I hadn't actually realised working out what these Wills said would take so long either!

To make life easier all I am really looking for at the moment in this Will is to know the names of any people mentioned and their relationships to the testator. I already have an idea of who should be in this Will but knowing the names and relationships of people mentioned will help me correctly place this in my Hever family tree.

Perhaps I should have given a more precise question like the above one and I'll try to do that with other posts. I have two early 16th century Wills which I can read most of, but there are a few parts where I am unsure of the names of the people mentioned and also a few of the words around them. Maybe it would have been better to say can anyone provide me with the names of people mentioned in this Will and their relationship to the testator.

So sorry once again and if anyone can help me out and let me know the names of the people mentioned and how they relate to the testator that will be a great help and probably all I need for now. I can always get a fuller translation later.

I'll try to make my questions for specific with other posts regarding these Wills.

I hope that clears up any confusion and makes things easier for people. If anyone wants to post a full transcript it would be appreciated, however all I am really looking for at the moment is a list of the people named and how they are related to the testator. I have some other Wills which I need advice on, but in these cases I can read a fair bit of them and just need to know the names of people mentioned. I'll post snippets of them but in those cases I'm only looking to know the names of people mentioned.

Sorry again for any confusion and causing any problems or stress.

Matt

Offline Bookbox

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 01 October 17 22:04 BST (UK) »
No problem Matt, and no harm done. Thanks for your consideration :)

all I am really looking for at the moment in this Will is to know the names of any people mentioned and their relationships to the testator. I already have an idea of who should be in this Will but knowing the names and relationships of people mentioned will help me correctly place this in my Hever family tree.

John Hever’s will was drawn up on 8 June 1483. These are the people referred to, with their relationships, if stated.

John Hever/Hevyr of Cranbrook (testator)
Marion, his wife (executrix)
Stephen Elys of Cranbrook (supervisor)
Godchildren, unnamed
Margaret, testator’s daughter, under 18 at date of writing
Trustees - Laurence Taylour, Thomas Portreve, Richard Posse the younger of Cranbrook, John Thornhurst the younger of Headcorn, John Breggeland(?) of Staplehurst. They are to hold the assets in trust until Margaret is married or aged 20.

In the last extract, the terms of the bequest to Margaret are incomplete, and there is no probate clause.

I hope that helps.  :)

Offline MattD30

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #6 on: Sunday 01 October 17 22:24 BST (UK) »
No problem Matt, and no harm done. Thanks for your consideration :)

all I am really looking for at the moment in this Will is to know the names of any people mentioned and their relationships to the testator. I already have an idea of who should be in this Will but knowing the names and relationships of people mentioned will help me correctly place this in my Hever family tree.

John Hever’s will was drawn up on 8 June 1483. These are the people referred to, with their relationships, if stated.

John Hever/Hevyr of Cranbrook (testator)
Marion, his wife (executrix)
Stephen Elys of Cranbrook (supervisor)
Godchildren, unnamed
Margaret, testator’s daughter, under 18 at date of writing
Trustees - Laurence Taylour, Thomas Portreve, Richard Posse the younger of Cranbrook, John Thornhurst the younger of Headcorn, John Breggeland(?) of Staplehurst. They are to hold the assets in trust until Margaret is married or aged 20.

In the last extract, the terms of the bequest to Margaret are incomplete, and there is no probate clause.

I hope that helps.  :)

Ahh thank and my apologies for any awkwardness again :)

I must apologise again though as I have now found that I already have some 'basic notes' on this Will which names those people mentioned. However this was done by another researcher and I obtained this information online so having someone double check the actual Will is great help in confirming the names. :)

Interestingly the only names I knew about before were Marion (his wife) and Margaret (his daughter) who is my ancestor. The source I have seen also states that John mentions a sister named Juliane who is the wife of Robert Pyend of Cranbrook.

I think I have a page missing so I will have to get that in order to double check this or add any more to this post, but I won't be doing that until the end of the week or possibly next week.

Probate apparently took place on 29 July 1483 (again this info comes from another source I have seen).

If you or anyone else is up for more challenges I'll be posting bits of other Wills over the next few days although with these I am looking for identification or clarification of names in some places and more detailed help or advice with other bits. I'll explain as I put them up (in some cases I have two Wills where the testators have the same name and it's tricky to identify who is who without knowing who else is named).

By the way was a 'supervisor' the same as an 'overseer'? Or were they different roles?

Anyhow many thanks again for all your help and the help of other.

Best Wishes

Matt

Offline Bookbox

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #7 on: Sunday 01 October 17 23:13 BST (UK) »
By the way was a 'supervisor' the same as an 'overseer'? Or were they different roles?

Same role -- to keep an eye on the executor(s).

Offline MattD30

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Re: 1483 Will of John Hever
« Reply #8 on: Sunday 01 October 17 23:18 BST (UK) »
By the way was a 'supervisor' the same as an 'overseer'? Or were they different roles?

Same role -- to keep an eye on the executor(s).

Thanks

Matt