Stephen Blake is the testator and he is of Warminster, Wiltshire.
There is still a Stephen Blake in Warminster and it would be interesting to discover if he is descendant of this gentleman from the 1600s.
The Will of Stephen Blake, yeoman of Warminster probated 22 Jun 1566 was blogged earlier:
http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2012/11/will-of-stephen-blake-yeoman-of.html
However his sons are named Richard, William, Henrie, David and William the younger. But interesting to find the forename Stephen there in the 1500s. The Wiltshire record office does have wills the following wills at Warminster for the Blake family which I have not yet blogged:
P1/B/697 Inventory, will, copy will 1702 Blake, William Grocer Warminster
P2/B/1089 Will [1688] Blake, William Gentleman Warminster
P2/B/463 Account, administration bond, inventory 1626 Blake, Henry Warminster
P2/B/47 Administration bond 1571 Blake, Henry Warminster
P2/B/634 Inventory, will 1639 Blake, John Yeoman Warminster
At some point I shall acquire these and see if they are helpful. There are a number of early Wiltshire Wills already blogged from Warminster. Search on the label “Warminster” to find them.
Stephen nominated his son William as a Feeoffe in 1649 and this could be the bond which is mentioned in the will below. He has at least four daughters as his executors and overseers are all his sons in law namely, John Gawen, John Milton, William Corbett alias Davis and James Blatch.
Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 23 Dec 2013
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/220/567
Testator: Stephen Blake, Gentleman
Place: Warminster, Wiltshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 16 Apr 1651, probated 17 Feb 1651/52
Condition: 17th century English, legible copy
[Margin]: Test: Stephani
[Margin]: Blake
1 In the name of God Amen I Stephen Blake of War-
2 mister in the County of Wiltes Gent being not soe sick in body as unsettled of
3 my Mortality eidlt that I must lay downe this my Earthly Tabernacle to put
4 on an heavenly that shall never fade doe therefore for the quiet of my soule and
5 settleing that Estate which God hath lent mee doe make this my last will and Testa-
6 ment in manner following first I resigne my soule into the hands of the divine
7 donor not doubting but at the enlargement thereof out of this earthly prison it shall
8 possesse a happy residence in heaven with God and his holy Angells through the merits
9 of my most blessed Saviour Christ Jesus Next my body that earthly Truncke
10 I commit to his bed of darknes the blinde wombe of the Earth the Common
11 receptacle of all flesh with full persuasion that at the last day when the general
12 summons of all Flesh shall bee the Earth opening and yielding her dead it shall
13 rise and be reunited to my soule within the Celestiall Spheare and there to triumphe
14 With the blessed that rest from their labours And for that portion which God hath
15 lent mee for a tyme and which at his appointed tyme I must leave I dispose of it
16 in manner following First I give and bequeath unto the poore people of War-
17 mister the summe of Twenty shillings Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Con-
18 sorte and welbeloved wife Elizabeth Blake the summe of Forty shillings Item
19 I doe give and bequeath unto all my Children the summe of Twenty shillings
20 a peece Item I give and bequeath unto my Grandchildren Elizabeth Blatch and
21 Mary Blatch the summe of Fifty shillings a peece And to all the rest of my
22 Grandchildren that are and shalbe borne before my decease the summe of
23 Twenty shillings a peece All which sayd legacies before given my will and
24 meaning is shall be paid by my Executors hereafter named within six moneths
25 after my decease Item I do give and bequeath unto John Gawen and unto John
26 Milton my sonnes in Lawe the summe of one hundred pounds which wilbe due in
27 from William Blake my sonne by virtue of a bond bearing date the eleventh day
28 of January one thousand sixe hundred forty sixe to there that the sayd John
29 Gawen and John Milton may out of the same satisfie and pay the Legacies before
30 men[t]ioned All the rest of my goods and Chattells whatsoever I doe give and
31 bequeath unto the sayd John Gawen and John Milton whome I doe make my sole
32 and only Executors And I do desyre my loving sonne in lawe William Corbett
33 al[ia]s Davis and James Blatch to bee my Overseers to whome I give Twenty
34 shillings a peece In wittnes whereof I the sayd Stephen Blake have sett my
35 hand and seale the sixteenth day of April A[nn]o dom[ini] one thousand sixe hundred
36 fifty one Stephen Blake Signed sealed and published in the presence of
37 John Wadman Signed Willi: Clarke
38 This Will was proved at London before Sir Nathaniell Brent Knight
39 doctor of laws and Master or Keeper of the Prerogative Court the seaventeenth
40 day of February in the yeare of our Lord God (English style) one thousand sixe
41 hundred fifty one by the Oathes of John Gawen and John Milton the Executors
43 therein named To whome Administration of all and singular the goods chattells
44 and debts of the sayd deceased which any manner of way concerne the same will
45 Was graunted and committed They being first legally sworne by virtue of a Com-
46 mission in that behalf Issued forth well and faithfully to Administer the same
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