Up Nately and Andwell Probate material 1661-1680

There are four surviving wills and five inventories for this period. Two wills of widows illustrate their varied roles in the economy. Elinor Platt appears to have continued to run the family farm after the death of her husband whereas Dorothy Reeves  was retired and loaned out her savings at interest to gain an income.

These transcriptions have been made from copies of original probate documents supplied by HRO and TNA.  Words have been modernized and punctuation added to make reading easier but names have been transcribed as written. Words in italics indicate omissions in the original document which have been added to make sense of the text. Words in square brackets indicate that they have been transcribed as seen but where the meaning is unclear. Basingstoke is described as being in the county of Southampton, the old name for Hampshire.

A glossary is attached of unusual words.

Links to the wills and inventories are below:

• Henry Egger, yeoman of Up Nately, 1661 (Will and inventory)
• Nicholas Melton, yeoman of Up Nately, 1669 (Will)
• William Lee, miller of Up Nately, 1673 (Inventory)
• Elinor Platt, widow of John, Up Nately, 1675 (Will and inventory)
• Luke Gary, blacksmith of Up Nately, 1676 (Inventory)
• Dorothy/Dorothi Reves/Reeves, widow of Up Nately, 1680 (Will and inventory)