Jone Blake was a widow when her will was written 23 Mar 1527. I only received one page when I ordered this will although I will at some point try to find the probate. It was in very good shape; extremely readable although the language is Middle English but none the less I did transcribe it 28 Aug 2013. I re-transcribed it partially yesterday and will complete it today. There were changes; I am more efficient and less tendency to think I see the letters so removed some here and there. So Jone does not name her husband but does name her sons Nicholas and Robert in that order implying that Nicholas is older perhaps. Elizabeth is named first so suspect she is the eldest. She is married but no grandchildren were named. This will is the linchpin that connects Charlou and myself. Fascinating really. We would be 14th cousins coming down from Jone Blake and her husband likely Richard.
Source: Family Search, Film 186682, A-377, Page 163
Testator: Jone Blake, widow
Place: Enham, Hampshire, England
Date of document: 23 Mar 1527
[Top]: copie test[ament]
1 In dei no[min]ie Amen the yer of owre lord gode oon thowsand fyve hundredth xxvij the xxiij day of the mon[e]th of marche
2 I Jone Blake wddow w[i]t[h] a hoyll mynde a[n]d goode memo[r]ye maketh my laste wyll and testi[me]nete in thys man[ner] Fyrst I
3 com[m]end my soll unto almyghty gode oure lady saynt marie a[n]d to all the saynts in hevyn and my body to be buryd in
4 the chyrche or the chyrche lyttyn of saynt mykell of Enahm It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto ye mother chyrche of saynt Swy
5 thnye xij d It[em] I gyff a[n]d bequeth to ye chyrche of Enahm vj s viij d It[em] I gyff and bequeath xxvj s vij d to be dystrybute
6 unto poor pepyll in peny doyll It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto my curat Sy[r] Rychard Mersser xx d It[em] I gyff a[n]d bequethe
7 to Sy[r] John Batte xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth to mayntenyg of the mor[r]ow masse prest in Andover xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth
8 to mayntenyg of Jhs[us] masse in ye chyrche of Andover xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeath unto the p[ri]or of the Freer Augustines
9 in Wynchest[er] xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth to Sy[r] John Whyte freer xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeath to ev[er]y of freer of ye
10 sayde Augustynes a[n]y ye prest iiij d and to ev[er]y novesse ij d of ye sayde place It[em] I gyff and bequeth to ye chyrche of Fosket
11 to mayntenyg of ye light before Saynte Jamys and Saynte Sonday xx d It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto my dowghter Elsabet
12 Mylne xx shepe besyde thoose th[a]t she hathe allredy and oon Cowe th[a]t I bowght of hyr and xiij s iiij d of money and my gretst
13 pann a[n]d fowre plater It[em] I gyff and bequeth unto my son Nycolas Blake my tabyll in ye hall a[n]d oon clothe callyd ye hallyg
14 a[n]d two yryne racks It[em] I gyff and bequeath unto my son Robert Blake oon yryne broche a[n]d xviij shepe ye wheche
15 shepe he hath in kepyng It[em] I gyff and bequeath unto Thomas Iesra of Fosket oon yryne broche and the [re]seydew of
16 all my goods moveabyll a[n]d unmoveabyll Above not legate I gyff unto my chyldrne Nycolas Blake
17 Robert Blake a[n]d to Thomas Iesra of Fosket a[n]d ye sayd goods to be devydytt amongys them equaly ev[er]y oon of
18 them elyke weche It[em] I make my sonys Nycolas Blake and Robert Blake my trew executors and Thoms Iesra of
19 Fosket my sup[er]visor th[a]t he see my last wyll and testament cumplet a[n]d fulfylld a[n]d the foresayd executors to dyspo
20 se for the heylth of my soll as thay shall see moyst expedient these witnesses Sy[r] Rychard Mersser Sy[r]
21 John Batte Nycolas Blake Robert Blake w[i]t[h] other
I will be cleaning today and will add to this re-transcription as the day passes. The changes are very small mostly cosmetic as my reading has improved in the last decade for sure. I now think that Thomas Iesra is her son as well which hadn't occurred to me earlier. Since he is supervisor he is perhaps older which makes sense as her surname is Blake. I must have a look for a will for Thomas Iesra. Fascinating all these new thoughts. Some of the names in this will are the same as in later wills in the family. That may or may not be an assistance. I also never compared it with Richard's will which I will now do probably tomorrow between cleaning. Not mentioning grandchildren does concern a little but it is only 1527 and William (Nicholas' eldest son) died in 1582 and that is 55 years later and he does mention grandchildren. I shall have to have a look at Robert's will once again and those of his sons. I have transcribed all of them (both PCC and Winchester wills as well).
My eavestrough has pulled away in one spot and a nail is popping so found this company that my Insurance Company has in their system that does repairs so we will see how that goes. I do hate owning a house but life just flows and one must go with the flow. I will be owning for a while longer. It is nice to have this option in my Insurance Company recommending an agent and the quote came quickly and is reasonable given the current state of the value of money and he is coming tomorrow. That sounds really ideal. I will see if I can book him to come and clean the upper eavestroughs when it stops raining. The lower ones my daughter cleaned for me. She bought this gadget that you just stand on the ground and run it along so we might do that but having someone do the upper ones is better I think. Pulling down like that might be a problem. But it works really well for lower eavestroughs - a really good brush.
My sister is now in Long Term Care which I was sad to hear but her life became very complicated with her falls. I am so glad that I went to see her in 2018 when she was still herself. Going to see her now would be really difficult as I have to fly into Halifax and then figure out how to get to Prince Edward Island. So not doing that; sad to say. She is 86 now. We passed like ships in the night when I was a child mostly because I was a withdrawn child keeping to myself; living in the attic and writing my stories and reading so many books. We had more conversations in adulthood after we were both married and had children than we ever had as children (I was six years younger and a walking dictionary). Prayers continuing that she is comfortable.
Nearly time to start cleaning and will do the Solitaire Puzzles first. It took me about an hour to figure out this setup for the company that will repair my eavestrough.
