(Christopher Morgan is a 12 x great grandfather of mine)
The Will
In the name of God Amen. I Christopher Morgan
Esquire whole of minde, but weake of Body doe make my Last will and Testament of my
Landes goodes and other thinge in mannor and forme followinge, That is to saye First I
bequeth my sowle to Allmighty god and my body to be Decently buryed at the discrecon of
of my wif and Overseers / Item I bequeth the Debt of CCCCli. due unto me by my
Brother Alexander Brett [1] or by thexecutors of his deceassed Father unto my two daughters
Elizabeth and Mary Morgan equally to be devided betwene them, And I give unto them
[p.2]
more CCli. a peece to be raised uppon and out of my Landes and goodes at the discrecon of my trusty
freindes and Feoffees Amias Bampfielde Esqurie [2], John Crewkerne Esquire [3] and William
Morgan gent my Brother Item I give and bequeth unto the saide Amias Bampfielde
John Crewkerne and William Morgan twoe partes of my Mannor of white herston and of
all my Landes and Tenementes in witherston in three partes to be devided and twoe partes
of all my Landes and Tenements in the Parish of Brodewinsor [Broadwindsor] and netherstirthill [Lower Sturthill in Shipton Gorge parish]
Athelington [Allington] and Loders, and of my Landes Called Morgans Landes and Limberye [Limbury] in
Netherbury in three partes to be devided ymediately after my death And twoe partes
of my Mannor of Comberton and of all my Landes and Tenementes in Comberton in the
County of Worcester (Except the Capitall messuage Farme there and the demeanes
there) And of my Mannor of Morgans Haies [Morganhayes] and of all other my Landes and Tenemtes
in the County of Devon, and of all my Landes and Tenementes in Marnehill [Marnhull] in the
Countye of Dorsett wthall and singler their and every of their Appurtenances after the
deceasse of Mary Sturton my mother in three partes to be devided To have and to
holde the same twoe partes of all and singler the premisses wth thappurtenances unto
the said Amias, John and William and their and their heires untill some heire or heires
of me the said Christopher shall accomplish his or their full age of one and Twenty
yeares And shall after his said age paye or tender unto my said trusty freindes or to
any heire of any of them one paire of Spurres to the uses and entent That they the said
Amias John and William and their heries wth the rentes Issues and Profites thereof shall
aide mine Executor or Administrator to and for the payment of my debtes and Legacies
accordinge to the good discrecon of my saide trusty freindes or the more parte of them ^ {or the survivor of them} and
that after my said debtes and Legacies my said trusty freendes shall ymploye the residue
of the rentes and profites of the premisses uppon the education of my yonger Children or
any of them for augmentacon of their or any of their porcons or other prefermentes for the
better ease and helpe of my wif in that behalf accordinge to their good discrecons And
my request and desire is, That my said trusty freindes shall make yearely Accomptes
before my Overseers or the overlivers of them of and Concerninge all such som[m]es of
money as shall Come to their handes by force of this my Last will and Testamente or
of my Feoffment to them made in that behalf, and of the disbursmentes thereof
and to take order amongst them selves yearely for the saf kepinge or ymployment of the
remnant thereof deductinge their expences in such sorte as by mortalitie of any of them
selves mine entent maye not remaine unperformed / Item I will and ordeine That yf
my said daughters or eyther of them shall happen to dye before her or their marriage
That then the porcon appointed unto her to Cease, and the same to goe in Benefite to mine
Executor, Item I will That my mother Sturton shall have the Custodye of all my Evidences
to the use of mine Heire to be delivered unto him at his full age Item I bequeth unto my
Lovinge wif Anne Morgan all my Livinge Beastes and Cattle / Item I give and bequeth
unto my servante Richard Kellwaye in recompence of his honest and faithfull service for the
terme of his lif the Rev[er]sion of one Tenement nowe in the Tenure of [blank] Harvie
beinge parcell of ^ {the mannor of} whitherston / yeldinge therefore the anncyent rentes due and accustomed
for the same / Item I give and bequeth unto my kinsman and Servant Edward
Morgan [4] for the Terme of his lif the Rev[er]sion of one Cottage called Kytthcome nowe in the
tenure of [blank] Hutchins as in the right of his wif wch Cottage is parcell of the
Mannor aforesaid, yeldinge therefore the olde and accustomed rentes / Item I make my
sonne Christopher my whole Executor, And I desire that my wif maye have the
Administracon duringe his minoritie / And I make ov[er]seers my mother Sturton M[er] John Strangwaies M[er] William Gibbes Esquires, and to ev[er]y of my Overseers I bequeth a
gold ringe of Three poundes price to be paide by my Executor, wyttnesses William
Gibbes, John Barfoote [5], John Crewkerne, Amias Preston [blank] Powlett Roger
Gollupp./
Probate Statements
In summary I think they say:
1. 20 Feb 1590/1 Anne the relict of Christopher was granted administration during the minority of Christopher Morgan, son of the deceased.
2. 23 Jan 1609/10 Anne Luttrell als Morgan relict of the said deceased was granted administration because Christopher Morgan the son and executor named in the will had himself died.
3. 7 Dec 1627 Administration was granted to Dame Elizabeth Trenchard at another time Morgan wife of Sir Thomas Trenchard knight and Mary Brodrepp at another time
Morgan wife of Richard Brodrepp alias Morgan, the natural and lawful daughters of the deceased as the son Christopher Morgan executor named in the will had died and so now had Anne Luttrell als Morgan relict of the deceased who had then been granted administration.
Footnotes
[1] Brother of his first wife, Mary Brett
[2] Brother of his second wife, Ann Bampfield
[3] Two John ‘Crok(e)horne’s were mentioned in the will of his father, I guess these were father and son, his mother’s first cousin and Christopher’s second cousin. I don’t have any dates for them (at the time of writing), so don’t know which this one was.
[4] Christopher being ‘eldest son and heir’ after the death of his brother John could have been significantly better off than other members of his family, but the fact that Edward Morgan his kinsman was also his servant does not automatically imply a large social gulf. Any employee would be referred to as a servant, it did not imply domestic chores. In the case of attorneys or merchants, many young men were first servants to those they had been apprenticed to (often relations), before working independantly. In this case Edward might have had a responsible job e.g. he may have been involved in the management of Christopher’s estate.
[5] This is too early for this to be the John Barfoote that Richard Rose was long in dispute with, but could it be another John Barfoote from the same family?
TNA ref: PROB 11/77/172
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