North Cheshire Family Historian

Hidden Names in 17th Century Wills

by Ray Hulley

Many family historians will know of the benefits derived from a perusal of 17th century wills. The testator usually left "goods, cattels and chattels" to several of his or her relatives and a family tree can be constructed quite easily from the information shown. If the family were reasonably well off then successive generations would also leave a will, sometimes with property and/or land being passed on to heirs. This makes it possible to continue a tree into the 18th and 19th centuries, when other records exist in a more readable and accurate form.

It is reasonably simple to obtain copies of original wills by going or writing to the appropriate Record Office and quoting the name and year of the will previously obtained from a printed source. But all wills contain other names as well as family beneficiaries. There are often many other local people mentioned and family historians would benefit from being aware of them and where they can be found. Such individuals include non-family beneficiaries, executors, overseers or supervisors, witnesses, debtors, creditors and those - usually "three good and honest men" - who make up the inventory and value its contents. Occasionally there are other references that do not fit into the above categories. For example, a will may say "..... left to John son of my neighbour William Smith". Although John is a beneficiary, the will also lists his father.

In order to assist historians in locating "hidden" members of their ancestry shown in 17th century wills, I suggest that when checking through a will, as well as noting members of a particular family, a record is made of all other persons listed. These indexes can then be published in future issues of the "Family Historian" for the benefit of other members.

To start the ball rolling, I have checked through 14 Cheshire wills for HOWLEY/HOOLEY (the 16th and 17th century variants of HULLEY) and have uncovered over 170 names different to that under which the will is indexed. In a minority of cases specific locations and occupations are also shown but generally it is only the person' s name. The following index shows all the 'hidden' names found in the 14 wills, together with the testator's name, location and date of will. I have omitted other Howleys/Hooleys but have indexed them separately for my own purposes. If any member requires details of them I shall be pleased to send them a copy.

Nominal index from 17th Century HOWLEY/HOOLEY/HULLEY Cheshire Wills

Code Abbreviations

B	Beneficiary		O	Overseer or Supervisor
C	Creditor		R	Relative of Testator
D	Debtor		RF	Other reference
E	Executor/Executrix		T	Testator
I	Inventory maker or Valuer		W	Witness

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