William Coller, husbandman; 1629

William Coller (abt 1570-1629)
Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC) P3/C/162

Introduction:

1. The Last Will and Testament (LW&T) of William Coller is dated 31 January 1628 (ie, 31 January 1628/29. The Inventory is dated 7 April 1628 (sic); however, it is assumed that this was an error by the appraisers. To add to the confusion, the Probate notes at the bottom of the Will and at the bottom of the Inventory are both dated 20 January 1628. Unfortunately, his death / burial records are not in the Parish Registers. The following dates are therefore assumed approximations:

a. Date of LW&T 31 January 1628/29
b. Date of death / burial 1 March 1628/29
c. Date of Inventory 7 March 1628/29
d. Date of Probate 20 March 1628/29

2. The documents have been transcribed by Stephen Smith; they have not been cross-checked or reviewed. Square brackets – eg [ ? ] – are used where a word is too difficult to decipher or where there is some doubt. Some spelling has been updated to modern usage; similarly, punctuation and paragraph breaks have been added for ease of understanding. Footnotes have been added to provide context or emphasis.

LW&T of William Coller; 31 January 1628/29

In the Name of God Amen, the one and thirtie day of January, Anno Dom 1628.

I, William Coller of Sutton Benger in the County of Wilts and Diocese of New Sarum, husbandman, being sick in body but, thankes be given to god of good and perfect memory, do make and ordain this my present last will and testament in manner and form following.

That is to say, first I commend my soul into the hands of God, and my body to the earth from whence it came, to be buried within the churchyard of Sutton Benger above said.

And as for my worldly goods, I dispose it as followeth.

Item. I give unto Richard Coller the best cowe, and I give unto Dorithie his wife the browne heyffer which is 2 yeres of age.

Item. I give unto my godson William Coller, son of John Coller, the other cowe.

Item. I give the little [earling] to little John Ferris.

Item. I give to my brother John the money which Vallenten Peerce and his mother do owe me on hand.

Item. I give to Alice Mester, my goddaughter, 2 platters. [plates]

Item. I give unto John Coller my kinsman, his wife, my bed under me, and the boulster, one coverlet, one sheete and half a canvas sheete.

All the rest of my goods moveable and immoveable unbequeathed I do give unto my kinsman Richard Coller, whome I doe make to be my whole and sole executrixe of this my last will and testament.

And I do appoint Leonard Ferris and John Ferris to be my overseers.

Witnesses

Leonard Ferris and John Ferris [both signed

[witnesses]

Probate

[Three lines of Latin) … Probatum … Chippenham …. 20 January 1628

Inventory of William Coller; 20 January 1628/29

A true Inventory of all goods and cattell of William Coller of Sutton Benger, late deceased, taken and appraised the seaventh day of April 1628, by Leonard Ferris and John Coller

Imprimis. Debts owing

		Vallenton Peerce [Valentine Pearce ?]
3	6	0
		Edward Barnard
3	12	0
		John Herrden [Harden / Haywarden ?]
2	3	2
		John Coller
1	17	0
		Richard Mester [Messeter / Messiter ?]
	8	0

Item. 2 kyne, prized at
5 10 0
Item. 2 young beastes
2 10 0
Item. In the chamber. 2 beds with their furniture & the bedsted, prized at
1 10 0
Item. 2 coffers, one chest, prized at
0 10 0
Item. All the brass and pewter
1 10 0
Item. 1 broch, 2 andirons, 1 driping pan, 1 hangles, a [borrer ?],
1 [shutter?], prized at 0 5 0

Item. 3 wedges
0 0 18
Item. 1 pike, 1 bill, 1 howben, 1 flaskett
0 0 18
Item. In the halle. 1 round table bord, 1 old chaire, 1 planck, 1 bushell, 1 stoole
0 3 4
Item. In the utter houses. 15 bords, 2 old forms, 2 old tubbs, 1 paire sheets, 1 [unreadable}, prized at
13 4
Item. 1 chaffing dish, 2 rings, 1 pin, 2 pillstowes, 1 sheete, prized at
0 10 0
All his wearing apparel, prized att
1 0 0
The some toto is [Total] 26 1 6

Probate

[About 4 lines in Latin]I … Probatum … 20 January 1628 …

End Notes

• Until 1752 the English calendar used the 'Julian' system of dating, in which the calendar year started at 25th March. England changed to the modern 'Gregorian' system in that year, with the year starting on 1st January. For example, before 1752, a date of 31 January 1628 would be towards the end of 1628, but in modern terms would 'really' be 31 January 1629. To avoid confusion when transcribing or quoting old documents, dates up to 24 March are transcribed using the 'double date' system. The date of 31 January 1628 is written as 31 January 1628/29. The documents are filed in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC) Archives under ‘1629’.
• New Sarum was the old name for Salisbury. A husbandman was a tenant farmer or small-holder who might also have to work on the land of larger landowners to maintain himself; a husbandman was below the rank of Yeoman.
• A ‘heyffer’ was a heifer; ie, a cow that has not borne a calf.
• Presumably ‘earling is a mis-spelling of ‘yearling’, meaning an animal (especially a sheep, calf or foal) that is a year old or that is in its second year.
• ‘Vallenten Peerce’ is presumably ‘Valentine Pearce’. One of the surviving Sutton Benger burial records for the early 1600s is that of ‘Martha, wife of Valentine Pearce’ on 4 June 1622.
• A bed case was a mattress cover. The pronouns ‘he, she it, they’ were often interchangeable. See also (above): as for my worldly goods, I dispose it as followeth.
• The noble was the first English gold coin produced in quantity, introduced during the second coinage (1344–1346) of King Edward III. The value of the coin was six shillings and eight pence (written 6/8, or 6s.8d., vjs.viijd.), which was equivalent to eighty old pence or one-third of a pound sterling. A caldron (or cauldron) was a domestic cooking vessel; a round pot made from ceramics or metal alloys that either stood on three legs or hung directly over a fire. It may also have had adjustable hooks to attach it to the chimney.
• There is no punctuation, but presumably these are more bequests to the previously-mentioned godson William, son of John Coller. The broch was a pointed rod of wood or iron, ie, a skewer, or spit, used for roasting meat. (As in a modern brochette). An andiron was a metal stand, typically one of a pair, for supporting wood burning in a fireplace. A posnett (or posnet) was a small pot with a long handle and three short legs, used for boiling water, etc. A bassen was probably the basin for washing hands during the meal (before knives and forks were used).
• The surname ‘Mester’ is obviously an alternative spelling for ‘Messiter’ or ‘Messeter’ – there were several families with those surnames from the 1600s through the 1800s.
• The surname ‘Hayrden’ is obviously an alternative spelling for ‘Haywarden’ or ‘Hayward’ or Harden’ – there were several families with those surnames from the 1600s through the 1800s.
• A bushel was a unit of volume for liquids or dry goods, equivalent to about 8 gallons. One of the surviving Sutton Benger burial records for the early 1600s is that of ‘Edith, wife of John Lovell’ on 4 May 1620. Breeches were the equivalent of trousers, extending to the knee or just below; they had been replaced by trousers in everyday use by the mid-1700s, but are still worn today for riding and mountaineering, or in ceremonial dress. It is likely that William was planning to be buried in his best breeches.
• A bolster (or boulster) for the bed was a cylinder of stuffed fabric, filled with feathers or flock or wool; it stretched the whole width of the bed and was covered by the lower sheet. A coverlet for the bed was a counterpane or bedspread. Canvas in the 1600s was a kind of unbleached cloth made of hemp or flax, used for hard wearing items such as shirts and aprons. It was not like the modern cotton canvas of today but of a coarser woven natural coloured cloth which could be made in several different qualities and sometimes trimmed.
• The words 'executor' and 'executrix' were used interchangeably, irrespective of whether they were a man or a woman.
• Overseers were named and assigned in a will to oversee the administration of the estate, especially when the Executor / Executrix was young or was a woman (for example, when it was the widow or daughter(s). Although that is not the case here: Leonard Ferris was the father of John Ferris, who became Vicar of Sutton Benger in the 1640s. This John Ferris was probably Leonard’s brother; both Leonard and John were executors for several Wills in the early 1600s.
• John Ferris actually signed twice.
• Original has ‘prized’, meaning both ‘priced’ and ‘appraised’. Goods and chattels are personal possessions; items of property other than freehold land, including tangible goods (chattels personal) and leasehold interests (chattels real). Any personal goods other than 'money, securities for money or property used solely or mainly for business purposes' fall into the definition of chattels. The words ‘cattells’ and ‘chattells’ were synonyms and were used interchangeably. Some Inventories used the phrase ‘goods, chattels and cattells; it is not clear if there was a distinction between 'cattells' and 'chattells'.
• ‘Imprimis’ is Latin for ‘First’ – used frequently at the beginning of lists in wills, inventories, etc; usually followed by repetitions of ‘Item’, as here.
• Kyne (or kine) are cows, cattle; usually the milking cows in a herd.
• Separate parts of the bed were itemised individually in inventories.
• A broch (or broach) is a pointed rod of wood or iron, ie, a skewer, or spit, used for roasting meat (eg a modern brochette). Andirons (or ‘fire dogs’) were metal stands, typically in pairs, for supporting wood burning in a fireplace. A dripping pan was a (usually shallow) rectangular metal pan, used especially for baking and roasting; for example, it would be used under the joint of meat on the spit, in front of the fire. Hangles were chains in a chimney from which pots and pans were hung on pot crooks. The ‘borrer’ is not known; perhaps a ‘borier’ or ‘borer / auger’; but that would not be with the other ‘fireplace’ metal items. Similarly, a ‘shutter’ is not understood in this context.
• 'Wedges' not fully understood in this context, but they also appear in other Inventories, such as John Barnard (Sutton Benger, 1638), who also had three.
• A pike is a pick or pitch-fork; a bill is a tool used in hedging, copse clearing etc: a crescent-shaped blade often with a sharp hook. However, both ‘pike’ and ‘bill’ could refer to weapons used by infantrymen. ‘Howben’ is not understood. A flasket could refer to either: 1. a long, shallow basket or oval washing tub, with handles at each end; or 2. a small barrel for taking beer to harvest fields; or 3. a flask or bottle.
• The hall in the 17th century was generally the main living room / living area. The table bord (or 'board’) would be used on trestles for a table, and then folded away after use to make more room in the house. A plank was possibly a shelf for a cupboard. When used on its own a ‘bushel’ refers to a wooden container which measures four pecks, or about 8 gallons.
• ‘Utter houses’ presumably means ‘outhouses’. A form (or forme) was a long, thin seat, usually without a back; a bench.
• Location not given; presumably still in an outhouse. A chafing (or chaffing) dish is a metal cooking or serving pan on a stand. The pin might have been a small cask holding half a firkin, or 4.5 gallons. Or simply a metal fastener of some kind. However, note that the Inventory of John Clerk, junior, a pinmaker in Marlborough has a ‘ring’ as an instrument for drawing and straightening wire in pinmaking. Alternatively, a ‘ring’ was also used by woolcombers to draw wool through into a reasonably sized sliver for spinning. A ‘pillstowe’ was also found in the Inventory of Edward Box (Sutton Benger, 1618); presumably a 'pillow' – which could be either for the bed, or a transverse timber positioned between the bolster and body of a cart or plough to provide clearance.
• ‘The some toto’ is a mixture of Latin and English; the correct Latin for ‘total’ would be ‘summa toto’. The addition does not appear to be quite accurate.