Author Topic: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury  (Read 588 times)

Offline MattD30

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Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« on: Thursday 06 December 18 22:24 GMT (UK) »
I would be grateful if anyone here could help me with this section from the middle of the Will of Benjamin Bennett. The Will is clear over all and I've managed to read the majority of it, however some of this section seems squashed together and I am not sure if I have made an accurate reading of it. On the attached image I can read the following:

"To my Brother Wm Bennett I leave my best [grey?] coat, my silk shagrin wastecoat & Breeches [ye?] same of...….one Dozen of my best shirts half a Dozen of my...." the next bit looks lost in the fold but might be "best" something.

The line below reads "& four handkerchiefs my best Wig, my Silver Spurs, my Whip..." and it looks like there is something written between this line and the one above, which looks like "one pair silk …………."

After the line "my Silver Spurs, my Whip" there is a line of text which has been crossed out. I'm trying to make out what it says and think it might be this:

"& a full set of Silver Buckles viz shoes"

Can anyone confirm this?

If anyone can suggest how this extract should read it would be great.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.
Matt

Offline Wiggy

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Re: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 06 December 18 23:33 GMT (UK) »
I have never seen anyone with as many names and wills as you have managed to dig up Matt. 

You are lucky if they are all your family.  No matter now hard I look I can't find so many people with written wills as you seem to keep finding!!   :D

I read the same as you regarding the silver buckles etc.

Wiggy    :)
Gaunt, Ransom, McNally, Stanfield, Kimberley. (Tasmania)
Brown, Johnstone, Eskdale, Brand  (Dumfriesshire,  Scotland)
Booth, Bruerton, Deakin, Wilkes, Kimberley
(Warwicks, Staffords)
Gaunt (Yorks)
Percy, Dunning, Hyne, Grigg, Farley (Devon, UK)
Duncan (Fife, Devon), Hugh, Blee (Cornwall)
Green, Mansfield, (Herts)
Cavenaugh, Ransom (Middlesex)
 

 Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.

Offline MattD30

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Re: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« Reply #2 on: Friday 07 December 18 00:34 GMT (UK) »
I have never seen anyone with as many names and wills as you have managed to dig up Matt. 

You are lucky if they are all your family.  No matter now hard I look I can't find so many people with written wills as you seem to keep finding!!   :D

I read the same as you regarding the silver buckles etc.

Wiggy    :)

I'm afraid I have a passion for Wills and they've proved very useful in a lot of families - especially in cases where there were lots of children or where an ancestor married several times lol!

My ancestor is Benjamin's brother William Bennett but it wasn't until another researcher found his Will that I was able to piece this family together. I knew they were related as the Will of Barnaby Bennett mentioned his "kinswoman Frances Durnford", Frances was Frances Bennett who married my ancestor Samuel Durnford (someone else who left a Will). The Durnfords and Bennetts were all based in Shaftesbury but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find Frances, hence why I began looking at their Wills. It turned out that Frances was the daughter of William Bennett, who was living in the parish of St George Hanover Square, when he died. Thankfully he left a Will which named his brothers, his children, and land in Shaftesbury. The Will was proved in the PCC and it's thanks to another researcher that I found it. The witnesses on the Wills all seem to be in-laws or siblings too.

I must admit sometimes I also gather up Wills when I can't find any connections or get anywhere with parish records, sometimes just to eliminate people and other times to try and proved a theory. Other times I collect the Willls of people more for general interest. I prefer to collect any Wills of family members and not just the direct ancestors, if they provide any clues or more details about the family.

For me Wills are the most fascinating source we have available to us.

Anyhow thanks for confirming that line for me, I was pretty sure it was right.  :)


Offline horselydown86

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Re: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« Reply #3 on: Friday 07 December 18 04:16 GMT (UK) »
...my best Grey

Coat my silk Shagarin Wastcoat, & Breeches ye: same of ye: Coat

one Dozen of my best Shirts half a Dozen of my best [kerchiefs?]

& four Handkerchiefs ^one pair of Silk Hose^ my best Wig, my Silver Spurs, my Whip...



I presume ye: same of ye: Coat means the Breeches matched the Grey Coat.

I largely agree with you and Wiggy on the crossed-out section, although I'm not so sure about shoes.


Offline MattD30

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Re: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« Reply #4 on: Friday 07 December 18 19:01 GMT (UK) »
...my best Grey

Coat my silk Shagarin Wastcoat, & Breeches ye: same of ye: Coat

one Dozen of my best Shirts half a Dozen of my best [kerchiefs?]

& four Handkerchiefs ^one pair of Silk Hose^ my best Wig, my Silver Spurs, my Whip...



I presume ye: same of ye: Coat means the Breeches matched the Grey Coat.

I largely agree with you and Wiggy on the crossed-out section, although I'm not so sure about shoes.

Thanks for that. I was interested to see that you included "kerchiefs?" in square brackets as I thought that was what it said as well. I presume this is a variation of "hankerchiefs" although why he leaves this and then continues "& for Handlerchiefs" suggests it might be something else.

I have been through the Will again today and managed to make a full transcript (with the exception of a few words here and there). I agree with the Coat and Breeches matching.

With regards to the crossed out line, I think  the last word does start "sh" but I could be wrong with "shoes".

The really interesting thing came a few lines after this section. In the last part of the Will Benjamin leaves money to "be put out to the best advantage in good order to maintain at university the first man Child born of Elizabeth whilst Wife of my Brother William" so that has got me intrigued. William and Elizabeth are my ancestors through their daughter Frances (born Sept 1740 St George Hanover Square, Middlesex). Their first born son was Peter Bennett (born in 1739 in St George Hanover Square) so it would be interesting to see what happened to him.

Matt

Offline Wiggy

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Re: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« Reply #5 on: Friday 07 December 18 20:44 GMT (UK) »
You wore 'Kerchiefs' around your neck (instead of a tie) - or these days around your head as a kind of scarf.  Picture old labourers wearing Kerchiefs. 

Handkerchiefs were for hand use!!    ;) ;)

Wiggy
Gaunt, Ransom, McNally, Stanfield, Kimberley. (Tasmania)
Brown, Johnstone, Eskdale, Brand  (Dumfriesshire,  Scotland)
Booth, Bruerton, Deakin, Wilkes, Kimberley
(Warwicks, Staffords)
Gaunt (Yorks)
Percy, Dunning, Hyne, Grigg, Farley (Devon, UK)
Duncan (Fife, Devon), Hugh, Blee (Cornwall)
Green, Mansfield, (Herts)
Cavenaugh, Ransom (Middlesex)
 

 Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.

Offline MattD30

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Re: Benjamin Bennett of Shaftesbury
« Reply #6 on: Friday 07 December 18 21:03 GMT (UK) »
You wore 'Kerchiefs' around your neck (instead of a tie) - or these days around your head as a kind of scarf.  Picture old labourers wearing Kerchiefs. 

Handkerchiefs were for hand use!!    ;) ;)

Wiggy

Ah of course! Like the term "neckachief" I guess. I like the way in which his different types of clothing were listed as it gives an idea of how he liked to dress.

You find some interesting and revealing things in some Wills. In one Will I've looked at the testator leaves his "best walking cane" and "best top hat" to his eldest son. I suspect these were his sunday best items as his second son got the "second best walking cane" and "a plain hat" and the youngest son only got "a plain cloth hat". This person isn't a direct ancestor of mine, but I took a look at his Will as he was married to my ancestor's sister. Other things I've found in Wills include, rings (sometimes described as "dimond" and some simply described as "gold"), and various types of shoes. It's these things that help build up a personal picture of a person.

Matt