Speaker steps in to save the day
AFTER a last-minute speaker cancellation due to a family bereavement, Hinckley Family History Society had to think quickly ahead of their January meeting. Happily, Program Secretary Suzanne Mountain stepped into the breach and members enjoyed a challenging evening learning about and working with wills.
A spokesperson takes up the story of the night:
Apart from their obvious legal standing, wills can be extremely important and informative documents for family historians. However, as we discovered, they can certainly be not the easiest documents to work with and understand.
Suzanne had brought in copies of a range of wills for us to study. These dated from the 1740s, early 1800s and late 1800s and so represented typical script and writing styles. We knew that older wills had Latin elements, but even these ‘modern English’ wills proved very challenging.
The 18th century will, oddly, was relatively clear to read compared to the others. However, this was complicated by the rather random spelling of some of the words, and we got the impression from the scrawled signature at the end that this will had been dictated to a scribe with rather limited grammatical skills. The preamble where the testator gave his soul to God and his body to be ‘decently buried’ emphasised how, at this date, there was very significant emphasis on the spiritual aspects before any consideration of the dispersal of any estate. We also learned how wills of this period were often accompanied by a detailed inventory of the testator’s goods and belongings.
The other wills gave good examples of the lengths undertaken to avoid any dispersal or loss of estate beyond the immediate family. One example contained a clear wish to leave specified mon- etary amounts to three children – and included the required conditions to ensure that this would still happen if the widow should remarry. At this period, any personal estate that she may have inherited would pass to her new husband should she remarry – with the risk that the children would therefore not inherit. The included conditions were to prevent this.
The exercise certainly emphasised the need for anyone to make a will – and to ensure that they have this done professionally to avoid complications, unintended outcomes and potential disputes.
The society will next meet at St John’s Church Centre on 7 February, when they will hold their AGM and general Q&A session. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Non-members are welcome (although you will not be able to vote in the AGM) and refreshments are provided. For further details, contact 01455 612261.