Will of Katherine otherwise Catherine Blake, Eccles Street, Dublin, Ireland - The National Archives PROB 11/1666, probated 26 Feb 1823

I located the will of Elizabeth Hamilton, sister of the present testator, Katherine otherwise Catherine Blake. That may help to locate this testator in terms of her state (i.e. married, spinster).

According to Elizabeth Hamilton’s will she was a spinster at the time of writing the will. She lived at Harrowgate, Yorkshire. She mentions her sister Katherine Blake.

In that I am mostly interested in the Blake surname I will not continue investigating this Blake line as I can not find the marriage of Katherine otherwise Catherine Blake.

Elizabeth Hamilton’s will was proved twice, once by Mary Anne and Elenor Crawford 25 Sep 1816 and following their deaths by Steward Crawford the 7th July 1821.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 15 Feb 2017
Source:  The National Archives, PROB 11/1666
Name of testator: Katherine otherwise Catherine Blake
Place: Eccles Street, Dublin, Ireland
Type of Record: Will
Dated: 23 Nov 1822, probated 26 Feb 1823

[In margin] Katherine otherwise Catherine Blake 9
[Top] Extracted from the Registry of his Majestys Court of Prerogative in Ireland

1    I Katherine Blake at present
2    residing in Eccles Street Dublin being blessed be God in
3    tolerable health and in possession of all my faculties aware
4    of the uncertain continuance of these mercies and of life
5    itself think it my duty to make this my last will and
6    Testament which I write with my own hand and declare
7    to be as follows in consequence of the lamented decease of
8    my beloved relatives Mary Anne and Elenor Crawford
9    who by the will of my late Sister Elizabeth Hamilton
10    were appointed heirs and successors at my death to her
11    moiety of a sum in the Navy five per Cent Government
12    Stock I consider that the disposal of said stocks reverts to me
13    as her nearest of kin together with my own moiety of
14    said property which was held by my Sister as my trustee
15    as appears by the will of my said Sister I therefore bequeath
16    to the Reverend Thomas Crawford and to John Crawford
17    the brothers of the late Mary Ann and Elenor Crawford
18    that Moiety of joint property which was by the will of my
19    late Sister bequeathed to the said Mary Ann and Eleanor
20    Crawford to be divided between the said Thomas and John
21    Crawford share and share alike I bequeath to the Reverend
22    Thomas Crawford the sum of four hundred pounds to be
23    paid out of my Moiety of property as above described but
24    now by Act of parliament removed into the four per Cents
25    and held for my benefit in the name of Stewart Crawford
26    Esquire of Bath surviving trustee and Executor to the Will
27    of my late Sister I bequeath to my Cousin John Crawford
28    the whole residue of my Moiety of property as already
29    mentioned as being in the four per Cents I also bequeath
30    to the said John Crawford the whole amount of my
31    property in the three per Cent Government Stock in England
32    which was vested by my desire in May 1819 in the name
33    of Mary Anne and Eleanor Crawford as acting trustees to
34    the Will of my late Sister Elizabeth Hamilton the said
35    bequest to remain subject to an annuity of ten pounds per
36    annum to my Cousin Ann Crawford during the term of
37    her life to be regularly paid by her Nephew the said John
38    Crawford my Books plate prints with all articles of household
39    furniture of which I may die possessed I leave to my Cousins
40    the Reverend Thomas Crawford and John Crawford
41    excepting such as I may hereafter specify to be equally divided
42    between them or sold as they may think fit I desire that all
43    my debts including death fees and funeral expences shall
44    be discharged as soon as possible after my death and after
45    which I constitute my Cousin John Crawford residuary
46    Legatee to my remaining property inpowering him as
47    Executor to this my will to enforce payment of whatever
48    sum or sums may be due to me at the time of my death
49    and it is my request that he will accept and discharge the
50    office of Executor to this my Will which I doubt not he will
51    most faithfully perform
52    Bartholomew Maziere of No 6 Hardwich Street in
53    the County of the City of Dublin Esquire make the oath
54    on the holy Evangelists and saith that he knew and was
55    well acquainted with Katherine Blake late of Eccles
56    Street in the County of the City of Dublin aforesaid deceased
57    and with her usual Character and manner of handwriting
58    having often seen her write and deponent having carefully
59    viewed perused and examined a paper Writing hereunto annexed
60    purporting to be the last Will and Testament or Testamentary
61    disposition in Writing of said deceased beginning “I Katherine Blake
62    at present residing in Eccles Street Dublin” and ending “which I
63    doubt not he will most faithfully perform” saith that every word
64    letter and figure in said will or Testamentary disposition in writing
65    is all of the proper handwriting of the said Katherine Blake
66    deceased to the best of deponents Judgement and belief Bartholomew
67    Maziere Sworn this 23rd day of November 1822 before us I Radcliff
68    Proved at London 26th February 1823 before the worshipful
69    Jesee Addams doctor of Laws and Surrogate by the Oath of John
70    Crawford Doctor of Medicine the sole Executor to whom Admon
71    was granted limited so far only as concerns all the Right Title
72    and Interest of her the said Katherine otherwise Catherine
73    Blake deceased in and to all her separate Estate and Effects over
74    which she had a disposing power by virtue of a certain deed
75    of Separation bearing date the 10th day of July 1787 and hath
76    disposed of accordingly and all benefit and advantage to be
77    had received and taken there from but no further or otherwise
78    being first sworn duly to administer

Best wishes to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their son

I decided I had to write a blog today. I have been so busy the last month that I have barely had time to accomplish what absolutely has to be done. Most of the past month I have been home but small trips here and there have used up a lot of that time.

What wonderful news as we return home after a lot of traveling. I have felt like I am in motion about this world for the past six months and it has come to an end for a while. Like a lot of people with 100% British ancestry I have been watching all the news on the newest heir to the throne. It would appear that the world has been watching as well; the excitement following the birth announcement has ringed the world.

A Royal Prince and third in line to the throne and he carries his own Blake genes within him as his grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales (mother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge) is a descendant of Thomas Blake and Eleanor Hall of Eastontown near Andover, Hampshire, UK. The pedigree chart at the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office has the ancestry of this couple on a 12 foot by 4 foot chart.

Working down from Thomas Blake and Eleanor Hall (both buried at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, London) it was their son Thomas Blake married to Dorothy Mayowe and their daughter Mary married to William Newland 20 Feb 1653 St Paul's Church, Covent Garden and their daughter Mary married to Isaac Manley (MP) 20 May 1678 at St Peter's Church, Cornhill and their daughter Dorothy married to William Gore (MP) then their son Colonel John Gore who married Bellamira Munbee and their son Vice Admiral Sir John Gore married to Georgiana Montagu 15 Aug 1808 at St George's Church, Hanover Square and their daughter Anne Frances married to 1st Earl Howe (Richard William Penn Curzon) 9 Oct 1845 at Great Witley, Worcestershire and their daughter Lady Mary Anna Curzon-Howe married to the 2nd Duke of Abercorn (James Hamilton (MP)) 7 Jan 1869 at St George's Church, Hanover Square) and their son 3rd Duke of Abercorn (James Albert Edward Hamilton) married to Lady Rosaline Cecilia Caroline Bingham 1 Nov 1894 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge and their daughter Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix Hamilton married to 7th Earl Spencer (Albert Edward John Spencer) 26 Feb 1919 at St James' Church Piccadilly and their son 8th Earl Spencer (Edward John Spencer) married to the Honourable Frances Ruth Burke Roche 1 Jun 1954 at Westminster Abbey resulting in their daughter Lady Diana Frances who married His Royal Highness The Prince Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor 29 Jul 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, UK (the parents of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and he is married to Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge).

This line tracing back from Thomas Blake and Eleanor Hall on the chart shows Thomas to be a son of John Blake and Margaret Blake and both of their fathers was a William Blake according to the Chart but investigating this I believe that Margaret is the daughter of William Blake and Avis Ripley and John is the son of William and Elizabeth Blake (Elizabeth surname is unknown). Margaret's grandfather is said to be Robert Blake and Avis Wallop. John's grandfather (using my logic) would be Nicholas Blake and Margaret (unknown). Both Nicholas and William his son left wills which are quite helpful for this particular Blake line at Andover. I need to investigate the Blake wills held at the Hampshire Record Office before I can really prove that the chart is in error. The wills of Nicholas and William are held at Kew. There is always the possibility that two William Blakes of Eastontown near Andover died in 1582 which is the reference on the chart.

An amazing happening for the Blake family to have yet another Prince (descendant of the Blake family) in line to the throne of the United Kingdom and all the Commonwealth countries that have Queen Elizabeth as their Head of State.

Will of Sir Edward Buller, Baronet, Vice Admiral, Trenant Park - The National Archives PROB 11/1688/17, probated 23 Jul 1824

This next set of wills is a hunt for information on my Buller family of St Olave Southwark. They lived there in the late 1700s and early 1800s. They may have lived there in the earlier part of the 1700s and that is what I am trying to determine. I have almost seventy different wills so this will be a lengthy process to transcribe all of them. Some are very short but some are rather long and I am quite sure not my line but listening to advice from other researchers at the Guild I shouldn't bypass them especially if they had a lot of sons. This will likely take me a couple of months to work through but once done it will be my biggest and probably last effort to look at the Buller family and I shall move back to concentrating on my one name studies Blake and Pincombe. Perhaps one day someone will take up a one name study of the Buller family :) . I am always hopeful of that.

I still have wills for a number of my other family lines but not nearly these numbers fortunately as my interest is starting to wane in these other lines leaving others to pick up the torch for them. I have taken them back as far as I can in a reasonable search pattern and my interests have changed in the last couple of years tending to put my genealogical research efforts into my one name studies. There are roughly another 100 wills to transcribe for these various lines and I will continue to work through them once Buller is accomplished!

For ease of effort I will begin with Cornwall which is also the traditional home of the Buller family (along with Somerset).  The first will is for Sir Edward Buller Baronet and was probated 23 Jul 1824. His will just happened to be the first one that I imaged and alphabetically the first in the files under Cornwall. 

Wikipedia has an article on Sir Edward:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Edward_Buller,_1st_Baronet

His daughter Anna Maria married Lt Col James Drummond Elphinstone. Her mother was Gertrude van Cortlandt.

Trenant Park, Duloe, Cornwall is now a Grade II listed building and details can be found:

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-60670-trenant-park-duloe-

According to this article the house was possibly early 17th century and has been owned by the Hewis, Colshulls, Arundells, Whittingtons, Treise and in 1806 was sold to Admiral Sir Edward Buller and later owned by the Peel family.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 26 Jan 2013
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/1688/17
Testator: Sir Edward Buller, Vice Adml
Place: Trenant Park, Cornwall, England
Date of document: 25 Mar 1824, probated 23 Jul 1824
Read: Electronic copy images
Document quality: 19th century English, legible copy

[Margin]: Sir
[Margin]: Edward
[Margin]: Buller
[Margin]: Baronet.
[Margin]: 10

1    The last Will and Testament of vice adml Sir E Buller
2    B[arone]t which I will and bequeath as follows after my funeral and all my just debts are
3    paid to my beloved wife Gertrude I give and bequeath all my Lands and Tenaments
4    Mortgages plate books money and property of every description excepting what I have
5    recently settled on my beloved daughter Anna Maria on her marriage the same to be
6    enjoyed by my said wife Gertrude Buller during her natural life without let or hindrance
7    from any and I further bequeath to my said wife Gertrude for her life the interest of all my
8    money in India and all of my Goods Chattels Linen and Jewels and furniture that
9    I may now have or that I may hereafter have for her own and sole use for her life
10    excepting only the furniture in Trenant house which I will to go with the Estate In the
11    event of the demise of my daughter Anna Maria Buller Elphinstone during my life
12    by which the said Estate of Trenant reverts to me. I in that case will and bequeath the said
13    Trenant Estate to my estimable Son in Law James Drummond Buller Elphinstone and to
14    his heirs and assigns for ever in lieu of the five hundred pounds per annum specified in his
15    marriage Settlements if he approves thereof and provided nevertheless he pays the Sum
16    of Ten thousand pounds to my Wife Gertrude Buller and her heirs and assigns in lieu of
17    dower I also bequeath the furniture in Trenant house to the said James Drummond Buller
18    Elphinstone in the event of the demise of my said daughter Anna Maria Buller
19    Elphinstone in my lifetime and in that case all the residue of my property of every description
20    I will and bequeath to my wife and her heirs and assigns for Ever but she my beloved
21    daughter Anna Maria Buller Elphinstone survive me Then I will and bequeath to her
22    and her heirs and assigns for ever all my Real and personal Estates that I now have or
23    that hereafter may belong to me of every description after the demise of my wife excepting
24    the before mentioned Goods Chattels Linen Jewels etc to my said wife which I have
25    bequeathed to her for ever excepting the Sum of Eight thousand pounds part of my property
26    now in the Company's Treasury in India which on the demise of my said wife Gertrude
27    I will and bequeath to my daughter Anna Maria Buller Elphinstone for her owne
28    sole use for ever. My personal property now stands charged with a pension of one hundred
29    pounds per annum to Mrs Eliz: Catherine Bluntiell for her natural life also to my aged
30    female Mary Barn a pension of nineteen pounds thirteen shillings and four pence
31    for her natural life I have several pensioners in India to whom I wish my agents
32    Mess[ieur]s Alexander to pay two years Salary from the day of my death and for which to
33    obtain a receipt in full from them in lieu of any further pensions whatever and as I
34    have lately paid a considerable debt of John Allans and have been at great expence
35    in respect to him and have provided him with a situation I do not conceive it necessary
36    to give him any further allowance but as his Sister Ann Allan has now the Sum of
37    Eight hundred pounds standing in the joint names of John Gorst Scott Esquire and my own in
38    the 3 1/2 p[e]r c[en]t I charge my personal Estate with making the same up to a clear Sixty
39    pounds a year so long as she remains single and in the case of her marrying to give
40    her the Sum of one hundred pounds in lieu of any augmentation to the before
41    mentioned Sum of eight hundred pounds 3 1/2 p[e]r c[en]t my personal Estate is also chargeable
42    with the Sum of one thousand pounds due to my Brother Henry's son Henry George
43    Buller which I wish my wife Gertrude who I hereby appoint with my friends
44    Davies Gilbert and W[illia]m Howe Mulcaster and George James Hamilton Esq[uie]rs my
45    Executrix and Executors to this my last Will and Testament in the presence of at Trenant
46    house Park in the parish of Duloe in the County of Cornwall and where no Stamps
47    are to be procured this 25 March 1824 Ed: Buller (seal) Witnesses: James Rook
48    Footman to Sir Edward Buller Geo: Hunkins Groom of Col: J.D. Elphinstone
49    John Wynhall Carpenter East Looe Cornwall
50    Proved at London 23rd July 1824 before the Judge by the oath of dame
51    Gertrude Buller widow the Relict one of the Executors to whom admon was
52    granted being first sworn (by Com[missi]on) duly to administer. David Gilbert William
53    Howe Mulcaster and George James Hamilton Esq[uie]rs the other Executors having
54    renounced.