Will of Paul Anthony

[mugwortismy cat]

Ancestry have an image of the will of my 9x great grandfather. It's part of the "Dorset, Wills and Probates, 1565-1858" from the Dorset History Centre.

I've not seen that many wills and this is earlier than most of those, being 1746, and I struggled a little with the handwriting. It also struck me in terms of its language and phrasing as unusual, but perhaps it is usual for its time.

The image:

Here is my attempt at a transcription, there are words I couldn't work out -- I don't think they change the sense at all, but it would be nice to have a complete transcript.

In the Name of God Amen I Paul Anthony of Piddletown in the County of Dorsett Yeoman: being Sick & Weak in Body but of perfict mind and Memory: Thanks be given unto God therefore Calling unto mind the Mortality of my Body and knowing that it is appointed for all Men once to die, do make & ordain this my last Will and Testament: that is to say principally & first of all I give and recommend my Soul into the hands of God that gave it & my Body I recommend to the Earth to be buried in decent Christian Burial at the discretion of my Executors: nothing but at the [illegible] of [illegible] I Shall receive the Same again & by the Mighty power of God. And as [illegible] [illegible] Worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me with in this Life I give devise and dispose of the Same in the following manner and forme:
Imprimis. I give unto my Son Robert Anthony twenty Shillings Item I give unto my Daughter Elinor Winsor Twenty Shilling -- And I do hereby Marke and Constitute John Anthony Mary Anthony & Sarah Anthony My Son and Daughters My whole & Sole Executors of this My last will & Testament to take into their hands all my Monies bills Bonds Goods Chattles & Whatsoever else of Right belongs unto me. And after al My Debts, [illegible] are paid My Will is that my Executors Shall have the Remainder Divided amongst them Each an equal Share -- And I do hereby [illegible] Revock Dismiss and Make Void all all other Wills or Executors by in & named before this time Rattifying and Conforming this & No other to be my Last Will & Testament in Witness whereof then I hereunto Set My hand & Seal the Ninth day of [illegible] Anno Dom 1746

Paul Anthony

Sighn'd Seald & pronounc'd by the Said Paul Anthony as his Last Will & Testament in the presents of us the Sub'(cleribus?)

Philip amery?
John Woolly
John Langford

9th February 1746.
This Will was proved at Blandford Forum before the Rev: Mr Thomas Sotlers(?) Clerk Surrogate & by the Oaths of John, Mary and Sarah Anthony the natural and lawful Children of the said Paul Anthony deceased and Executors above named to whom Administration of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits of the said deceased was granted, they being first sworn well and faithfully to administer the same according to Law, also that the said goods, chattels and credits of the dec'ed do not exceed the Value of Twenty Pounds -

Before me

Tho: Sollers (?) Surrogt.​

​

was Twenty Pounds a lot?

Thanks

Christel

 

[Huncamunca]

You've done an excellent job transcribing that, Christel, well done. I have adapted your transcript a little, filling in some of the illegible bits and making slight alterations (in bold).

I love the spelling of 'laggesies'

In the Name of God Amen I Paul Anthony of Piddle-Town
in the County of Dorsett Yeoman: being Sick & Weak in Body but of
perfict mind and Memory: Thanks be given unto God therefore
Calling unto mind the Mortality of my Body and knowing that
it is appointed for all Men once to die, do make & ordain this my last
Will and Testament: that is to say principally & first of all I give and
recomend my Soul into the hands of God that gave it & my Body
I recommend recomend to the Earth to be buried in decent Christian Burial
at the discretion of my Executors: nothing [the word 'doubting' has probably been omitted here] but at the General Resurrection
I Shall receive the Same againe by the Mighty power of God. And as touch-
-ing [illegible - would expect 'such' here but mystery word doesn't look quite like that] Worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me with
in this Life I give demise and dispose of the Same in the following manner
and forme:
Imprimis. I give unto my Son Robert Anthony twenty Shillings Item I
give unto my Daughter Elnor Wensor Twenty Shilling -- And I do hereby
Make and Constitute John Anthony Mary Anthony & Sarah Anthony My Son
and Daughters My whole & Sole Executors of this My last will & Testament to
take into there hands all my Monies bills Bonds Goods Chattles & Whatsoever
else of Right belongs unto me. And after all My Debts, & laggesies are paid
My Will is that my Executors Shall have the Remainder Divided amongst them
Each an equal Share -- And I do hereby ueterly(?) Revock Dis????
and Make Void all all other Wills or Executors by in & named before this
time Rattifying and Conferming this & No other to be my Last Will & Testament
in Witness whereof I have hereunto Set My hand & Seal the Ninth day of June(?) Anno
Dom 1746

Paul Anthony

Sighn'd Seald & pronounc'd by the Said Paul Anthony as his Last
Will & Testament in the presents of us the Subbscribers
Philip ???? [could begin with H or St]
John Woolly
John Langford

9th February 1746.
This Will was proved at Blandford Forum before
the Rev: Mr Thomas Sollers(?) Clerk Surrogate &c(?) by the
Oaths of John, Mary and Sarah Anthony the natural
and lawful Children of the said Paul Anthony deceased
and Executors above named to whom Administration
of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits of the
said deceased was granted, they being first
sworn well and faithfully to administer the same according
to Law, also that the said goods, chattels and credits of the dec'ed
do not exceed the Value of Twenty Pounds -

Before me

Tho: Sollers (?) Surrogt.

 

[mugwortismy cat]

Thank you Huncamunca

It seems that despite trying not to do it, I managed to put what I thought rather than what I saw in several places!

Thank you for "laggesies", that is wonderful

 

[Huncamunca]

It seems that despite trying not to do it, I managed to put what I thought rather than what I saw in several places!

It is very easy to do. I have lots of trouble with some of the clergy in Witney who were called Freind. If I haven't turned the spell-checker off, my computer decides they should be Friends.

 

[Yeates]

Have you seen this site? It delineates the alphabet giving examples of archaic lettering. That is the page I am using the most, although the site provides an entire course for paleography. Cryptically given, this will lead you to the page in which the alphabet is given. Click on any letter to see a marvelous page appear showing the examples:

http://
scriptorium.english.cam.ac.uk/handwriting/materials/alphabets/

You will see this page is deep within the ‘home’ site. As might be obvious, I started on scriptorium.english.cam.ac.uk and progressed to handwriting to palaeographical materials to alphabets.

I recently ordered several Wills from TNA. I don’t know which was worse---the pain of my strained eyes trying to make sense of the documents or my frustration at not being able to decipher whole portions. This alphabet page helped me.---Yeates

 

[mugwortismy cat]

Thank you Yeates

that looks very useful.

Buried somewhere I have a lovely book that does something similar. I've bookmarked the site, so hopefully I'll be able to find it, even if I can't find that book ...