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  1. #1
    lizone
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    Default English and Irish will?

    I have a copy of the will for Russell Chapman (late Lieutenant Colonel of the Third Battalion of His Majesty's Royal American Regiment of Foot), dated from 1770 and sourced from TNA Documents Online 'Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills'. Chapman was buried at Saffron Walden, Essex on 14 Aug 1770 and the church records notes ‘Russell Chapman, Lieutent Colonel of his Majesty’s Force on half pay’. But I have found another reference to a will for Chapman in Phillimore’s ‘Index to Irish Wills 1536 – 1857 vol II’ Cork and Ross section as follows ‘Chapman, Russell (Colonel), Saffron Walden, Essex, 1770’.

    Is this the same will and there’s some reason, perhaps connected to the army, that it is registered twice? Or (more interesting), it’s a separate will specifically related to property etc in Cork?

    Any ideas? Liz

  2. #2
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    Can't tell you whether it's a separate will or not, but I can tell you that most pre 1858 Irish wills were destroyed in the fire at the 4 Courts in 1922, during the Irish Civil War. All that usually remains is the date probate was granted and to whom, in locally kept registers which survived the fire. However it's worth checking anyway.
    ELWYN

  3. #3
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    I would have said there can only be one "last will and testament"

    A will could be resealed if it covers property in another jurisdiction. Is there evidence in the will itself of an Irish connection?

  4. #4
    jeeb
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    Hi Liz,

    Peter of course is right in that there will only be one last Will and Testament. There is always a chance that an earlier Will 'survived' but the legallity of any such Will will be superceded by a later dated and signed/witnessed Will. A legal Will can and often does have codicels added but these will always be added and kept with the original and signed, dated and witnessed accordingly.
    There are reasons why Wills are referred to in different indexes but it should be referring to the Will you have already located.

    Reasons for possible other references can include:-
    1) It is referring to an Administration.
    2) A copy has been made and is kept amongst other personal papers, usually when property has been handed on or the Will referred to mortgaged property for example.
    3) When property is in more than one county or country
    4) When an executor of a Will dies the Will he/she was executor of can be mentioned. This can often be many years after the death of the original testator. The reason this tended to happen was because property was often left to someone for their lifetime only(usually a wife) but after the death of the first benefactor the original Will stated a second benefactor who may need to use the Will for legal purposes.

    Jeremy

  5. #5
    lizone
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    Thanks for everyone's thoughts, and yes I do wonder if there was an Irish connection.

    Chapman’s will only mentions property and land he held in Saffron Walden itself. He mentions three heirs, two daughters and one son and mentions his ‘late wife’ Ann Holgate. His executor was ‘my dear friend Mr Thomas Wolfe of Saffron Walden’. Chapman divides his estate between his two daughters with the exception of his ‘pistols, swords and all my wearing apparell’ which he leaves to Russell jnr. Russell jnr is in the 1770 Army List as an Ensign in the 70th Regiment of Foot in the Caribbean (entered the Army 1762), but then the trail went cold. He’s always been a bit of a mystery and I can’t find a baptism for him.

    However, I have recently discovered through the will of one of Russell snr’s daughters dated 1825 that Russell jnr had two daughters (names not given) and that Russell was a ‘half blood brother, deceased’. A further bit of digging around has found a reference to a Russel Chapman marrying Sophia Chilcott in Cork in 1766 through the ‘Index of O'Kief, Coshe Mange, Slieve Lougher and Upper Blackwater in Ireland. 16 vols’. Albert Eugene Casey, Eleanor L. Downey-Prince, and Ursula Dietrich, Birmingham, Alabama: Knocknagree Historical Fund, 1952-1971.

    I have also transcribed a letter from Russell snr written in 22 Oct 1763 from Cork ‘in support of his case’ for submission to the Secretary at War, which I am supposing he wrote when he came back from the US and was put on half-pay. I had assumed that Chapman's army unit had been based in Cork at various times, but I'm now wondering whether all the evidence is adding up to something else. From my previous research into his army career, age, family, etc I had thought that Russell Chapman snr originated from Huntingdonshire, but I would like to clarify firstly most importantly whether he was in fact from Ireland or secondly his first (and previously unknown) family were from Ireland.

    Liz

  6. #6
    jeeb
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    Hi Liz,
    Reading your last posting it is obvious there is a connection with Cork via the marriage to Sophia Chilcott in 1766. This is likely to be the son. The Will of 1770 only leaves property to the two daughters which suggests to me that property was already settled upon the son during the father's lifetime. You have not said whether it is the son or daughters which are the eldest or which Ann Holgate is the mother of. It is likely Ann Holgate is the mother of the girls and the property being left to them was a marriage settlement when Russell Chapman married Ann Holgate. The mention of the father's Will in Cork is probably as I suggested in one of my options and was being used as a legal bond to prove the daughters did not have rights to property given to the son. Of course I have not read any of the documents so I am only suggesting a probable motive.

    Jeremy

  7. #7
    lizone
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    Jeremy - thanks for your reply.

    To clarify, Ann Holgate was the mother of Russell's two daughters, Susannah and Mary, mentioned in the will. Russell Chapman married Ann Holgate at St John the Baptist, Clerkenwell on 23 Feb 1744 when he would have been, by my calculations, 41 years old. The Holgate family is strongly connected to Saffron Walden.

    Russell jnr looks to be the son of Russell snr's first marriage, the details of which I have not found (yet), but looking at the dates, Russell jnr could have married in 1766. Perhaps it's also revealing that when Susannah Chapman mentions her two main heirs in her will, the daughters of her 'half-blood brother deceased', she doesn't give their names, but lists everyone else?

    Liz

  8. #8
    jeeb
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    Quote Originally Posted by lizone View Post

    Russell jnr looks to be the son of Russell snr's first marriage, the details of which I have not found (yet), but looking at the dates, Russell jnr could have married in 1766. Perhaps it's also revealing that when Susannah Chapman mentions her two main heirs in her will, the daughters of her 'half-blood brother deceased', she doesn't give their names, but lists everyone else?

    Liz
    Hi Liz,
    Again not being fully aware of all the facts I can only make a tentative suggestion. As I mentioned in my first reply (reason number 4) this could be a case that Russell Chapman Snr only left property to his daughters for their lifetime and on their death it returned to his son & heir Russell Jnr, but as he was deceased it would go by birthright to his heir ie his sons. It would seem likely that as Russell Jnr married in Cork, he lived with his family in Ireland and as Russell Jnr was dead by the time of his half sister's death in 1825 the sons of Russell Jnr would need a copy of their grandfather's Will to prove their rightful inheritance. Hence the fact the Will appears on a list of Philimore's Irish Wills.

    Jeremy

  9. #9
    lizone
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    Thanks very much for your help. It looks like I need to find the daughters of Russell jnr, try again to find his death and discover whether Russell snr's Irish will exists, but I won't hold my breath! It helps that Russell is not a common name ...

    Thanks again

    Liz

  10. #10
    jeeb
    Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by lizone View Post
    Thanks very much for your help. It looks like I need to find the daughters of Russell jnr, try again to find his death and discover whether Russell snr's Irish will exists, but I won't hold my breath! It helps that Russell is not a common name ...

    Thanks again

    Liz
    Hi Liz,
    Russell Chapman Snr's 'Irish' Will will only be an exact copy, though hand writen of course, of the Will you already have found in the PCC Wills. Locating the copy however could lead you to other family papers deposited with it so though the Will itself will tell you no more than you already know other documents may help. Good luck.

    Jeremy

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