Thursday 16 June 2022

Where There's A Will ..

The contents of wills can shed some fascinating social insights. This North Antrim farmer didn't mince his words: 

If any relatives or friends of mine should turn up at any time I leave to each of them the sum of one shilling. I do this because no relative or friend of mine ever did any any act of work or kindness for me so that I prefer my house-keeper and servant man because they worked long and faithfully for me. 

He left the farm to his servant man and, apart from a few small legacies, the remainder of his estate was shared between his two faithful servants. 

 A brother of one of my Donegal ancestral relatives had this advice/direction for his wife: 

I leave and bequeath to my dear wife all that I have and possess having full confidence in her that she will do all she can for the benefit of each of our dear children I order my children to obey her and be kind to her and if any of the children should be disobedient or stubborn I order her to give such an one an outfit and pay his passage to a foreign country

An uncle and another brother of the same ancestral relative left her substantial sums of money for the late nineteenth century in their wills. The uncle included this limitation: 

.. and to my niece [name] two hundred and fifty pounds, to her sole and separate use, free from her husband's control. 

Perhaps the uncle didn't approve of my ancestor's second husband. I descend from her first husband.