Will of Elizabeth Blake, wife of Long Parish, Hampshire - The National Archives PROB 11/307/513, probated 3 Apr 1662

Elizabeth Blake is married to Nicholas Blake of Long Parish and it is possible that her maiden name was Sadler.

This will was in litigation C 6/21/94 (document at The National Archives) and is Kent versus Thomas with the plaintiff Richard Kent and the defendants Nicholas Thomas and other. This is the answer only to that litigation and it is dated 1662.

A second litigation C 6/48/53 (document at The National Archives) and is Goddard versus Kent with plaintiffs Katherine Goddard, Jane Goddard and Elizabeth Goddard and defendants (unknown) Smithe, Richard Kent, Nicholas Thomas, Mary Thomas wife of Nicholas and again the will of the deceased Elizabeth Blake. The document type is the bill and two answers and is dated 1664.

A third litigation C 6/48/99 (document at The National Archives) and is Pembridge versus Thomas with plaintiffs Jane Pembridge, Elizabeth Pembridge and Mary Pembridge with defendants Nicholas Thomas, Mary Thomas his wife and Richard Kent. The document type is answer and schedule. The date is 1651-1681 but would be at least 1662 – 1681 so is probably part of a larger package with these dates.

In an earlier will Richard Blake of Tower Ward London mentioned his godson Richard Blake of Long Parish (1643) and was blogged:

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2011/02/richard-blake-will-of-23-mar-1643.html

Is this Nicholas Blake a son of Richard and Jone Blake of Andover. Richard died in 1622 and left his will in which he mentions property at Forton which he is giving to his son Nicholas. Forton is one of the townships in Longparish. This would mean that he is the Nicholas Blake baptized 27 Mar 1604 at Andover and buried at Andover 16 Mar 1677. I have not to date found a marriage for him but do not have the parish registers for Long Parish yet.

http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2013/08/will-of-richard-blake-linen-draper-of.html

The sister of Nicholas Blake, Elinor Hinxman, mentioned her brother in her will of 1657 and he was living at Gavelacre which is in the vill of Forton thus placing him again in this area close to the time of the will of 1662. I have not published the Hinxman wills so must do that one of these days “…..And I nominate, and appoint my brother Mr Nicholas Blake of Galliger and my cozen Mr Peter Blake of Andover Overseers of this my last Will and Testament desiring them to be ayding and assisting to my Executor in the performance hereof ….”

British History Online has a write up for Richard Blake’s holding of property at Gavelacre in Forton:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56843

Richard Blake, who died in 1623[sic 1622], held a messuage called 'Chamberlaynes hold,' and others there, of Cecily Lady De La Warr as of her manor of Wherwell (fn. 42) ; and premises in Forton are repeatedly mentioned in the later conveyances of Longparish Manor. There is a lot of information on Nicholas Blake of Gavelacre which will be mentioned as I have a few indentures that refer to him. To date though, I have not yet found a will for him. There are a number of documents in which he is involved as trustee and grantee but no will thus far. The will could be attached to property that preceded directly to his right heir so no probate but there should be an entry showing the passage of the property from him to his heir or if he sold it. I do not have any children for Nicholas. Learning more about Nicholas could be helpful for my personal research as it is his nephew William to whom he first mortgaged property at Andover and later for a particular sum of 5 shillings cleared the mortgage of 50+ pounds in 1649. This was at East Field and West Field. William himself died in 1696 also not leaving a will.

This is an excellent will to learn about the family of Elizabeth Blake as she names her siblings and the children of her siblings.

Names mentioned in the will:

Mr Nicholas Blake, husband of the testatrix, Long Parish
Anthony Pembridge, great nephew
Jane Pembridge, great niece
Mary Pembridge, great niece
Elizabeth Pembridge, great niece
Mary Pembridge, niece
Edward Kent, great nephew
Richard Kent, great nephew
John Kent, great nephew
Joane Kent, great niece
Elizabeth Kent, great niece
Richard Kent, nephew, executor
Michaell Goddard, great nephew
Katherine Goddard, great niece
Jane Goddard, great niece
Elizabeth Goddard, great niece
Katherine Goddard, niece
Charitie Thomas, goddaughter
Mr Nicholas Thomas, kinsman
Samuel Collins
William Sadler, brother
Robert Sadler, brother
Anthony Pembridge, cousin (is this the husband of her niece Mary?)
Robert Goddard, cousin (is this the husband of her niece Katherine?)
Richard Kent, cousin (same as executor, husband of unnamed niece?)
Richard Miller, cousin
Anne Sadler, cousin (child of her brother?)
Joane Sadler, cousin (child of her brother?)
William Sadler, cousin (child of her brother?)
Martha Hopkins
John Hayes, clerk, witness
Elizabeth Gale, witness

Interesting that she has chosen the Church at Nether Wallop in which to be buried. An interesting set of wills for the Gore family of Nether Wallop which mentions “my brother in law Mr Robert Sadler” and was written 22 Jan 1655 and proved 29 Mar 1656.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/gore/messages/1757.html

There is apparently a pedigree for the Sadler family on page 163 in the Visitation of Wiltshire 1623. The children of Robert Sadler of Salthorp (sic Salthrop), Wiltshire married to Grace the daughter of Henry Sadler son of Radulphi Sadler, knight, are listed as Robert Sadler son and heir aged 15 years in 1623, Henry aged 13 years in 1623, William aged 12 years in 1623, Elizabeth aged 11 years in 1623 and Anna aged 10 years in 1623. If indeed this is Elizabeth’s family, then Elizabeth would have been born circa 1612 and 50 years of age when her will was written. She does not mention her sister Anna or brother Henry but does mention her brothers Robert and William. Salthorp is near Everleigh/Everley Wiltshire which is 5 miles north west of Ludgershall and the road from Andover passes through Everleigh. Queen Elizabeth gave the manor to Sir Ralph Sadler. Ralph is the grandfather of Grace who was the likely mother of Elizabeth wife of Nicholas Blake. Nether Wallop is thirteen miles from Everleigh and ten miles from Longparish.

My daughter has speeded up the publication of this blog as she helped me to find Salthrop.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 6 Jan 2014
Source: The National Archives PROB/11/307/513
Testator: Elizabeth Blake
Place: Long Parish, Hampshire, England
Type of Record: Will
Date of document: 10 Jan 1661, probated 3 Apr 1662
Condition: 17th century English, legible copy

[Margin]: T[esta]^m[ent]: Elizabethie
[Margin]: Blake

1    In the Name of God Amen The tenth day of
2    January in the yeare of our Lord god one Thousand six hundred sixtie one
3    I Elizabeth Blake wife of Nicholas Blake of Long parish in the County of South[amp]ton
4    gentleman being weake in body but of perfect memory doe make this my last
5    will and testament in manner and forme as followeth Imprimis I bequeath
6    my soule to god and my body to be buried in the parish Church of Nether Wallop in
7    the County aforesaid Item I give unto Anthony Pembridge Jane Pembridge and
8    Mary Pembridge Elizabeth Pembridge child of my neece Mary Pembridge
9    twenty pounds apiece Item I give unto Edward Kent Richard Kent John Kent
10    Joane Kent Elizabeth Kent children of my nephew Richard Kent twenty pounds
11    a peece Item I give unto Michaell Goddard Katherine Goddard Jane Goddard
12    Elizabeth Goddard children of my Neece Katherine Goddard twenty pounds
13    a peece Item I give unto my goddaughter Charitie Thomas the daughter of
14    my kinsman Nicholas Thomas five pounds and my will is that the above
15    named Sommes may be paid unto the above named children at the age of
16    one and twenty yeares or at their day of marriage if the above said Sommes
17    shall by that tyme be raysed by Mr Nicholas Blake and by him paid unto my
18    Executor And my will further is That if any of the fower children of the above
19    named Mary Pembridge shall happen to dye before the tymes above mentioned
20    That then the respective legacies of the children soe dying may be equally de-
21    vided betwixt the surviving and soe likeness for the five Children of my Nephew
22    Richard Kent And the fower children of my neece Katherine Goddard And
23    my will further is that the daughters of the above named Mary Pembridge
24    Richard Kent and Katherine Goddard may have my lynnen brasse pewter and
25    bedding equally devided amongst them excepting one bed which is at Samuell Col-
26    lins his house And one bolster and yellow Coverlett one paire of sheets and
27    one paire of blanceates which are in the house of Mr Nicholas Thomas which
28    my will is to give to Martha Hopkins with five pounds in money And my will
29    further is that the five pounds be paid unto the above named Martha Hopkins
30    as soone as it shalbe received by my executor from Mr Nicholas Blake if shee
31    be then living Item I give unto the Church of Nether Wallop twenty shillings
32    And to the poore of the same parrish twenty shillings more Item I give unto the poore
33    of Long parrish twentie shillings Item I give unto my brother William and Sister
34    Sadler To my brother Robert and Sister Sadler the Lady Pawlett my husband
35    Mr Nicholas Blake my cousin Anthony Pembridge and his wife my Cousin Robert
36    Goddard and his wife my Cousin Richard Kent and his wife Mr Nicholas Thomas
37    and his wife twenty shillings a peece to buy each of them a ring Item I give
38    unto my Cousin Richard Miller and his wife my Cousin Anne Sadler my Cousin
39    Joane Sadler ten shillings a peece Item I give unto my Cousin William Sadler
40    twenty shillings And all the rest of my money and goods I give unto my Ne-
41    phew Richard Kent whome I make sole executor of this my last will and testam[en]t
43    In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seale the day and yeare
44    above written the marke of Elizabeth Blake Signed and Sealed in the presence
45    of John Hayes Clerke The marke of Elizabeth Gale

Upper Clatford Priests

When we visited Upper Clatford in 2008 we took a picture of the list of priests and I have inserted the copy below.

Date of Institution	Surname	Forename
c1160-1173		Robert
1292	Sheppey	John
~	of Sherborne	John
1340	of Stoke	William
1349	of Lever	William
~	Packer	Richard
1394	Davy	Richard
1396	Rychemond	Walter
~	Ludlow	Thomas
1459	Deacon	Thomas
1462	Warner	John
~	Neville	John
1494		William
1511	Brownsmith	John
1524	Barnacke	Ralph
~	Grice	Richard
1528	Fallowfield	John
1554	Tinton	Thomas
1564	Gatenby (or Gatenbie)	Anthony
1610	Samborne	James
1627	Hooke	William
1632	Samborne	Thomas
1652	Barker	Philip
1662	Earbury (or Eastbury)	Anthony
1669	Crofts	Joseph
1709	Terry	Peter
1727	Pretty	William
1748	Roman	William
1782	Gibbs (or Gibbes)	George
1783	Willis	Thomas
1830	Fromd	Edward
1863	Child	Thomas
1882	Child	Alfred
1887	Boyd	John William
1891	Angelsmith	Francis Angel
1892	Noakes	Arthur John
1913	Bentham	Walter Reid
1948	In suspension
1949	Bridle	Reginald
1952	In suspension
1954	Browne	Clement Innes
1959	Pigott	John Hammond
1965	Richardson	Jack Cyril
1977	Graham	Alan Robert
1985	Tristram	Michael Anthony
1993	Gilks	Peter Martin
1999	Broad	David Nicholas Anthony

Anthony Gatenbie (Rector from 1564 on) must have started the registers in 1571 and they were incredibly well kept up until the early 1600s by which time one would think he was quite elderly. He has however decided that the new year begins January 1 irreguardless of what the remainder of the country is doing. However James Samborne becomes Rector in 1610 and keeps the records not quite so well but details are there and readable until 1620 regularly and then sporadically to 1625. He goes with the old style of dating with Lady Day in March beginning the New Year (around March 25). The next Rector William Hooke in 1627 does not make a single entry and the entries do not begin again until 1632 when Thomas Samborne becomes Rector. Five years seems like a long time between events so one is left to surmise that he simply didn't keep any records or they are lost. Now in the 1630s the records are again quite legible and thus far appear to be well kept. Thomas has decided to go with January 1 as the beginning of the year. Neither Anthony Gatenbie nor Thomas Samborne mark the date as oldstyle/newstyle ie. 1616/1617 for January 1 to Lady Day (March 25 approximately). This is the first time that I have had the parish records thus kept being most familiar with the Old Style prior to 1752.

I have now reached 355 baptisms as of the end of 1634. There are no Blake entries thus far but I will encounter the first Blake entry in 1635 which is Annis Blake daughter John Blake baptized 28 Dec 1635. I know there is a will by Mary Blake in 1672 stating that she lived at Upper Clatford and had a daughter Dorothy married to Edward Walderne and a son William Blake. That is the sum of the knowledge about the Blake family at Upper Clatford prior to 1757 when my line is found there. However, I do recall that Peter Blake was left a farm at Upper Clatford although I must check that as it is coming from memory!

There are 78 images in total for these parish records commencing in 1570 and ending in 1724. I almost didn't purchase them as I knew my Blake line was at Andover until 1757 but there were only two fiche and it seemed silly not to have the complete set. I am very pleased now that I did do so because when I ordered them I didn't know that my King family existed and they are at Upper Clatford from the beginning of the Registers. Now are they my direct line? That is a good question and working through the fiche might help me with that. I also have the Beaver, Coleman and the Johnson family at Upper Clatford also discovered much later. I will always purchase all early fiche now when I do so as I neglected to do so at Kimpton and must order those earlier registers.

I have now decided to purchase Quarley, Longparish, Monxton and a couple of other parishes in the next couple of months. Likely I will also purchase Weyhill, Wherwell, Chilbolton, Fyfield, Tangley at some point in the future. Eventually I will probably have all of the parishes around Andover and will have captured all the Blake records in the area prior to 1700 (at least all the ones in the registers :) ).

Proofreading Penton Mewsey Parish Registers

The task of proofreading Penton Mewsey Parish Registers is almost complete. I have decided that I will enter any changes by the priest who subsequently rewrote part of the Register in 1710 as * notes. It is a second derivative copy since he copied it and then I copied his. Making a note of changes recognizes his work and since he did it less than 20 years later is a valuable addition to the Register.

I have decided to step back a little from the Blake results until I have completed all the Parish Registers. It will be a portrayal of what is there and I must mow purchase Longparish, Quarley and a few others since they are coming up constantly in the registers. I may yet find the marriage of John and Elizabeth Blake in 1684 or perhaps 1683. Her surname would be nice to have.

Other than that we have chosen all of the pictures to go in our European presentation. We managed to pare the five thousands pictures down to 500 that we really felt best depicted our trip from start to finish. I am busy putting them into Powerpoint in order to show them to our children. Usually we just show them the 5000 but really that is a lot of pictures and better to have 500 nicely labeled and spend a few  minutes on each one. It has been really easy as we already made up a list of the pictures (all named) so that I can just cut and paste.

My new Blake correspondents will be really nice to have. They are not searching my line at least not at the moment - one never knows as one reaches back in time. Our families come together in the will of John Blake in terms of his naming his heirs. Are they related? How are they related? Having the same surname Blake may not mean a direct relationship given that we now know there are at least five absolutely separate lines. There are probably more but only time will pull that information out of the woodwork.

Tennis Elbow continues

Another day of reading and transcribing old documents that I purchased last year just before we went to England. I have not had a chance to get at them until now and working on them is a lead in to the manor records for upper Clatford that I photographed at Salt Lake City. Once my arm behaves nicely again I will get back at typing for more than a few minutes at a time. Probably my eyes needed a rest anyway from peering at the microfiche reader and the computer screen for hours on end.

Tomorrow I will continue with transcribing the old wills, indentures, and other documents from the 1600s and 1700s for the Blake family of Andover/Upper Clatford/Longparish etc.