Yeovil's Virtual Museum

1832 will of Ann Bucknell

Widow

 

An interesting will, and a prime example of what can happen when a daughter gets greedy.

 

My dear Children It is my request that the following things should at my decease be divided between you according to your dear late Fathers my beloved husbands Will viz Catherine Gumm to have the large Bible Caddy Coffee Cups shawl [shells ?] time piece Dining Table large bed bedstead and furniture ½ doz[en] tea spoons marked W.E.B. and one tablespoon marked E.B. with the age of your dear Father on it and the silver Cream Jug Sophia Bollen to have two table spoons one marked W.B. and the other P.E. my watch with all its apparatus chimney offass partition [Moons ?] Bureau Drawers the Crape Ring and Jacobs brooch Martha Churchouse to have the Punch ladle two table spoons one marked W B the other E B The mahogany tea table flock Mattress the Practical Essays on the Collects the Bureau bedstead and bed and the small drawers Maria Lee to have the silver pepper Caster ½ doz[en] blue china plates the set of china one Sofa chair the silver cup and ring with my dear husbands name and my son Williams Profile and it is my request that she shall give the three last mentioned articles to her brother William if he comes into the Country again or if his son William Bucknell should come over give him his Fathers profile My Granddaughter Ann Crocker to have ½ doz[en] silver spoons marked E B sugar Tongs two table spoons one marked E B the other W B the two rings on the Wedding finger large chest of Drawers looking glass and wash hand stand The remainder of the furniture also my linen and clothes I request that you will equally divide between yu according to your dear Fathers request on his Will the 200£ in the Savings Bank with the money in hand with all lawful debts to be equally divided (after the funeral expences etc are paid) between Catherine Gumm Mary Ann Bucknell Bollen Martha Churchhouse Maria Lee and Ann Crocker my grand daughter It is also my request that you will have a [most ?] devout funeral and that Mr Curtis shall serve it and that he will be present at the divideing the effects with Mr W Churchhouse Mr W Bollen and Mrs Lee This is my last request hoping you will all agree and share every kindness to your Sister Catherine and each other If it shall be the Almightys will to take me before the £50 from Mr Hoskins becomes due it is my request for it to be divided between my grand children hereafter mentioned namely 16£ for Ann Gumm 16£ between Mary Ann Bucknell and maria Lee Bollen 16£ between Martha maria William and Mary Ann Churchhouse when received to be put into the Savings Bank for each child and let it be kept there till each child become of Age and the interest of the 2£ remaining to be taken by W[illia]m Bollen to keep up Mr Bucknells and my grave If either of the children die before it is received the remaining ones are to have the brothers or Sisters share

 

Appeared Personally Joseph Northcott Cooke of Yeovil in the County of Somerset Bankers Clerk William Churchhouse of the same place Carpenter Richard Beck of Yeovil aforesaid Shoemaker William Milborne of the same place Tailor Samuel Rolls of Framlingham in the County of Suffolk Draper and Sophia Bollen of Yeovil aforesaid wife of William Bollen of the same place Draper Martha Churchhouse wife of the said William Churchhouse of Yeovil aforesaid and Maria Musgrave wife of John Musgrave of Wincanton in the said County of Somerset Bankers Clerk and made Oath as follows and first the said Joseph Northcott Cooke for himself saith that Ann Bucknell late of Yeovil in the County of Somerset aforesaid Widow departed this life on the thirteenth day of September last That on the Evening of her death he this deponent went to her Residence and examined her deeds and papers which were kept together in a box in the deceaseds Bedroom and that amongst such Deeds and papers he found the paper writing hereto annexed That after reading the said paper he replaced the same with the other papers of the deceased in the said box and immediately locked such box and retained the key thereof in his possession That on the Evening of the day after her Interment he again went to her residence and assisted in the division of the Furniture of the Deceased among the persons named in such paper and that afterwards on the same evening he the Deponent received from William Bollen her Son in law another paper writing signed by the Deceased purporting to be (and as he verily believes it was) her last Will and testament whole and [word illegible] and of which the first mentioned paper was as he believes a true copy and then read it aloud to the persons then present who were as he now remembers the above named William Bollen and William Churchhouse her sons in law and Sophia Bollen Maria Musgrave and Catherine Gum wife of James Gum now in the Kings Bench Prison her daughter That after so reading the said paper writing he the Deponent placed the same together with the said Copy in the Box then in the Sitting Room of the Deceaseds said residence and immediately locked such box and delivered up the key thereof to the said Catherine Gum the daughter of the said deceased the said Will together with the said Copy being then deposited in such box And he further saith that he well remembers that the name of the said deceased was set and subscribed to the said Will and also the names of Richard Beck and William Milborne as Witnesses and he verily and his conscience believes that the paper writing hereunto annexed beginning thus 'Mt dear children It is my request that the following things' and ending thus 'the remaining ones to have the Brothers or Sisters share' is a true copy or to the same tenor and effect as the paper writing read by him the Deponent to the deceaseds Relations as aforesaid and he knows such Paper writing (being the paper writing hereto annexed) to be that deposited by him with the paper writing having the Signature of the Deceased and witnesses as aforesaid And the said William Churchouse for himself saith that he was present at the house of the said deceased on the Evening of the said twentieth day of September last (being the time referred to by his fellow deponent Joseph Northcott Cooke) and heard a paper Writing was to him as the last Will and Testament of the said Deceased by his said fellow deponent and to which he observed the Signature of the said deceased and also those of Richard Beck and William Milborne as Witnesses And he further saith that having now attentively perused the paper writing hereunto annexed beginning and ending as aforesaid he verily believes it to be a true Copy or agreeably the tenor of the paper so read in his presence by the said Joseph Northcott Cooke as aforesaid And the said Richard Beck and William Milborne for themselves say that about (though not exceeding) three years (but now precisely as to the time they cannot speak) the said Ann Bucknell the deceased in their presence signed her name to a paper writing (as to the contents of which they were not informed) and declared the same to be her last Will and testament and they thereupon signed their names to the said paper as Witnesses to such Signature And the said Samuel Ralls for himself saith that about (though not above) three years and a half ago (but the time more particularly he cannot state) he at the request of the said Ann Bucknell the deceased draw or write out a paper writing which purported to be and was as he understood from her last Will and Testament That a few weeks afterward (but how many he does not now remember) the said paper writing was shown to him by the said deceased and he then observed her signature (with which he was acquainted) and also the signatures of Richard Beck and William Milborne thereto as Witnesses That the said Deceased expressed her intention to deliver the said Will to her son in law the said William Bollen for safe Custody and requested the deponent to make a Copy of the said Will to keep in her own possession And that the Deponent then made a Copy of the said paper as executed being the paper writing hereunto annexed beginning and ending as aforesaid And he lastly saith that the Copy so made by him and hereto annexed was and is (with the exception of the signatures which he omitted) a true and Faithful Copy in all respects And the said Sophia Bollen for herself saith that she is a daughter of the deceased That she saw the last Will and Testament of the said deceased after it had been read over as aforesaid by Joseph Northcott Cooke but hath not such seen the same That she has made a careful and diligent search in the box hereinbefore referred to by her fellow deponent Joseph Northcott Cooke  and also among the papers left by the said deceased and cannot find that will or any will or writing of a testamentary nature other than the paper writing hereunto annexed and before deposed to and she verily and in her conscience believes that the said deceased did not leave or make any other Will than that was ever as aforesaid And that such Will is not now in existance for she saith that Catherine Gum the daughter of the said deceased hath admitted in her presence and hearing that since the death of the deceased the said will (of which the paper hereunto annexed purports to be and is as she believes a true Copy) came into her possession and that she burnt or otherwise destroyed the same And the deponent lastly saith that the Estate and Effects left by the said deceased do not amount in value to the sum of three hundred pounds and consist of the sum of two hundred pounds secured by mortgage and of household goods and furniture of the value of ten pounds or thereabouts And the said Sophia Bollen Martha Churchouse and maria Musgrave for themselves say that about ten days preceding the death of their Mother the said Ann Bucknell they at the request of their said Mother assembled at her house for the purpose (as she their said Mother expressed it)of her their said Mother making a final arrangement of her affairs That their said Mother after a conversation on some matters unconnected with the Will then informed them that their Sister Cathering was dysatisfied with the disposition she (their said Mother) had made of her property in the Will which (as she stated) she had placed in the hands of her Son in Law William Bollen for safe custory and wished her to alter such Will and give her the said Catherine Gum the interest and enjoyment of all her (their said Mothers) property for life That their said Mother then stated that she objected to make such alteration in her Will and at her request the Copy of such Will (being the paper writing hereunto annexed and disposed to herein as aforesaid) was taken from a box in her room and read aloud to them the deponents the said Catherine Gum being then present and their said Mother then declared that it was her determination that the said Will should stand as it was and directed such Copy to be again placed in the Box from which it had been taken and it was so placed accordingly And the said Maria Musgrave for herself further saith that she was sent for by her said Mother on the evening of the day above disposed of and on going to her she found her much agitated That she (deponents said Mother) then complained that the said Catherine Gum would not suffer her to have and Part because she refused to alter her Will (meaning the Will aforesaid) and she (deponents said Mother) again declared that every thing should remain as it was and that she would not alter her said Will And the said Sophia Bollen and William Churchouse or themselves further say that some days after the interment of the said deceased the said Catherine Gum was directed to open the box (the key of which she was known to have in her possession) wherein the Will of the said deceased had been (after her interment) deposited That she the said Catherine Gum then went to the said Box and brought forward the Copy of the said Will (being the paper aforesaid hereto annexed) but being requested to bring the original she after some hesitation declared she had burnt it

 

Joseph Northcott Cooke     Wm Churchouse      Martha Churchouse    Richard Beck    William Milborne    Sophia Bollen

On the twentieth day of July one thousand eight hundred and thirty two the deponents Joseph Northcott Cooke William Churchouse and Martha his Wife Richard Beck William Milborne and Sophia Bollen were sworn by virtue of the Commission hereunto annexed before me

David Jones Officiating Minister of the parish of Yeovil Somerset    

 

Maria Musgrave

On the 21st day of July one thousand eight hundred and thirty two the Deponent Maria Musgrave was sworn by virtue of the Commission hereunto annexed before me

W Carpendale Minister of Wincanton Somerset

 

Samuel Ralls

On the twenty fifth day of July one thousand eight hundred and thirty two the Deponent Samuel Rolls was sworn by virtue of the Commission hereunto annexed before me

Wm Greenland Off[iciatin]g Minister of Framlingham Suffolk

 

This Copy of the Will of Ann Bucknell Widow was Proved at London 16th August 1832 before the Judge by the Oath od Sophia Bollen (Wife of William Bollon) one of the natural and lawful children and as such one of the Executors according to the tenor of the said Will to whom Adm[inistrati]on was granted having been first sworn by Com[missi]on duly to administer Power reserved to Catherine Gum wife of James Gum William Bucknell Martha Churchouse (wife of William Churchouse and Martha Musgrave Wife of John Musgrave) the other natural and lawful children and as such the other Executors according to the tenor when they or either of them shall apply Limited until the Original Will or a more authentic copy thereof shall be brought into and left in the Registry of our Prerogative Court but no further or otherwise or in any other manner whatsoever

 

 

Transcribed by Bob Osborn