John Stewart - 1642 Scottish Will

[Gilby]

Another John Stewart!  Probably father or grandfather of the one in my last post (1707 testament dative).

I should be getting the hang of this, but I've been staring at it and very little has jumped out at me so far.  I'm only posting the 1st page (of 6) for now because I'm hoping to have a stab at the rest if someone can tell me what some of this says please.   

[goldie61]

I've made an attempt of the start of both of these paragraphs.
The second paragraph is a list of his goods and their prices - you can see lots of amounts of money in there.

The Testament testar and Inventar of the guids geir
sowmes of mony and debtis p(er)teining to umquile
George ^ Jon^ Stewart of Oskole(?) w(ithi)n the p(ar)o(shi)m
and sh(er)ifdome of Butt the tyme of his decease quha
deceist upone the ? day of July the zeir of god 1636 zeres
faythfullie maid & geven up bee him ? upone the
xxiiij day of ? the zere of god



In the first the s(ai)d umquile Joh Stewart had the guids gere
sowmes of mony and debts of the ?  and pryc…  following
Perteining to him the tyme of his deceis fores(ai)d viz Imprimis


On line 10 of the first paragraph, it mentions a 'sone' - ? Stewart, but I can't make out his first name. It's not another John, or even George as the scribe has written, then crossed out at the beginning.

No doubt an expert will be along soon who will be able to decipher it.

[GR2]

goldie61 has made a good start.

In the margin - Jon Stewart xxj feb[rua]rij 1642

The testa[men]t testa[menta]r and Inventar of the guids geir
sowmes of money and debtis Perteining to umq[uhi]le
George Jon Stewart of askok (= Ascog) w(i)t(h)in the p[a]ro[ch]in of Kincarth (= Kingarth)
and sh[e]r(i)fdome of Butt (= Bute) the tyme of his deceis Quha (= who)
deceist upone the [**] day of July the zeir of god 1636 zeirs
ffaithfullie maid & gevin up be (= by) him [***] self upone the
xxiiij d[a]y of Ja[nu]ar (= January) the zeir of god foirs[ai]d In sua far (= insofar) as [con]teines
the no[m]i[n]atione of his ex[ecuto]rs [                ] the maist (= most) pairt of
the Inventar of his guids & geir debtis to him and
be (= by) him and gevin up be (= by) niniane Stewart sone Law[fu]ll
to the defunct onlie ex[ecuto]r no[m]i[n]ate acceptour In sua
far as [con]teines and tother pairt of the Inventar of his
guids & geir Quhome (= whom) he no[m]i[n]atis his ex[ecuto]r in his l[atte]rwill
vnderwrittine and the [         ] sub[scri]uit (= subscribed/signed) w(i)t(h) his hand of the dait
foirs[ai]d In p[rese]ns of th(i)r (= these) witnesses eftermentionat (= aftermentioned) mair         
                                                                                                                         (= more) at
lenth beirs (= bears)

In the first the s[ai]d umq[uhi]le Jon Stewart had the guids geir
sowmes of money and debtis of the availls (= values) and pryces eft[e]r following
Perteining to him the tyme of his deceis foirs[ai]d viz Imprimis (= Latin for "namely, in the first
                                                                                                                                 place")
in askok (= Ascog) sex (= six) pleuch (= plough) horses w(i)t(h) ane Ryding hors pryce of the peice
orhead (= per head/a head) fiftie merks Sum[m]a ij c xxxiij li. vj s viij d Item mair (= more)
y[ai]r (= there, i.e. in Ascog) thrie meires (= mares) pryce of the peice orheid xx li. Sum[m]a Lx lib.
Item in mid ascok (= Mid Ascog) thrie pleuch horses and ane meir pryce of the
peice orheid xx lib. Sum[m]a Lxxx lib. Item in the fores[ai]d (= at Mid Ascog) fowr (= four)
sadell horses and meires pryce of the peice orhead xx merks Sum[m]a
Lxxx merks Item in both the s[ai]ds ascokes (= Ascogs) thrie scoir (= three score = 60) kye (=
                                                                                                                            cows) pryce
of the peice orheid v lib. Sum[m]a vj c lib. Item mair thair (= more there) Ten
quoyes (= queys) of thrie zeir aulds (= of three years old) pryce of the peice orheid v lib. viij s
Sum[m]a Liiij lib. Item mair y[ai]r (= more there) sextene (= sixteen) stirks of twa zeir aulds
pryce of the peice orheid iij lib. Sum[m]a xlviij lib. Item mair y[ai]r
Ten stirks of ane zeir auld pryce of the peice orheid liiij s
Sum[m]a xxvij lib. Item mair y[ai]r fourtie auld scheip (= old sheep) pryce of the
                                                                                                              peice


** this is not a number, just a filler. Another clerk might have just left a blank.
*** this is just a scored out mistake.

What looks like a 'y' in yair, is pronounced 'th' and what looks like a 'z' in zeir is pronounced 'y'.

[goldie61]

Ah, 'Niniane' - not a name I would have known Gr2.

I'm glad to see most of the things I couldn't see were actually thing that didn't didn't exist anyway!
(a filler, and a deletion).

[Gilby]

Thanks both for your efforts – much appreciated as ever.  Sorry for the slow response.

On the 8th line after executors, I think it says “Legacies”?

The way they write c for 100 is so different to the usual version which looks like r.  Is it still lower case or is this the upper-case c?

Yes, Ninian was a common name in this family and continued with the first couple of generations who moved to Ireland in the early 1600s.  I’m trying to figure out exactly which of the Bute Stewarts the Stewarts of Ballintoy were descended from.

[Gilby]

Page 2 of 6

I have had a stab at the first few lines, but it is slow progress! 

I think most of pages 2, 3 and 4 continues with an inventory.  If it is just lists of grain and horse I'm not all that interested.  Names of people and places are of interest.

piece orheid xxxl Summa Lx Lib.  Item ?y?d …………….. ascok to
be …….. thriescore ten be…. …ttis pryce of the boll ? ….. …. Summis
ij c Lxxx Lib.  Item mair yr ten bolls brer pryce of the boll ten …..
Summa i c ….   Item …. and in the bar…. of mid askoke twentie
fyve bolls wittis ? pryce of the boll …ld Summa j c lib.  Item mair
yr thrie bolls bere pryce of the boll … Summa xx lib.  Item …..
……….. of ………. twentie augt ? bolls ?ittis pryce of the boll
…  Summa i c xij Lib.  Item mair yr thrie bolls bere pryce of the boll

[Gilby]

Page 3 of 6

As above, if this is just a list of chattels, please don't worry about transcribing it for me.

[Gilby]

Page 4 of 6

I think the will proper starts with the bottom paragraph of this page.  Here is my attempt.

The test?? and l[atte]rwill of Jon Stewart of ascok ……..
.. his ……… the xxij … July 1636 zeirs being whole in
bodie prased be god permitting his ….. in the … of the
almytie god.  Invendrs? …. in c …. …. out? to … ….
..rag.. in … . vj xx xij … vj… viij ..  Item to …. Ke….
Ij c Lxvj Lib xiij c iiij …  Item to Jon Scott in …….. ij c …. Item

[Designer Jeans]

A random thought - is it possible that there is anything to be gleaned from either of the FTDNA Stewart DNA Projects?