Description:

Documents

1. Will: dated 5 November 1627 .
'....hoping by the merits of my blessed Savior Jesus Christ to be one of his elect'
Beneficiaries:
To the cathedral church of St Davis ,12d.
Towards the repair of Rowleston parish church, 6/8d.
To he poor of Rowleston, 20/- to be divided equally between them.
To the children of George Harry Watkin by the testator's sister, Mauld, being the daughter of David Thomas ap david, £15 to be divided equally between them and to be paid 'on the feast day of the Purification of our Blessed Lady St Mary the Virgin, 1633.'
To sister, Gwenllian, £3  10s.
To Brother, William Davis, £7.
The testator states that he has two bonds due repayment by his kinsman John Powell William the first for £17 is due in 1629, the other for £17  8  6d is due on the feast of the Purification of the virgin Mary in the year he writes 'one thousand six hundred and twenty ten' [this is clearly an error and one assumes he means 1630]. He instructs that the first bond repayment be delayed to be paid at the same time as the second.
     
Executor: brother William Davis.

No signature or mark on this copy but there is a blot where it has been sealed.

Witnesses:  John Harry, Thomas Prichard and John Powell.

Date of probate: 9 March 1629 .

2. Inventory: undated; value £28  6  0d.  Appraisers: Thomas Prys and John Powell.

Observations:

The documents include a bond dated 9 march 1629 with bounden William Davis of Clodock, yeoman and John Powell of the same, gent in a surety of £100.
It is unclear when John Davis died, his will does not say he is 'sick or weak in body' which many wills do. It is unusual to have such a wide gap between the date of the will and the grant of probate. One wonders whether after his death the executor had to wait for the maturity of the two bonds before applying for the probate. The feast of the purification is on 2 February and under the old calendar 2 February 1629 would be equivalent to 2 February 1630 under the new.   It is difficult to account for the discrepancy between the stated values of the 2 bonds in the will and the figure in the inventory unless the missing amount was paid out already in funeral expenses, the poor and the church perhaps.
His inventory is interesting and unusual in that although very short it shows he owned 12 books. The inventory is reproduced below with modern spelling..
                                   
                                                Inventory

                       

Prised by
Thomas Prys  and
John Powell w^m