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Will of Reverend Thomas Wood, Clerk, Vicar of Bampton

23 November 1784

© Crown Copyright

Source: The National Archives. PROB 11/1244
Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Rockingham Quire Numbers: 623 - 673

© Crown Copyright

(Transcribed by Russ Davies. Checked by Tom McManamon and Barbara Keene.)

Know all persons that I Thomas Wood, Clerk, Vicar of Bampton in the County of Devon do make this my Last Will and Testament in the manner and form following. That is to say, I give to my three sons William, Thomas and Matthew, or such of them as shall be alive at my death, all my Manuscript Sermons to be equally divided between them. I give to my daughter Mary if alive at my decease the sum of two hundred pounds to be paid her by my Executors within a year after my decease. I forgive also my Son-in-Law Hugh Burgess of Tiverton, Plumber all the Bonds and Notes which I have against him together with the Interest thereof in lieu of his present wife's proportion in the sum of six hundred pounds which I obliged myself by Bond to leave at my decease to such younger children by my late wife as should be alive at my death and not otherwise. I give also to my son Thomas the sum of four hundred pounds in Special Trust for his two sisters Susanna Stephens and Eleanor Burgess and their children in the manner following. It is my Will that the said four hundred pounds to be put out to Interest, and the interest paid yearly to Susanna Stephens for the maintenance and support of herself and her daughters Frances, Susanna, Mary and Alice until the said Susanna Stephens shall be possessed of the estate at Kittisford Farm which is settled upon her in marriage and if she shall die before she has got possession of it, it is my Will that the Interest of the said four hundred pounds shall be paid towards the support and maintenance of the four children or such of them as shall then be alive till they shall be in possession of the said estate but as soon as the mother or the children be in possession of the said estate it is my Will that the interest of the four hundred pounds be paid yearly to my daughter Eleanor Burgess, the wife of Hugh Burgess aforesaid for her separate use during her life and upon her death it is my Will that the said four hundred pounds shall be equally divided among such children as she shall leave behind her at her death as they shall each arrive at the age of twenty one years or be married. It is also my Will that my Executors hereinafter mentioned shall let my daughter Susanna Stephens if alive at my death have as much of my household goods as they shall think necessary for her and her children's use and Whereas my daughter Susanna Stephens or her children are like to be engaged in an expensive lawsuit to get possession of Kittisford Farm upon the death of Henry Stephens it is my Will that my Executors if any such lawsuit should happen shall advance one hundred pounds out of my effects towards the carrying on the said lawsuit to be repaid them out of the Income of the said estate as soon as the mother or the children are in possession of the said estate and after my just debts and funeral expenses and the above legacies are paid I give all my Goods and Chattels of what sort or kind soever they be to my son Thomas Wood, Clerk, and to my daughter Mary Wood whom I appoint my residuary Legatees and joint Executors of this my Last Will and Testament, writ with my own hand and signed by me and declared as to be my Last Will and Testament the eighth day of September one thousand seven hundred and eighty four.     Thomas Wood.

Signed and declared to be the Last Will and Testament of Thomas Wood of Bampton the Day and Year above written in the presence of us

Robert Phillips                John Melton.

This Will was proved at London the twenty third day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty four before the right Worshipful Peter Calvert also Doctor of Laws, Master Keeper or Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted by the oaths of the Reverend Thomas Wood, Clerk, the son, and Mary Wood, Spinster, the daughter of the deceased and the Executors named in the said Will to whom Administration was granted of all and singular the Goods, Chattels and Credits of the said deceased having been first sworn by Commission duly to administer.