Will of William Blake, Gravesend, Kent - National Archives PROB 11/846/88, probated 2 May 1759

William Blake, the testator names his niece Esther Croome as his executrix. She was seventeen years of age by the 7 Mar 1769 giving her a year of birth 1752. I was not able to locate definitive records for the Croome family. No further information on the testator William Blake was located.

Transcriber: Elizabeth Kipp
Recorded: 24 Feb 2020
Source: The National Archives, PROB 11/846/88
Testator: William Blake
Place: Gravesend, Kent
Type of Record:    Will
Date of document: 14 Apr 1759, probated 2 May 1759

[Margin]: William Blake

1    In the Name of God Amen
2    I William Blake of the parish of Gravesend in the County of
3    Kent being weak in body but of sound and perfect mind and
4    Memory blessed be Almighty God for the same do make and
5    Ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form
6    Following (that is to say) First and principally I recommend my
7    Soul to Almighty God who gave it And my Body I commit to
8    The Earth to be therein decently Buried and as touching the disposal
9    Of what Worldly Estate it hath pleased Almighty God to bless me with
10    I give and dispose of the same as follows (viz) First of all I Will
11    That all my Just Debts and Funeral Expences and the charges of
12    Proving this my Will be forthwith paid and Satisfied Item I give and
13    Bequeath unto my Cousin Elizabeth Goulding Wife of Thomas
14    Goulding in London the Sum of Four hundred pounds I also Give
15    And bequeath unto Mr Richard Bright of Stepney Causway the
16    Sum of One hundred pounds I also give and bequeath unto my
17    Niece Sarah Croome the Sum of fifty pounds I also give and
18    Bequeath unto Samuel Hazard of Gravesend afore said Malster
19    The Sum of twenty pounds I also Give and bequeath unto
20    Richard Stevenson of Gravesend aforesaid Gardener the sum of
21    Twenty pounds I also give and bequeath unto my Goddaughter
22    Rachael Amey of Gravesend aforesaid Spinster the Sum of
23    Twenty pounds all which said Several Legacies or Sums of Money
24    I Will and Order shall be paid to the said respective Legatees
25    By my Executrix hereinafter named within Twelve Calender
26    Months next and Immediately after my decease I also give
27    And bequeath unto my late Servant James Marshall of Gravesend
28    Aforesaid my Great long Ferry Boat with the Tackle and Furniture
29    Belonging unto her to be delivered unto him Immediately after
30    My decease I also give and bequeath unto George Eglintine
31    Of Gravesend aforesaid my Wash Streat Boat with the Tackle
32    And Furniture belonging unto her to be delivered unto him
33    Immediately after my decease I also give and bequeath unto
34    Herbert Bates of Gravesend aforesaid my little Boat with the
35    Tackle and Furniture belonging unto her to be delivered unto him
36    Immediately after my decease Item all the rest residue and
37    Remainder of my Goods Chattels Ready Money and Securities
38    For money and all other my Personal Estate whatsoever and
39    Wheresoever of what kind quality of nature soever the same are
40    I give and bequesth the same unto my Neice Esther Croome and
41    I do hereby make Ordain Constitute and appoint my said Neice
42    Esther Croome whole and Sole Executrix of this my last Will and
43    Testament And I do hereby Revoke all former Wills by me
44    Heretofore made and Declare this to be my last Will and Testament
45    In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the
46    Fourteenth day of April In the Thirty Second year of the Reign
47    Of our Sovereign Lord King George the Second And in the year of
48    Our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and fiftynine Wm Blake
49    Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the said William Blake
50    The Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence
51    Of us who at his request and in his presence and in the presence of
52    Each other Subscribed our names as Witnesses thereto Witnesses
53    Jas Terry Thomas Caltinson
54    On the Second day of May in the year of our Lord One thousand
55    Seven hundred and fifty nine Administration with the Will annexed
56    Of all and Singular the Goods Chattels and Credits of the William Blake
57    late of Gravesend in the County of Kent deceased was Granted to
58    Stephen Croome the Father and Curator lawfully assigned to
59    Esther Croome Spinster a Minor the Sole Executrix named in the
60    Said Will for the use and benefit of the said Minor until She
61    Shall attain the Age of Seventeen Years he having been first
62    Sworn duly to administer
63    Proved ____ and on the Seventh Day of
64    March 1769 before the Worshipful Thomas Bever Doctor of Laws and
65    Surrogate by the Oath of Esther Croome Spinster the Sole Executrix to
66    Whom Admon was granted having been first sworn duly to administer
67    The Letters of Admon with the Will annexed of the Goods of the said deceased
68    Granted in the Month of May 1759 to Stephen Croome the natural and lawful
69    Father and Curator or Guardian lawfully assigned to the said Esther Croome then a Minor
70    For her use and benefit and until She should attain the age of Seventeen Years
71    Being ceased and expired by reason of her having attained the said age.

Woodcock of Castle-Donnington

Looking at this family is a curiosity for me since it is the only William Cheatle marriage to a Sarah that I find in the IGI or the BVRII.

William Cheatle married to Sarah Woodcock 23 Feb 1773 at Castle Donnington. This is possibly the Sarah Woodcock baptized 10 Apr 1748 at Castle Donnington as the daughter of John Woodcock and Elizabeth Stevenson who were married 23 Dec 1747 at Melton Mowbray. This is possibly the William Cheatle baptized 7 Jan 1752 at Loughborough as the son of William Cheatle and Elizabeth Adcock who were married 29 Mar 1749 at Loughborough with William being baptized 1 Jan 1702 at Loughborough. All very speculative and I will be including these thoughts as I research the Cheatle family in the parish registers of Castle Donington and Loughborough both of which I purchased over three years ago but have scarcely looked at. This will be my incentive to dig into those registers.

Library Thing and the Gray family of ERY

We spent the day before yesterday dusting (I with my face mask as I sneeze with dust!) and today I will enter the bookcase that we dusted into Library Thing. This is a marvelous tool that lets you have a public or a private library. Most of our books are very old now but we enjoy them. Our newest ones are all on genealogy and we tend to go to a CD/DVD if one is available in preference to buying a book. We have literally thousands of books so much so that our youngest child at the age of seven asked if we lived in a library! Nothing particularly old rather just interesting books that have been published during the last 43 years.

I worked on Great Driffield yesterday as I heard back from a researcher on the Harland family (her grandmother was a Harland) and she has been into the record office there looking at records. She traces back to Timothy Harland bc 1700 and possibly at Great Driffield and has listed Thomas (the other individual I found baptizing children at Great Driffield) as the brother of Timothy and both sons of a Timothy Harland. This is exciting information and I want to review the film between 1612 and early 1700s when I can get to the family history centre.

I need to work on updates for my talk as well. I am working hard at staying well as I was sick the last talk that I was to give. This will be my first talk in over a year and my last talk. I find they simply take up too much of my time. I am slipping away from being an "authority" on DNA because I want to spend more time on record searching. Amazing that DNA really enticed me into genealogy but in order to really find my family lines I must do all the hard work of reading census, parish records etc on the microfilm/microfiche readers!

I have at least a year's worth of data to transcribe and enter into my records still remaining (the rest of the material collected at Salt Lake City and the new material collected at the Allen County Public Library). I am very pleased with my collections of data. The camera has proved to be an awesome genealogical tool.

I am focusing on the Gray/Cobb family at the moment and their ancestors in the East Riding of York and the parishes of Great Driffield, Hutton Cranswick, Holme on the Wolds, Kilnwick on the Wolds, Etton, Lund, and Cherry Burton for the moment. That almost seems like enough. I have now given Hutton Cranswick Parish Registers a very long look and my husband filmed from the beginning to the 1750s so I can have a longer look now that I know the Gray family was located there and I do not know if it is my Gray family since they do not appear at Cherry Burton until 1710. I am in the midst for Great Driffield and will eventually have the registers copied from the 1550s to the 1800s before I have completed my study.

Cherry Burton early parish register transcriptions are online. I have looked at Lund in the 1700s and 1800s but would like a longer look now. I have briefly glanced at Kilnwick on the Wolds and need a longer look. I have checked Holme on the Wolds for my Gray family and they only appear to be there in the 1770s for the two baptisms. I would need a longer look there as well. Lund and Etton also have had a look in the time frame I was interested in and it may be that I need to look at these two films later as well. I need to relook at Cherry Burton on ancestry for the Gray family.

The relook at Cherry Burton parish registers on Ancestry yielded 14 pages of text where I extracted all the Gray/Grey, Stevenson/Stephenson and Constable entries. These being the names that I have thus far associated with Cherry Burton. I will put the information into families as I find Mary Constable who married Thomas Hilton and their only child Jane who married Robert Grey may well be from Cherry Burton. A little more information on this line would be helpful. They married at Beverley.

Today I shall continue entering books into Library Thing. I may have overestimated the number of books we actually have plus we have given away some boxes of books.