Will of Hester Blake, widow, Winton - The National Archives, PROB 11/396/432, probated 5 Oct 1689

Hester Blake of Winton (Winchester) Southampton has left her will naming her only son John as Executor. Since she refers primarily to members of her family with the surname Taylor then perhaps she was Hester Taylor.

There is one interesting baptism 2 Jun 1668 for a John Blake son of Robert Blake and Esther at Devizes St Mary in Wiltshire on Find my Past. Hester is not that common a name so shall make note of that particular baptism here. I did not however locate a marriage with a Robert Blake between 1650 and 1668 in Wiltshire or Hampshire. Nor was there a burial for a Robert Blake that would fit into this area and time frame. No burials for Hester Blake either in 1689 +/- 1 year.

Looking at the Taylor family Mrs. Joane Taylor in Burnham Wiltshire is mentioned as aunt and Mr. William Taylor as uncle  in Eaton Wiltshire with three children. Hester Taylor (daughter of William) is less than 21 years in 1689 but did not locate a baptism for her.

Having just done a will for a Hester Blake, spinster, who died at Winchester in 1781 it does raise the question as to whether this Hester who names a sister Mary who married in 1725 might be a descendant of the John Blake (son of Hester Blake widow). Possibly the family mentioned in Hester Blake's will of 1781 of Hester, Mary and Martha and a brother who has died already are the children of John Blake son of Hester Blake widow. He would have been 21 years of age in 1689 and his daughter Mary was probably born in the early 1700s along with Martha who was married in 1727. In the Burials collection on Find my past there is a Martha Soley buried at Southampton All Saints 14 Mar 1798 at the age of 95 years putting her baptism possibly around 1703. Mary Imber was buried 23 Apr 1783 at Winchester St Thomas but no age given.

It would certainly be nice to link these wills together and perhaps I will be able to find more clues to do so. Looking ahead at the wills and I discover that one of the last wills that I have to transcribe is for the father of Martha, Mary and Hester and his wife is named as Martha. A nice linking detail although would still need to prove that this Hester Blake widow is this John's mother.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 12 Oct 2012
Source:  The National Archives, PROB 11/396/432
Name of testator: Hester Blake, Widow
Place: Winton, Hampshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Dated:, 25 Apr 1689, probated 5 Oct 1689
Read: Electronic file images
Condition: middle English, 17th century, smudged but legible copy
[In margin] T[esta]m[ent]
[In margin] Hesterie Blake

1    The twenty fifth day of Aprill
2    in the yeare of our Lord One Thousand Six
3    hundred Eighty and Nine I Hester Blake of the Citty of Winton
    [Page 2]
4    in the County of Southampton widdow being sick and weake in body but of
5    sound and perfect mind and good memory praised bee my God revoakeing all
6    former Wills and Testaments doe make and ordaine this my last Will
7    and Testament in manner and forme following First and before all worldly
8    respects I commend my Soule to God my heavenly Father that gave it
9    whoe of his free Grace and exceeding withes of his love hath Redeemed it
10    by the blood of his only sonne my Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ And my
11    body to bee decently Interred at the discretion of my Executor hereafter
12    named to rest in assured hope to bee partaker of the resurrection of the Just
13    And as concerning those goods and worldly estate which as it hath pleased
14    God of his abundant goodnesse to blesse mee withall I give and bestowe the
15    same in manner and forme following Imprimis I give unto tenn poore widdowes
16    the summe of five pounds Item I give unto Mr Samuel Booreman in the
17    parish of Came in the County of Wilts five pounds to bee paid in two moneths
18    after my decease Item I give to my loveing Aunt Mrs Joane Taylor
19    in the parish of Burnham in the County of Wilts six pounds to bee paid
20    in six moneths after my decease Item I give to my uncle Mr William
21    Taylor in the parish of Eaton in the County of Wilts five pounds to bee
22    paid in six moneths after my decease Item I give to my Neice Hester
23    Taylor to bee paid her when shee is at the age of twenty yeares or the
24    day of marriage twenty pounds Item I give to my two Nephews John
25    Taylor and Isaack Tayler a guinney apeece Item I give to Mr Samuel
26    Spring the Elder of Clatford in the County of Southampton five pounds
27    to bee paid in two moneths after my decease Item I give to Mr Samuel
28    Tomblins the elder in the parish of Kilcutt in the County of Wilts five
29    pounds to bee paid in three moneths after my decease All the rest of my
30    goods chattells moveable and immoveable ready money plate Jewells what
31    soever not before formerly bequeathed and given my debts and funerall
32    expences first discharged I give and bequeath to my only sonne John Blake
33    whoe I make and ordaine my sole Executor of this my last Will and Testam[en]t
34    And that this is my last Will and Testament I doe here set my hand and
35    seale publishing and declareing of it to bee such in the presence of Hester
36    Blake Witnesse hereonto Henry Ghost, Thomas Bates, Elizabeth
37    Chukock

Reviewing Blake articles published in NEHGS and TAG and other items

Putting together a family tree for the Blake family at Andover means looking again at the various articles written about this family. First publication examined is Paul Reed's article in The American Genealogist (TAG), volume 74, pages 15 - 28 published in 1999. A second publication was reviewed written in 1916 in the New England Historic Genealogical Society by Edward Leodore Smith where he has abstracted several Blake wills in this time period and a copy of notarial records prepared in Massachusetts with reference to Joane Sedgewicke (daughter of William Blake and Dorothy Madgwick). The third item is the Pedigree Chart which was produced in 1690 (with additional material added in the early 1700s) by the College of Arms (UK) showing the descent of the Blake family at Calne Wiltshire and linking the family at Eastontown Andover Hampshire to it. This publication is not tainted by Somersby's work and is the oldest compiled genealogical data for the Blake family that I have found thus far. The fourth item includes the Parish Registers for the Andover Registration District which I am slowly transcribing and will eventually put up a chart on my webpage of all the Blake entries found in this Registration District.The fifth item includes the books written by Francis E Blake in the late 1800s on the Blake family of Boston Massachusetts USA which links the Blake Family of Boston back to the Blake family of Somerset. The sixth item includes a number of books written on the Blake families in the United States which have used the incorrect linkage which Horatio Somerby produced tracing the Somerset Blake family back to the Hampshire Blake family and thence to the Wiltshire Blake family. The seventh item but primarily to refute it, the book edited by William H. Whitmore, A Record of the BLAKEs of Somersetshire, specially in the Line of William BLAKE, of Dorchester, Mass., the Emigrant to New England: with One Branch of His Descendants, from the Notes of the Late Horatio G. SOMERBY (Boston, 1881) (Whitmore stated on p. 4 that "[t]he work of the editor, in the main, has been merely to arrange Mr. SOMERBY's pedigrees in paragraph form" - this quote from Reed's article).

With these items in mind, I need to move forward with this tree. I have hesitated to put up my tree for a number of years as I worked through what I considered to be a weak link between William Blake (baptized 1615) to his son John Blake (baptized 1649) to his son Thomas (baptized 1685) to his son Thomas (baptized 1709) and then to his son Joseph (baptized 1730). Up to William Blake from the earliest records of the Blake family at Andover is proved readily by wills, parish records and from Joseph down to my present family is proved by parish records and census. The Parish Records exist at Andover to link the Blake families from the baptism of William Blake in 1615 to the baptism of Joseph Blake in 1730 but there are no wills or other records that clearly link this family from father to son. William (b 1615) did not leave a will when he was buried in 1696 (85 years of age). The priest does not note in his burial that he had been a Clerk (Priest) so I struggled with that for a bit but it was nearly 62 years since he had been a priest and perhaps no one remembered.

All that is known about this William is that he lived at Foxcott at the time of his burial; in an Indenture of 1649 (between Lord Sandys and Nicholas Blake) the lease of the East Fields and West Fields (as they are known) in Andover were sold to Nicholas Blake (cousin of William) and that William had been either living or occupying these fields (at least since they were feoffed to him in the will of his father William Blake, Lynnen Draper 1641; he married Ann Hellier (daughter of Hugh Helyer) in 1644 at Andover; he was at Cambridge University - Matric. pens from ST CATHARINE'S, Michs. 1633. Of Hampshire. B.A. 1637-8; M.A. 1641. Fellow, 1638. Taxor, 1645. Ord. deacon (Peterb.) June 5, 1642; priest (Lincoln) June 16, 1644. I finally discovered what Taxor refers to and that is literally how it sounds - he collected taxes. Why does he leave the priesthood after being ordained at Lincoln 16 June 1644? He married Ann Hellier 5 Sep 1644 but their first child is not baptized at Penton (Andover Parish Register) until 9 Aug 1647. Does he leave being the priesthood in favour of becoming tax collector? I need to find records to substantiate that. By 1645 the time of Charles I is rapidly coming to a close and the "Roundheads" under Cromwell are about to take over the Kingdom and turn it into a Republic. Perhaps he did not wish to leave his Church of England for this more Puritan Church and simply walked away from all of it never to return. By the time Charles II was restored to the monarchy in 1660 he would have then been 45 and perhaps he did not wish to take up the priesthood once again. He had his leases to live off of and he certainly seemed to be doing that viz a viz the sale of the West and East Fields to his cousin Nicholas Blake in the Indenture of 1649. Eventually he is at Foxcott which belongs, at this time, to his cousin Joseph Hinxman who was Lord of the Manor. I do not find a burial for Ann Blake (his wife) at Andover; no burial for her at Penton Mewsey but she could have died after him elsewhere. There is a burial for a John Blake in 1706 at Penton Mewsey (the last child of John and Elizabeth Blake was baptized in 1705 at Andover. This John Blake does not leave a will either and if he is William's son then he would have been 57 years of age. His eldest son Thomas would have been 21 years of age and indeed he would die in 1714 at 29 years of age.

The abstract of the documents sent by the notary for Major General Sedgewick are revealing about this family. This is retyped from the Aspinwall Notarial Records (Boston Records Volume 32: A Volume relating to the early history of Boston containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records 1644 to 1651. Compiled by John T Hassam. Printed: Boston Municipal Printing Office 1903).

The entries in the printed Aspinwall Notarial Records, already referred to, read as follows:

"23 (8) 1650 I attested a Copie of a Lre attorney from Jane Blake of Andover to Mr. Wm Twisse to recover what is due from major Robt Sedgwick Dat. 27 Mar 1650" (Notarial Records, p. 332.)

"6 (12) 1650 Recd this 18th of Octob. 1850. of Robt Sedgwick in goods, the sume of three hundd & fourteene pounds seventeene shillings & foure pence sterl. As also one hundd & eighty pounds more in money sterl which is by severall legacies left him unto his wife and children by his father Mr William Blake and by his mother Mrs Dorothie Blake both deceased, & by Mrs Martha Blake deceased, both which sums together is 494 li, 17 s, 4d. The which is do acknowledg to received to and for the use of Mrs Jane Blake of Andover by vertue of a lre of Atturney made by her unto me, & doe hereby acknowledge that the above specifyed summes to be red in full satisfaction of all dues and demands whatsoever either due to Mr Wm Blake of Andover or to Mrs Dorothie Blake his wife both deceased or to Mr Richard Blake deceased & of all dues and demands unto Mrs Jane Blake of Andover executrix unto her husband Mr Richard Blake. I say Recd in full of all accounts and Reckonings the summe of 494 li 17 s 4 d.

Witnes John Thompson                       p William Twisse

Tristram Coffin

"Recd this 16th of Octob. 1650 of Major Robt Sedgwick the summer of fye pounds for Mrs Dorothie Smith being so much to be paid out of the said legacies given to Mrs Sedgwick I say Recd by me

William Twisse"

(Notorial Records, p 371)

A pedigree of the Blakes of "Eston towne," c. Hants, the family to which the father of Joanna (Blake) Sedgwick undoubtedly belonged, may be found in the Visitations of Hampshire, published by the Harleian Society in 1913.

Brookline, Mass. Edward Leodore Smith

The request for recompensation by Jane Blake (wife of Richard Blake deceased 1648) is an interesting one. By now I believe the family is not doing well financially and this request for money from across the ocean right down to five pounds is really rather pointed if not absolutely penny pinching. It, I think, marks the point of digression of this family from the more well to do lines of the family although ultimately many of these family lines also fell on hard times. The reference to the pedigree of the Blake family of Eastontown in the Visitation is somewhat provocative.

Paul Reed in his article in TAG agrees the proof that I also presented that Nicholas does  not have a brother Humphrey that went to Somerset and married Mary Cole. Nicholas is not the son of William necessarily; at the moment his father is unknown. He does bring up a piece of information that is rather interesting. William Blake, yeoman died at Benham Berkshire leaving a will dated 10 June and proved 28 July 1552 that states his son was Anthony who did not prove his majority until 18 May 1571. This William had brothers Richard and John and he had land in Kings Enham. Indeed this William Blake is the son of Robert (brother to Nicholas Blake). One point he makes with which I do not agree - he says the subsidy does not list a William Blake at Andover and this is incorrect. But definitely he is right that the Blake family at Andover in the 1500s is a very complex one with lands at Andover, Kings Enham, Knights Enham, Penton Mewsey and Clatford. There is another section of his paper that I will relate to later as I am still not sure of what he is saying.

The Pedigree Chart for the Blake family of Wiltshire held at the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office is another tantalizing clue on the Andover Hampshire Blake family. The Preamble states:

"The genealogie of the ancient and worthy family of BLAGUE, BLAAKE or BLAKE, of great antiquity in the county of Wilts, where they had large possessions in Quemberford, Calne and Hilcot with a fair mansion house called PINHILLS, now the seat of the family, a younger branch whereof transplanted themselves into Hantshire and settling at Easton Town, were owners of that and divers other mannor from whence the BLAKEs of Middlesex, etc. are immediately descended faithfully collected out of the several visitation books of the said counties remaining in the College of Arms and deducted to the issue of Daniel BLAKE of London, Anno 1690"


Clearly a link between the Calne and Andover families (Easton Town lies beside Andover to the east of the city along the London Road) but the question remains were all the Blake families in the Andover area related? The y DNA testing, if it ever catches on, may be the only means of separating out different lines if indeed they are different.

Further discussion including the Parish Registers which have thus far been transcribed in the Andover Registration District to follow.

Blake, Hinxman, Question and others

It was a very busy day today as I wanted to send off the transcription I did yesterday of an Indenture between Christian Hinxman and William Barber in the 1680s. It was interesting because it mentioned a place called Woolrer's Deane. My other correspondent is interested in the Hinxman family that was at Deane in the 1700s. The similarity of the day struck me as interesting and I transcribed the document - a huge document in four pieces (one can only imagine the size of the original with all of its seals!). Peter Blake was also mentioned at Clatford and this is the brother of my 8x great grandfather William Blake. Thus far I have not find any references to this William other than his death in 1696 at Foxcott and his marriage in 1644 to Ann Hellier (plus the baptisms of their children). I need to transcribe the next parish register at Andover and see if there is anything helpful in there.

That completed I then decided to support my niece running in the 5K Breast Cancer race and that done we then watched a couple of issues of MASH. Always an interesting series to watch. We then went off to find a lamp shade for our ancient floor lamp. It was already old when we acquired it shortly after we were married. It was rewired so really an old outside and a new inside! However we were not able to find a lampshade that fits it yet. We also went to Marks Work Warehouse to buy my woolen work socks for winter. We keep our house fairly cool (about 20 and cooler at night) so one needs warm wool socks in the winter here.

We then entered more Music CDs into Library Thing and we are slowly getting everything entered that is on the main floor. We hope to complete that task in another couple of weeks. We still have records and tapes plus my fiche to do.

Then off to look at flowers for the wedding and we have booked Flowermania. It is a simple display as the dress itself is aboslutely lovely but quite unadorned itself. It will make beautiful pictures and having the simple uncluttered lines will be quite lovely I think. Just the Rehearsal Party left to plan once we know the dates that our daughter isn't on call at the hospital. The hospital is a well oiled machine with all sorts of schedules that keep it running smoothly and although only a third year medical student she fits into that master plan and we need to work everything around that.

Now I have finally gotten back to the project that I planned first thing this morning for today and that is an Indenture between Thomas Grace Yeoman of Highcleere and Joseph Hinxman of North Hinton. Although I purchased this thinking it might be helpful to me - the Hinxman documents have been interesting but do not clarify anything about my Blake line other than times which is helpful actually.

The Indenture is very interesting actually and the original owner of the tract with Mary Carter Spinster which is really interesting. The Carter family was married into the King family at Upper Clatford (my line) and I am still sorting them out. I have Gyles Carter will to transcribe in my stack. It was his grandaughter that married Thomas King my 5x great grandfather.

Tomorrow I want to finish the Indenture and perhaps start on yet another document that deals with Foxcott. I think that my 4x great grandfather Joseph Blake grew up in a cottage at Foxcott which his father had grown up in with his widowed mother. However proving it will be a challenge but each time I find details that mention family names that marry into the Blake line I transcribe the document to see if I can find clues to point the way.