Will of Isabell Blake, widow, Boldre, Hampshire - Family Search Film 186685, Catalogue A-759, number 200, probated 24 Sep 1539

Isabel Blake, the testatrix, is unknown and does not identify her husband in the will below. The only other Blake mentioned is George Blake and his will is to come having been probated in 1547.

The will of Thomas Blake also of Boldre:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2014/03/will-of-thomas-blake-boldre-hampshire.html

blogged 22 March 2014 does not appear to fit with this will. There is one other Blake mentioned in the will of Thomas Blake and that was John Blake. Isabell does mentioned similar people namely Christian Draper. I will check the name William Perys to see if I should have had Wyllyam Peres in the earlier will. Indeed it could be Wyllyam Peres and I have made that change. The long r is readily confused with the s especially when there is a line above.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 24 Mar 2014
Source: Family Search Film 186685, Catalogue A-759, number 200
Testator: Isabell Blake, widow
Place: Boldre, Hampshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 12 Jul 1539, probated 24 Sep 1539
Condition: 16th century English, legible copy

[Wrapper]: 1539 Testamentum Isabelle Blake de Boldre 

1    In the name of god Amen the xij th daie of
2    July in the yere of o[u]r lord god mcccccxxxix ti I
3    Isabell blake of the p[ar]ishe of Boldre widow
4    sick in body but hole and p[er]fit of reme[m]brance
5    make my testament and laste will in maner
6    and forme folwyinge First I bequethe my soule
7    to god almyghtie and my Body to christen buryall
8    It[e]m I bequethe to saynet Swithunes churche ij d
9    It[e]m to the highe aultare of my my p[ar]ishe churche
10    iiij d It[e]m I give and bequethe to my p[ar]ishe
11    churche a bulloke of oone yere age It[e]m I give
12    and bequethe to Isabell Purbeck a featherbed a
13    tescer and my best girdell It[e]m to Christyn
14    draper a featherbed a pott and a pan rche of
15    theym holding a gallon It[e]m to euch one of
16    my godchildrene a plater or a potenger It[e]m
17    to Isabell harne the lynyng of a kirtell the
18    makyngs and a kercher for the worke done The
19    Residue of my goods not bequeathed I give and
20    bequethe to William perys whome I make
21    my sole executor he to see my detts paied
22    and my will p[er]formed And I make Sir
23    William Brasberge vicare of Bolder foresaid
24    and George Blake sup[er]visors of this my p[re]sent
25    testament And I give to either of theym for
26    their labors to shepe Theis witnesses
27    byng p[re]sent Sir Willm Brasbrige George
28    Blake Thomas Maket William Rickman
29    and Jordan Canne w[i]tph] other
30    Probatum apud winton xxiiij ti die septe[m]bris 1539
31    cora mro Edmundo Shepard legume doctore
32    ……..

Will of Thomas Blake, Boldre, Hampshire - Family Search Film 186861, Catalogue B-457, number 265, probated 12 Apr 1536

The testator is Thomas Blake of Boldre, Hampshire. He names his wife Elizabeth and his two daughters as Julian Cannings and Johan Roberts. Boldre (also known as Bolder) is a parish in the hundred of Christchurch and New Forest. This is a beautiful area having traveled through it on our way to the Isle of Wight. The village is two miles from Lymington, Hampshire. At this point on the map we are south west of Southampton.

This will has been recopied into a book of wills although that doesn’t particularly make the reading of it any easier! I suspect the copying was done long ago. There are a number of wills for the Blake family at Boldre in the Hampshire Record Office. Later in the 1800s there is mention of the Blake family at Boldre. Since Thomas does not mention sons but does mention other Blake members these would possibly be descendants of those other members namely John Blake and George Blake. 

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 21 Mar 2014
Source: Family Search Film 186861, Catalogue B-457, number 265
Testator: Thomas Blake
Place: Boldre, Hampshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 11 Mar 1535, probated 12 Apr 1536
Condition: 16h century English, legible copy

[Margin]: T[estament] Thome Blake

1    In the name of God Amen the xj daie
2    of Marche Anno d[omi]ni m ccccc xxxv I Thomas
3    blake of the p[ar]yshe of bolder beinge sycke of body and
4    of good memorye make my testament in this wysse
5    Fyrst I bequeth my soule unto allmightie god and my
6    body to be buryed in the churche yard of saint John
7    In bolder Item I bequethe to the mother churche in
8    wynchester iiij d and to the heigh alter of bolder ij d It[e]m
9    I bequethe to the churche of bolder one hyffer of ij yeres
10    of age It[e]m to the maynten[an]ce of the chapel of South
11    Badysley an heifer It[e]m to Elsabith sreboren my synt
12    one ewe and one lambe It[e]m to Cristin draper one
13    ewe and one lambe j brase pot of a gallon and one brasse panne
14    of one psell It[e]m to wyllyam peres one ewe and
15    one lambe It[e]m to the iiij children of Johan
16    lynys ech one of them j shepe It[e]m to iij children
17    of Thomas chen[er]tons ech one of them j shepe It[e]m
18    suche lands as I have I wyll that Elsabith my
19    wyffe shall have hit during her lyff and after to
20    remayne to Julyan Cannings and Johan Rob[er]ts my twoe
21    daughters It[e]m I wyll that John Maller and
22    peter Cannyngs be my ov[er]seers and they to have for
23    ther labor everie of them one bollock And all the
24    resyewe of my goods moveable and unmoveable
25    not bequeathed I gyve unto the forsaid Elsabith
26    my wuffe And her I make my sole executrix
27    In wyttnes hereof John Maller George blake
28    peter Cannyngs John Blake hughe Colly Wyllym
29    _______ w[i]th other
30    Probatum in ecclia Cath winton xij die Ap[ri]lis Anno
31    d[omi]ni m ccccc xxxvj cora mro Edmundeo Steward
.........

Blake family at Andover

John Reid's blog (Anglo-Celtic Connections  http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/ ) discussed Agricultural Labourers and this happens to be a subject that I find most interesting. My great grandfather is listed as an agricultural labourer on the census although my father had said he was a bailiff. My grandfather had said he was an agricultural labourer but was somewhat in charge of the group on the farm. All very confusing to someone raised in Canada where farmers farm their land and hire "threshing gangs" at harvest time although my grandfather who farmed here had a "hired hand" who worked for him permanently and did the sales and purchasing plus managing the workers hired at harvest time. Trying to relate the one system with the other (as one likely has a predilection to do since the known is much easier to work from than the unknown) was a challenge until meeting my cousin in England. He explained that our great grandfather was considered to be quite knowledgeable and highly respected by his employer. That is, of course, always nice to hear about one's ancestors!

What happened to the Blake family at Andover? I think it is a relative thing. They were not large land owners but rather were lease holders on large  (again relative) sections of land with some freeholds (which my 9x great grandfather sold through his adulthood as a source of income). Why did he do that? I find it somewhat mysterious but it begins with the will of his father which had insufficient funds to fulfill the legacies he had written up. When his mother wrote her will each of the children had to refuse the legacy in their father's will in favour of the legacy in their mother's will. Then a year later the eldest son of that family, Richard, died and his widow collected any and all monies owing including the monies owed by the Sedgewick family in far off Massachusetts. Either a very persistent person or a person who needed every penny in order to raise her children (which I suspect to be the case).

At what point did the Blake family cease being Drapers at Andover? I think that would be a really interesting discovery. I am trying to work through the Blake family there logically in the 1500s and 1600s into the 1700s. Extracting all the BMBs is my first step and then I will move to the Manor Books and any directories that exist that early. I am trying not to jump ahead although that is very tempting to start constructing family lines. The census of the 1800s and Free BMD will also answer a lot of questions but only on the Blake family that has already undergone enormous change from the 1500s. I think I need to separate myself (my own interest in my lineage) from the equation and simply look at the Blake lines that are there and whether or not they are related to each other and to the Wiltshire Blake family (as stated in the Pedigree Chart of the Blake family held at the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office and discussed earlier in my blog). Seeing William Blake of Andover (gentleman) marry at Winterslow, Wiltshire in 1665 was most interesting in the extracted marriages sent to me by another researcher. Is this my William Blake who was buried at Andover (lived at Foxcott) in 1696? Why does William the older brother of my Thomas (b 1767) live at Andover in the 1790s (as mentioned in the will of John Blake malster of Abbotts Ann)? Did he return to Andover to live with his grandfather Thomas Blake perhaps when his mother remarried in 1781 (he would have been 17 years old then whereas my Thomas would have been 14)? Extracting one's line from the discussion is always very difficult!