MRP: Edward Pearce will
Edward Pearce will
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IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I Edward Pearce of Witlingham in the County of Norfolk Gent being sick and weake in body but praised be to God of good and perfect memorie Doe in the first place revoke all former wills be mee made, and I doe make and ordayne this my last will & testament in manner and forme following FFIRST and before all things I commend my Soule into the Hands of God my maker and God his sonne Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer and my body to the earth from whence itw as taken to bee decently buried according to the discretion of my Executors hereafter named And for all the worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to intrust mee I dispose thereof as followeth that is to say Whereas in and by and Indenture Tripartite of Grant and Release made betweene myselfe and Mary my wife on the first part and the Right ffather in God Herbert Lord Bishopp of Hereford and John fferers of Tamworth Castle in the County of Warwick Esq:r of the second part and William Banbury of London Merchant of the Third part bearing date the Twentie eigth day of November in the yeare of our Lord One Thousand six hundred sixty eight Allthose two Messuages or Tenements and farmes with the Appurtenances comonly called by the name of Witlingham Heath (??) and Castlar (Costlar?) farme in Witlingham in the County of Norfolk and all the houses outhouses barnes stables buildings xxxxx yards gardens and orchards with the appurtenances thereunto belonging and also all the sxxxx Closes peeces or parcells of arrable meadow xx pasture and woodgrounds w:th their and every of their appurtenances to the S:d ffarmes belonging or therewithall used
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or letten therein after particularly menconed the said two farmes being at or under (?) the yearly rent of Two hundred forty and five pounds And also all that close peece or parcell of arable land meadow or pasture ground with the appurtenances called by the name of fosterfeild then or late ni (sic) oxxxxxx of Robert Hare his Assignee or Assignes Att or under the yearly rent of Seaven pounds and foure shillings are settled and asoured (sic) to the use and behoofe of my wife for life without Impeachment of waste and after my decease to the use of the said Mary my wife for her life for her jointure in full recompense & satisfaction of all her Dower and Thirds which she the said Mary shall or may have or claime of in or unto any the Manors Messuages lands tenem:ts or hereditaments whatsoe is (?) of mee the said Edward Pearce and upon trust and confidence that if the said Mary my wife shall after my decease marry with any other man then the said Mary and her Assignes shall and will out of the rents Issues and proffitts of the said premises yearly and on y yeare from and after such her marriage dureing soo many yeares as shee shall live pay and satisfy to such person or persons as I shall by any Deed under my hand and seale or by my last Will and Testament in writing appoint and nominate the summe of Twenty pounds of lawfull english money and after the death of my selfe and the said Mary my wife the estate and premises are tydd & settled for the payment of Two Thousand pounds of lawfull english mony amongst all my children of mee the said Edward Pearce except my eldest sonne begotten on the Body of the said Mary my wife in such proporcon manner and forme (?) as I shall by any writing or writings under my hand and seale or by my last will and Testament in writing direct and appoint and for want of such appointment equally and in equall proportion such payment and payments to be made when and soo soone as such child or children who are to have the same shall marry or attaine his her or their respective ages of twenty one yeares which should first respectively happen with interest for the same in the meane time to bee paid by the Right Reverend ffather in God Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford and the said John fferers Esq:r whom I made my Trustees in that behalfe and they were (?) to bee possessed of the said estate for the raising of the said Two Thousand poundsfor the terme of Ninety nine yeares as by the said recited Indenture Tripartite doth more fully and at large appeare But the said Right Reverend ffather in God Herbert Lord Bishop of Hereford and John fferers Esq:r being desirous and willing to resigne up the said Trust my mind and will is Richard Garth of Morden John Jay of Holveston (?) and Henry Reeve of Brabondale (?) both of the County of Nxxxx Esq:r bee my Trustees if they resigne andto have the same power and authority my other Trustees had as if they had been actually names Trustees in the abovesaid Tripartite Indenture and to act according to the true intent and meaning thereof viz:t That paym:t of Two Thousand pounds bee made to such of my children as are to have the same as soone as it can bee raised after my wifes decease Now I the said Edward Pearce haveing 9 (sic) children begotten on the body of the said Mary my wife (that is to say Mary Pearce Lucy Pearce and Elizabeth Pearce my three daughters and Dudley Pearce Thomas Pearce Carlton Pearce and Croft Pearce my fower younger sonns and Edward Pearce my eldest sonne doe hereby appoint and direct to be paid to and amongst my said three daughters and fowre younger sonnes at the respective times in the said Indenture limitted or appointed for the payment of the aforementioned Two Thousand pounds in proporcon following viz:t Six hundred sixty foure pounds a peece to my said Three daughters and forty shillings a peece to my said foure younger sonnes with Interest for the same according to the Indenture aforesaid but if any of my three daughters happen to die before her or their respective time or times of payment of her or their respective proporcon or proporcons of the Two Thousand pounds aforesaid then her and their said proporcon and proporcons thereof I appoint to bee equally divided and paid to and amongst the survivor and survivors of them three that shall live to the respective time and times appointed for the paym:t of hers and their=owne Six hundred and sixtyfoure pounds a peece and for want of such survivor or survivors of them I appoint the same to bee divided and paid equally to and amongst each of the said foure younger sonns as shall survive such my said Daughter or Daughters soo dieing and shall live to the respective time or times appointed for payment of his or their owne forty shillings a peece aforesaid XXXX I doe further herby direct and appoint That if Mary my said wife shall after my decease marry againe that then she and her assignees shall of the Rents Issues and profitts of the said premises yearely and one yeare from and after her marriage dureing soo many yeares as shee shall afterwards live pay and satisfy to my eldest sonne Edward Pearce and his Assignees the sume of Twenty pounds lawfull mony of England ITEM I doo give and devise to my loving freinds the said Richard Garth of Morden in the said County of Surrey and John Jay of Holveston (?) and Henry Moore of Beakendales (?) in the said County of Norfolk (??) Esq:r and to their heires and assignees All those my other Houses Lands and grounds in Witlingham aforesaid or elsewhere in the said county of Norfolk not comprized and titled in or by the said recited Indenture which are called by the names of Waterhouse ffarme or by whatsoever other name or names the same bee called or knowne and which I either have in xxxx owne handsxxxxx or are occupied by any other or others as my Tennant or Tennants thereof xxx at will or for yeares or yeares (sic) or by any way of exchange upon Trust and confidence xxxxxxxxxxxxx that they the said Richard Garth John Jay and Henry Moore (Or is this Roode??, or even Reeve) their heires and Assignes shall pmitt and suffer my deere wife M:rs Mary Pearce to occupy hold use and Keepe the same and every part thereof in her owne hands for soo long time after my decease as shee shall thinke fitt at one hundred pounds a yeare rent to bee paid by her for the same by two even and equall halfe yearly payments yearly and every yeare whilst shee shall soe hold use occupy or keepe the same And upon trust that the said yearly rent of One hundred pounds a yeare soe to be paid by my wife as aforesaid shall as it grow due bee paid and disposed of in manner folloiwng that is to say my wife being first allowed for necessary repaires of the said house and my said Trustees alsoe satisfied for all necessary charges and expences about the said Trusts andTrust the residue thereof to be equally distributed and divided betweene my three Daughters aforesaid their respective executors administrators and assignes And upon Trust and confidence also that when my said wife dye or refuse any longer to hold use occupy or keepe the said ffarme and premises in her owne hands upon the termes aforesaid and my sonne Edward Pearce his heires and assignes shall within Two yeares then next refusing pay One thousand pounds and interest in manner following viz:t unto Two of my said three Daughters (that is to say) to my Daughter Mary Pearce and Lucy Pearce their respective executors administrators and assignes the sume of foure hundred pounds a peece with Interest for the same at the rate of Six pcent for the said Two yeares forbearance and pay at the time limitted for the payment of the foure hundred pounds a peece to my Daughters Mary and Lucy and the remaineing Two hundred pounds into my wifes hand with like Interest for the same for the use and behoofe of my other daughter Elizabeth Pearce there to remaine untill the age of Twenty one yeares And in case my wife die before my sonne Edward Pearce pay the said Two hundred pounds or
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Upon his non payment the said Trustees sell the estate then the said Two hundred pounds with Interest for the same as aforesaid I will shallbe paid my said daughter Elizabeth Pearce by my said sonne Edward or by the said Trustees in case hee make default And also upon Condition That if my said sonne Edward Pearce shall pay and satisfy my said trustees all their necessary charges and expences in and about the said Trust or Trusts which they shall not bee otherwise paid or satisfied for that then and in such case they the said Richard Garth John Jay Henry Reeve and the survivor of them and his and their heires shall convey the said ffarme and premises to him my said sonne Edward Pearce his heires and Assignes but for default thereof shall at the end and expiracon of the said two yeares next after my decease sell the same for the best price that can bee gotten and then Immediately dispose and pay the mony raised thereby in manner following that is to say in the first place to and for the satisfieing themselves all their necessary charges and expences in and about the Trust and Trusts aforesaid not otherwise then before satisfied and allowed them and in the next place for paying their respective summes of mony amounting in the whole to the Thousand pounds aforesaid to my said Two Daughters Mary and Lucy ffoure hundred pounds apeece with interest for the same at Six pcent for the said Two yeares and afterwards till the estate be sold And also for the payment of Two hundred pounds with like interest for the said Two yeares into my wives hands to remaine there for the use of my said daughter Elizabeth untill shee bee Twenty one yeares of age And all the residue and overplus of the said premisses when they are sold my mind and will is my said Trustees shall then forthwith pay to my three younger sons Thomas Pearce Carleton Pearce and Croft Pearce to bee equally divided amongst them and if any of my said sonns die before the overplus of the estate shall happen to become and then I appoint the said overplus shall bee equally divided and paid amongst the survivors but my minde and will is That if any one or more of my said Three Daughters dye unmarried before her or their respective time or times of payment thereof That then her or their Surviveing sister or sisters shall have her and their share and shares of the said Thousand pounds and my said sonne Edward his heries or assignes or my said Trustees and their heires to pay the same Accordingly ITEM I give and bequeath to my said three daughters five hundred pounds more to bee raised and paid out of my stock within doores & without in Witlingham, by my Executors hereafter named within five yeares after my Decease if they shall be then married or shall att any time after the expiracon of the said five yeares happen to marry to bee divided amongst them as followeth that is to say To my daughter Mary and Lucy One hundred pounds a peece and to my daughter Elizabeth Three hundred pounds of lawfull English mony And my mind and will is that till my said Daughters shall happen to marry as aforesaid my Executors shalll keep the respective legacies in their hands amounting in the whole to ffive hundred pounds paying them their interest for the same after the said five yeares expired at the rate of Six pcent for their respective legacy or legacies of her or them remaining unmarried but if any of my said Three daughters shall die before marriage my minde and will is her or their respective porcon or porcons I appoint shall bee equally divided and paid to and amongst the survivors But my minde and will is that before any of my said Three Daughters bee paid what I have soe given any of them out of my stock as aforesaid thex shall each of them givea Bond of the penalty of ffoure hundred pounds apeece that when they have recvd their severall legacies out of the Stock as aforesaid shee or they that have soe received their part will repay the same to such of her or their Brothers and his heires Males as my wives
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Jointure lands and Tenements shall then belong to and if all my said three Daughters should happen to die my minde and will is my sonne Edward shall have one Third part of the five hundred pounds given to my three daughters out of the stock and the other third two parts to bee equally divided and paid to and amongst my foure younger sonns Dudley Pearce Thomas Pearce carlton Pearce and Croft Pearce And my minde and will is that my three Daughters shall have their board gratis with my loving wife M:rs Mary Pearce till the five hundred pounds bee paid as aforesaid if they bee desirous to continue with her and noe longer without the consent of my loving Wife M:rs Mary Pearce as aforesaid And my will and minde is if any one or more of my three daughters die unmarried that then her or their surviving sister or sisters shall have her or their share or shares of the five hundred pounds aforesaid And if it shall soe happen that all three of my Daughters should die before marriage then my sonne Edward shall have one third part of their portions and the remaining two third parts shall bee equally divided amongst my foure younger sonns Dudley Pearce Thomas Pearce Carlton Pearce and Croft Pearce ITEM I give and bequeath to my loving sister M:rs Anne Pearce the summe of ffifty pounds oflawfull english mony to bee paid within twelve monthes next after my decease to bee paid likewise out of my Stock by my Executors ITEM I give more out of my stock aforesaid the like summe of ffifty pounds english mony for the buying makeing and setting up of a new Sawen Oaken roofe upon Withingham church in the county of Norfolk aforesaid and as many tyles as shall bee needfull to tyle it withall to bee made and burnt at the charges of my Executors within two yeares next after my decease and what shall remaine of my stock goods and Chattells undisposed of inthis my last will and Testament I give unto my deare wife M:rs Mary Pearce for her life and at her death to dispose of them to which of my children she pleaseth ITEM I give and bequeath unto my sonne Dudley Pearce ffive hundred pounds lawfull english mony to bee paid out of my stock in trade with the East India Company and two hundred pounds to bee paid or more if my Executors shallthinke fitt at at his setting out for his next voyage into India and the remaineing three hundred pounds to bee paid him when hee comes to his age of Twenty and One yeares provided hee become bound to my Executors theIR heires and assignes in a bond of one Thousand pounds penalty under condition that if hee becomes heire to his elder brother hee shall repay this five hundred pounds now given him to bee divided equally amongst his surviveing younger brothers ITEM I give unto my three other sonns Thomas Pearce Carleton Pearce and Croft Pearce the residue of my Stock in trade with the East India Company withall the profitts Issueing and ariseing therefrom and nothing to bee taken from the Stock or incomeof it but what shall bee expended in the binding them or any of them out to trade and the rest as it comes in to bee put out to interest or otherwise for their best advantage and increase of their stock according to the discretion of my Executors against the time and times that they shall come to their severall ages of one and Twenty yeares for then they are to have each of them their third part of the said stock and the interest of it, But with this provisoe That in case either my sonne Thomas Pearce or Dudley Pearce should by the death of their elder brother become heire of all my Land Tenements and hereditaments then hee that shall soe enioy them shall give bondas aforesaid my sonne Dudley is to doe to my Executors before his porcon bee paid or upon the receipt therof to repay his said porcon back againe to bee divided or given by my executors to his surviveing younger brothers or brother and incase any of my foure younger sonns Dudley Pearce Thomas Pearce Carlton Pearce or Croft Pearce shall
EDWARD PEARCE WILL SECOND PART TWO
happen to die before their porcons shall become due then their shares or shares soe xxing shall bee equally divided and given to the Survivor or survivors of them and if it please God that all foure of them die before they come to receive their aforesaid porcons my minde and will is that my eldest sonn shall enjoy them forever ITEM I give more unto my three sonns Thomas Pearce Carlton Pearce and Croft Pearce my lease of my two houses standing on London bridge late in the occupacion of M:r Nathaniell Smith and M:r William Fitzhugh immediately after my Decease for their prsent maintenance and the sums to be received by my Executors dureingtheir being under age for their use and behoofe and the Lease to bee renewed for one and Twenty yeares by my Executors out of the profitts of my East India Stock six yeares before the expiracon thereof, but assoone as any of them shall come to his or their respective age or ages of Twenty nine (sic) yeares his or their part shall remaine in my Exect:s hands for and towards the better maintenance of the said younger sonns or sonn but after all my said Three sonns shall severally have attained their age or ages of Twenty nine yeares my minde and will is that my eldest sonne Edward Pearce shall have the rent for the years that remaine in the lease the sole power of renewing the Lease for himselfe and his heires lawfully begotten ITEM I give and bequeath unto my eldest sonne Edward Pearce my Mannors of Kirbybedon cum Witlingham and Wadcar in Weymondham all all my Lands Tenements and Hereditaments whatsoever in Norfolk elsewhere under and In ??Biott to the payments and bequests mentioned in this my last Will and Testament and to his heires male lawfully begotten forever and for want of such heires to my sonne Dudley Pearce and his heires Male lawfully begotten and for want of such heires to my sonne Thomas Pearce and his heires male lawfully begotten and for want still of such heires to my two younger sonns successively but still under and InBiott to y same payments and bequests menconed and comprized in this my last will and testament and in the aforesaid recited Tripartite Indenture And if it please God that all my five sonns die without heires Male lawfully begotten Then my minde and will is that all my estate shall be equally divided among or between such of my three daughters as shall bee then liveing And for the performance of this my last Will and Testament which consists of Two sheets of large paper the first written but of one side and the second same six (sic) sheets on the backside I constitute and ordaine and earnestly request for my Executors my deerly beloved wife M.rs Mary Peerce Richard Garth of Morden in the County of Surrey Esq:r John Jay of Holmeston (?) in the County of Norfolk Esq:r and And (sic) for their care and paines herein I give and bequeath to every of them the summe of Tenne pounds to bee paid out of my Stock in Witlingham aforesaid I give also unto M:r Henry XXX my Trustee ffive pound Given under my hand and Seale at Witlingham in the said County of Norfolk this Eleaventh day of November Anno Domini One Thousand six hundred eighty two Edw: Pearce Sealed published and declared in the psence of us Amphillis Needham Mary Boswell Thomas Wilson
THIS is the Codicill appertaineing to the last Will and Testament of Edward Pearce of Witlingham in the County of Norfolk Esq:r made the ffourteenth day of Aprill Anno Domi one thousand six hundred eighty three contteining the words following ITEM I doe give and bequeath unto M:r Thomas Bretton my deere brother the sume of Twenty pounds to buy mourning withall and a Ring wherein I would have these words engraven, remember your deare brother Edward Pearce given under my hand & seale the day and yeare above written Edw: Pearce being in psence John Bartley Nicholas Cooke
PROBATUM fuit xxxxx testamentum
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Richard Garth Armiger et Johannis Jay duorum Executorum in duo testo xxxx Quinbus Comissa xxxx Administrato omnem et xxxxxxxxxxxx
PROBATUM (sic) fuit xxx xtestum cum Cod xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Commentary
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