Kirkman Wills

KIRKMAN WILLS

Wills are documents of great (perhaps greatest) value in genealogy, especially when they predate Parish Registers. Not only do they often provide extremely useful information about the family members, but also they add flavour to what otherwise might be dry genealogical information. Often in early wills there is the additional benefit of a detailed inventory of goods.

Take Henry Kirkman’s will of 1543 for example. He bequests:

First Page of Henry Kirkman's will of1543

The first page of Henry’s will (click to enlarge)

to Elizabeth my daughter a heifer, the colour black
to William my son my best jacket; and unto John my son my second jacket; and unto Rauffe my third jacket.
to Alice my daughter a yearling calf.
to John my son the iron gear [commonly horse or ploughing tackle].
to priests and clerks 3s 4d, and 12d in bread amongst poor folk.
to Cicely my daughter a heifer that is black of colour.
to Agnes my daughter shall have 6s 8d
To John my son one acre of rye and a half-acre of wheat
To Joan my daughter shall have for the debts that I do owe unto her 40 shillings in money [£235 today]

For a full transcription, click here

Another early will, that of John Kirkman of East Keal in Lincolnshire in 1557, is quite different in type. He makes many benevolent donations including:

Our Lady’s Church of Lincoln 3s 4d
Every household in East Ingoldmells being needy 12d
The poorest of Hogsthorpe 6s 8d
The poorest of Mumby’s Chapel 3s 4d
The town of Brough 3s 4d
The town of Winthorpe 3s 4d
The church of East Keal 6s 8d...and so on

East Keal Church

[For our overseas readers, s = shillings and d = pence. There were 12d to 1 shilling & 20 shillings to £1]

He also bequests his velvet night cap to Librous Alcock! Click here for the full transcript.

The final will I am including is that of Frances Kirkman of Chesterfield in Derbyshire. She is not in my tree, but she has relatives in USA which might help our American researchers. Frances bequests her estate to her daughter in law Mary Sowter, but if she dies un-married then it goes to Edward Fisher of South Carolina, son to my sister Mary Fisher, in the sum of £500 on the condition that:

It is my earnest desire that Mary Sowter may quietly and peaceably enjoy this bequest. But if Edward Fisher or his heirs disturb Mary Sowter in the enjoyment of same, the conditional legacy to Edward Fisher shall be null & void!!! For a full transcription (and the deduction that Frances’ husband was Charles Kirkman), click here.

For a listing of all the documents transcribed for my tree, including the surnames of other mentioned in that document., please click here. If you would like a copy of a particular transcription, please e-mail me

If you have the transcript of an interesting will you would like to publish on this site, please send me a copy, with brief description, for me to consider.