Deciphering of names in 1680 will

[probatumfuit]

I have the will of Stephen Charnock dated 1680 which I have transcribed myself. I would like to have my transcript checked by someone experienced for any mistake on my part. Most importantly, the names of the persons mentioned in the will needs to be checked. I am attaching the photo and below is my transcription: please correct the names...


Will of Stephen Charnock [copyright belongs to National Archives UK; shelfmark: PROB 11/363/452]

The twenty fifth day of July anno domini 1680, I Stephen Charnock of the Parish of Buttolpho Aldgate House? being sick of body but of good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to the Blessed God) and calling to … the sanctity of man's life and not knowing but the omnipotent God may soon call me out of this uncertain world I do make, constitute, ordaine and declare this my last will and testament in manner and form following. Revoking and making voyd by this presents all and every will and wills howfosore by me made or declared either by word or writeing.

     And first I commit my soul to God my saviour Jesus Christ in whom I desire only to trust for onission and forgiveness of all my iniquity and my body I am willing to have buryed at such place and in such manner as my executor hereafter mentioned shall thinks most. My mind and will is that all my debts and funerall charges be in the first place paid and discharged.

Item I give to my loving ant Mrs Mary Marsh the sume of ffive pounds.
Item I give to my loving Cossin Mrs Elizabeth kuckley the sum of twenty five pounds.
Item I give to my Cossin mrs Elizabeth kuckleys three children Ann Kuckley five pounds Jane Kuckley five pounds William Kuckley five pounds.
Item I give to my Cossin Mrs Robokah Holmes the sum of forty pounds.
Item I give to my loving friend Mr Robert sithbory sixteen pounds for a silver Bason which I promised him.
Item I give to mr George Maffins the sum of Ten pounds.
The rest and residue of my estate not here given and bequeathed I doo give to my loving Cossin Mrs Ann Sykes widdow whom I do make and ordaine to be my sole executor of this my last will and testament.

     Witness my hand and seale the day and year above mentioned Stephen Charnock published and declared to be his last will and testament before Richard Tims, Elizabeth Timslla, Hanaol Traughton.


   The National Archives UK catalogue description calls Stephen a clerk although I have been unable to trace this anywhere in the will text. Any thoughts? Can you please check if it appears anywhere in the will? I have information Stephen was a priest.

[probatumfuit]

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[arthurk]

You have it mostly correct, but there are a few places where you've misread letters, eg 'e' as 'o' - easily done because of the way 'e' was written. And in a few places you've used modern spellings rather than what's in the will.

Other than those spelling issues, these are the points I noticed [my comments in square brackets]:

I Stephen Charnock of the Parish of Buttolpho Aldgate Clerke [this is where it's mentioned]

... and calling to remembrance the frailty of man's life...

Revoking and making voyd by these presents all and every will and wills heretofore by me made...

     And first I commit my soul to God my saviour Jesus Christ in whom I desire only to trust for remission and forgiveness of all myne iniquity...

Item I give to my loving Cossin Mrs Elizabeth Ruckley [+ same for her children]

Item I give to my Cossin Mrs Rebekah Holmes...

Item I give to my loving friend Mr Robert Litlebery...

Item I give to mr George Matkins...

...Mrs Ann Sykes widdow whom I do make and ordaine to be my sole executrix of this my last will and testament.

     Witness my hand and seale
the day and yeare above written: Stephen Charnock published and declared
to be his Last will and Testament before Richard Tims Elizabeth Tims Na:
thanael Traughton.

[So the last witness is Nathanael Traughton]

You'll see that I've rearranged the last extract to follow the line breaks of the original, which helps greatly in understanding it. For the future, it also makes it a lot easier to compare a transcription with the original.

[Bookbox]

Item I give to mr George Matkins...

I think I would probably go for Watkins - comparing the other capital Ms, and Wittness (3 lines below).

[probatumfuit]

  Many thanks to both of you for the corrections. My first attempt at transcription, so it's really helpful. And yes, I too think I would go for Watkins. "Litlebery" makes sense because I have an acquaintance of Stephen called Robert Littlebury.

   However, I know that Stephen was a priest (in his early life a Puritan but towards the end a Presbyterian). But here he calls himself a "clerk". Naturally I took the word in its modern sense, which is "an office worker", but considering it was written in 1680, I checked again in a dictionary proper. It showed:

•(dated) A cleric or clergyman (the legal title for clergy of the Church of England is "Clerk in Holy Orders", still used in legal documents and cherished by some of their number).
 
   Do you think this meaning is to be taken?

[arthurk]

Item I give to mr George Matkins...

I think I would probably go for Watkins - comparing the other capital Ms, and Wittness (3 lines below).

Yes, of course - I was concentrating on the middle letters and totally overlooked the first one.

•(dated) A cleric or clergyman (the legal title for clergy of the Church of England is "Clerk in Holy Orders", still used in legal documents and cherished by some of their number).
 
   Do you think this meaning is to be taken?

Yes, it's quite common at that period.

In view of what you've gone on to say about him, I rooted around a bit to see if I could find anything interesting about him. A few years ago I came across an ejected minister in Yorkshire, so I thought the same sources might help here - though you may of course know about these already.

First, there's a Wikipedia article about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Charnock

Second, he appears in Edmund Calamy's account of ejected ministers, published 1713:
https://archive.org/details/accountofministe00cala/page/56/mode/2up

Third, see his entry in the Cambridge University alumni database:
https://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=CHNK642S&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50

[probatumfuit]

   Ok, that makes sense then.

   It's very kind of you to point out the references but I have already checked all of them. 

Thanks BTW