I love doing primary source themes, letters, maps, artifacts, audio/video, newspapers, and paintings and photographs, history is full of so many records. But until now all these Tuesday Trivia records have been missing something: that smell of bureaucracy, of sweaty underpaid clerks and iron gall ink, these haven’t been OFFICIAL documents.
So let’s get some red tape wrapped around these pillars of learning. Please share an interesting historical record made by a government or other official body, like entries from the census, laws, court cases, birth certificates, death certificates, baptismal certificates, marriage certificates, whatever.
As usual I’ll share a few websites you may find interesting:
So, I know demography can be boring, but a fun general source for historic census information in the US is the University of Virginia Library which has a U.S. historical census browser with data going back to 1790 with a fun "Map It!" option. So if you want the total number of people of Scotch nationality in 1790 by state you can get a map of that. If you want to know how the total slave population of Alabama changed from 1820 to 1860 (spoiler: 47,449 to 435,080 individuals) you can access that, and then create a map of the distribution of slaves by county. Kinda fun and easy to use.
Of specific interest for those fans of Spanish Colonial history is the primary digital resources from the Spanish Colonial Research Center at the University of New Mexico. Fun if you, for example, want an inventory for the property of Hernando de Soto between 1536-1544. You can also search the Tumacacori Mission Records for general interest in number of births/deaths/marriages or by name for specific genealogy research.
A couple of interesting collections that might appeal to people who are curious about Scottish history are the Scotland's People website hosted by the National Records of Scotland, AKA, the National Archives of Scotland which has made census, birth, marriage, and death records, as well as parish registers available for Scotland from at least the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Some records may date all the way back to the mid-sixteenth century.They can be accessed here: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
For those interested in both witchcraft and legal proceedings, I would suggest having a peek at the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft hosted by the University of Edinburgh which has a database of said trials available online. This can be accessed here: http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/
My mum is an enthusiastic amateur genealogy sleuth and so I have some quite interesting items relating to my own family history.
Today I'm going to share two reconstructed Wills written in 1613 and 1623 . They are fascinating to me personally because they come from a branch of my family that lived very close to my home city, so one gets the satisfying feeling that we've been around this neck of the woods for a very, very long time....
I'm sure they will also be of general interest to any historian of the period as they illustrate the minutia of everyday life.
They are:
The Will of Arnold Hope - 1613
The Will of Katherine Hope (wife of Arnold) - 1623
Note that these are reconstructed Wills, due to factors such as inadequate preservation, scribe error during initial transcription, dialectical language variation, unclear handwriting and so forth there has been some guess work in transcribing them. I have kept the spelling and wording the same as the reconstructions, but have added additional paragraph breaks to make them easier to read.
I have some notes and queries which I will insert after each Will.
I also have Wills of the descendants of Arnold and Katherine going to the 1780s. They have a son, a grandson, a great grandson and a great-great grandson all named Giles Hope, all residing in the village of Wyck Rissington. It gets a bit confusing!
The Will and Testament of Arnold Hope 1612
In dei Famine Amen. I Arnold Hope of the p(ar)ishe of Week Risingtan in the county of Glauc doe make this my last will and testament in manner and forme followinge:
First I com(m)itt my soule into the handes and Tuic(i)on of the lord and Savio(u)r Christ and my body to be buried in Christian buriall.
Item. I give my daughter one Cawe Robert Sheaperd's wife not of my best or worst to be deliv(er)ed assoone as my will is proved.
Item. I give Li Alice my daughter V and a Cowe to be deliv[er]ed to her after the death of my wife my Executrix.
It(em) I grant and give to Peter my sonne ten yeares longer to dwell for his howse after th' end and expirac(i)on of his lease nowe in possession in as ample and large manner as he nowe hath and to his children xijd a peece.
I appoint Katheryne my wife to be my Executrix of this my last will and testament. I request Jasper Merrick and Gyles Bidle to be my oversees in trust. Witnesses hereunto Jasper Merrick, Thomas Peeke, Gyles Biddle.
Notes and queries:
We believe that V and xijd refers to gifts of money, £5 and 12 pence respectively. We are making assumptions based on similar wording used in other Wills of the period, the same for Katherine's Will below. It's educated guesswork.
I'm not sure what 'In dei famine' means, I think it's Latin but can't translate it. I'm also unable to decipher 'Tuic(i)on'
Week Risingtan is the village of Wyck Rissington in Gloucestershire.
I'm unclear as to whether his daughter and Robert Sheaperd's wife are one and the same.
The Will of Katherine Hope (wife of Arnold above) 1623
In the name of God Almighty the Sixth day of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three I Katherine Hope of Week Resington in the County of Gloucester wydow beinge sick in body but whole in mynde and of good and perfect memorie thanks be to God herein do make and ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and forme followinge.
First I bequeath my soule into the hands of Almighty God my creator of whom I received it trustinge assuredly to be saved onely by the merits, death & passion of Christ Jesus my saviour and redeemor and my body to be buried in the Church Yard of the P(ar)yshe of Week Resington aforesayd.
2nd concerning the diposinge of such wordly goods as God of His goodness hath lent unto me which I must leave behind me unto the world I give and bequeath unto my son Gyles Hope (I) my Table boorde in the Hall together with the frame & the forme thereunto belonging together also with the chayre there.
Item I gyve & bequeath more unto the sayd Gyles my sonne one Pock of Bees and my Iron baine.
It(e)m I give & bequeath unto my sonne Peter Hope my great Chest in my lodginge chamber, one flocke bed with a bolster and a coverlett one twilly cloath & one payre of sheetes.
It(em I gyve a& bequeath more unto the sayd Peter my sonne, one drink barell and one open barell, one dowe kiver, one milk kiver my biggest brasse potte, my biggest brasse kettle one pewter platter, one pottinger, one broach, one payre of handyrons.
It(em) I gyve & bequeath more unto the sayd Peter two Pocks of Bees.
It(e)m I gyve & bequeath unto the sayd Peter my sonne and unto Arnold Shepeard & Marie Shepeard all my Corne and powlse to be divided betwene them in three p(ar)tes that is to say two p(ar)tes thereof to reamayne unto the sayd Peter my sonne & the other thirde p(ar)te unto Arnold Shepeard & Marie Shepeard to be divided between them equally.
It(e)m I gyve and bequeath unto Katherine Hope my god daughter my youngest Cowe, one pewter platter, one pottinger & one boorde cloathe.
It(em) I gyve & bequeath unto Mary Shepeard my best brasse potte & one brasse kettle, being the last if my three brasse kettles, one drink barrell one open barrell one pewter platter one pottinger one brasse candlestick, one bed bolster, one co... one twilly cloathe, one payre of sheete, one co... and one Pocke of Bees.
It(em) I gyve & bequeath more unto the sayd Mary Shepherd one peticote, one -- with blewe, one payre of squares, one---- one whyte apron, one co-- boorde cloath, one smocke & one co----
It(e)m I gyve & bequeath more unto Mary Shepheard one milke kiver, one wollen Twine, one fryinge panne one payre of wooll cardes & one payle.
It(e)m I gyve & bequeath unto Margarett the wyfe of Richard Bridge one bowlingtinge which & two Pockes of Bees.
It(em) I gyve and bequeath more unto the sayd Margarett my daughter my best garment my best Peticote my cloak one dubble cauchion one p(ar)telett on smock petticote one round caushon & my best hatte.
It(em) I gyve & bequeath unto Katherine Bridge my God daughter my biggest brasse kettle saving one, one pewter platter, one brasse chaffingedyshe one cowe & one sheete of linen cloth.
It(e)m I gyve & bequeath more unto the sayd Katherine Bridge my God daughter one payre of squares, one p(ar)telett, one apron, one pillowbeere one whyte towel, one drink barrell and one open barrell.
It(e)m I gyve & bequeath to Anne Shepeard one hatte for the ladies, one peticote, one double cauchon & one smocke.
It(e)m I gyve & bequeath unto Katerine Hope my Godchild one pewter platter & one boorde cloathe.
All the rest of my goods by this my last Will and Testament not given nor bequeathed I gyve & bequeath unto Peter Hope my sonne whom I make & ordaine my sole Executor of this my last will and Testament in wittness whereof I have hereunto sett my hande & seale. Dated to the day & yeare beforewritten.
Notes and Queries:
I have no idea what 'a pock of bees' is? I assume it may refer to a hive of bees? But I can't trace the word 'pock'. We're sure it's some quantity of bees.
handyrons could refer to tool sets used for fireplaces such as pokers and tongs.
I'm not sure what a 'kiver' is, it could be some sort of storage, such as a jar. I believe 'dowe' in 'dowe kiver' could be dough.
*partelett is some textile thing, possibly clothing, we've seen the same word described as 'a black velvet partelett' and we've seen it bequeathed in combination with items of clothing.
*bowlingtinge we believe is some sort of household tool, possibly a sieve.
Fun fact: Many of the documents pertaining to the Salem Witch Trials have been preserved online at the University of Virginia's website! The relevant ones to this thread would be the court records (http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/17docs.html), but the rest (including personal letters, diaries, and sermons as well as historical maps and contemporary books by major figures such as Increase Mather and John Hale) can be found here: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html