Will - Thomas Corker

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Thomas Corker, yeoman of Shavington, Cheshire
Will & Inventory (Cheshire Wills and Probate, FindMyPast).

Shavington, a village about 2.5 miles south of Crewe in Cheshire, is near Wybunbury
and Nantwich.
Thomas Corker was buried at St Chad’s Church, Wybunbury, 17 May 1706.

Probate date: 3 June 1706;
executors: Samuel Sandford and Samuel Corker.

Summary

desires to be buried in Wybunbury churchyard;
requests Mr Brownfield to preach a sermon, and
Mr Lawrence of Nantwich to preach another sermon after the funeral;
land in Gresty ‘in the township of Shavington’ ;
wife Elizabeth;
son-in-law Richard Owen, the husband of daughter [Mary];
son Nathaniel Corker;
daughters Ann and Martha.

The will specified that his wife Elizabeth was to be provided with accommodation
including the ‘liberty to the house of office’.
The ‘house of office’ was a name for a toilet in seventeenth century England.

Transcribed Will

{.} indicates a word that needs to be deciphered;

{..} indicates a surname that needs to be deciphered; and

{ . . . } indicates a phrase that needs to be deciphered.

In the name of God Amen I Thomas Corker of Shavington in the County of Chester now being infirm and weak in body but of sound
and perfect mind and memory thanks be given to Almighty God for the same and not knowing how soon it may please my heavenly father
to take me out of this world and lodge me in an eternal state and knowing that is appointed for all men to die and being willing to preserve peace and
unity in my family after I shall have gone into a world of spirits and to appear before my just and righteous judge there to give an account of all my
actions done in this life do make this my last will and testament in writing as followeth and first and principally I bequeath my soul unto the
hand of Almighty God who was my maker and creator and who hath preserved me all my life long blessed be his holy name thanking through the
meritorious death and passion of blessed lord and saviour Jesus Christ to receive the pardon and forgiveness of all my sins which I have been guilty
of through the course of my whole life; And my body I commit to the earth to be decently buried in Wybunbury Church yard with the foresight and
discretion of my executors hereafter named together with the convenience of Elizabeth my devoted wife and that Mr Brownfield do preach a sermon for
the benefit of the memory but without any caveats and that he have ten shillings for his pains and that Mr Lawrence of Namptwich [Nantwich] do preach
another sermon the next Lords day after my internment but without any caveats and that he have a guinea for his pains And as for my temporal estate I do
hereby order and appoint give devise and bequeath the same in manner and form following, that is to say, whereas I stand lawfully to seized of and
entitled to certain land in Greastie [Gresty] in the township of Shavington aforesaid with their appurtenances and also in a certain freehold estate of land
in Shavington aforesaid which may appear by my formal deed of purchase lying in my plase [place] and ready to be delivered to my said executors Item I do hereby
give full power and authority to my said executors to sell all my said land with their appurtenances for the best rate that can within the space of three years from next after
my decease expecting always such privileges and advantages which are hereafter mentioned for the use of my said wife during the term of her life And that forth of the purchase
money thereof the do pay and discharge all such debts as I shall owe to any person or persons at the time of my decease an amount of which together with
money owing to me the may find in a paper enclosed in this said will Item whereas Ann {..} now of Botley in the county of Stafford being a minor but
the age of twenty one years having a small title in that messuage and tenement which was her { . . . } and for which I was a testor and I having
agreed to give her the sum of fourteen pound of lawful money to be paid at such time as she and Mary {..} her mother should resign to me or my executors
all their right and title to that estate by a good deed in law this hereby my will and I do hereby give power and authority to my said executors to pay forth of the
said purchase money to the said Ann {..} or her assigns the said sum of fourteen pound at such time as she shall have made my said executors a good
title to the said premises as aforesaid I having already bought and paid for the said Mary {..} title to the premises as may appear by several writing now in
custody Item whereas I have forward to the use of Richard Owen his wife and children it be shall have any the sum of one hundred pound as a
marriage portion with his said wife being my daughter to be raised and paid from said sale of land of mine in Greastie aforesaid as may appear
by one deed or writing in the hand of one of my said executors it is hereby my will and I do hereby give power and authority to my said executors to take
forth of the said purchase money of the said land and put it forth at interest and pay the sum according to the several uses declared in a certain
article of agreement now in my custody and made between the said Richard Owen and me before his marriage with my said daughter but
according to the said article if my said daughter shall die in the lifetime of the said Richard Owen and leave no child living at her death then the said
hundred pound to revert back to me and if it shall so happen in such case it is hereby my will that my said executors shall {.} the sum
in manner following amongst my other children that is to say forty pound part thereof to my son Nathaniel or his child or children and the other
share same pound equally between my other two daughters Ann and Martha and their child or children Item it is hereby my mind and will in
I do hereby order and appoint my said executors to permit and suffer my said wife Elizabeth to receive forth of the rent and profits of my land in
Shavington until it shall be sold the clear yearly sum of ten pound to be for her maintenance and also that she hold and enjoy to her own use
during the term of her life the parlor and rooms with it and { . . . } such as she shall choose and one third part in the
garden with her liberty to the house of office [toilet] well and {.} and during the term of her natural life and after that my said executors shall have
sold the said land in Shavington that then the put forth with interest one hundred pound of the consideration money { . . . }
for a year and that the do permit and suffer my said wife to receive that ten pound yearly interest for her {.} income during her life
and after her death shall then permit and suffer my said son Nathaniel to receive the yearly interest of one hundred pound of that money
during his life and after his death the said hundred pound to be equally divided amongst his children and the other hundred pound { . . . }
{ . . . } for the benefit and advantage of my said daughters Ann and Martha and their children equally in such
manner as my said executors shall think may be to their best advantage And as to the remaining money of that sale I do hereby give and
bequeath {.} pound part thereof to my said son Nathaniel And of what part shall yet remain of that said consideration money of
that land I do hereby order and appoint my said executors to pay and discharge a debt of seventy pound for the paying and securing of that land I have
heretofore engaged my land lying with the heath as may be seen by the counter part of the security now in my custody And if any thing shall
not remain of that money I do hereby give and bequeath the same to my daughters Ann and Martha and or their children in such manner as my said executors shall think best and most convenient for their use.
[witnesses] John Corker, Alice Sutton

(inventory not transcribed)

{.}	indicates a word that needs to be deciphered;
{..}	indicates a surname that needs to be deciphered; and
{ . . . }	indicates a phrase that needs to be deciphered.