We got our wills today - the only trouble is, only ONE of the three is for the person we thought! The couple who we thought were OH's 4x great grandparents, George and Elizabeth Palmer are different people altogether (although of the same family with the same names and very close dates of death) and they weren't even married to each other! Elizabeth was the wife of *our* George's nephew Richard Palmer but she died in the same year as OH's 4x great grandmother. As for the George Palmer whose will we now have, lots of details fit him being ours'...except the names of his children, some of which are the same but others definitely aren't! Back to the drawing board there I think. They are a hard family to fathom because a) there were so many of them and b) they all had the same few Christian names within each generation - a not uncommon problem, of course! There were Palmers in Great Ponton going back into the 1600s so,like Elizabeth, I may be some time......
At least the third will was undoubtedly that of OH's 3x great grandfather George Palmer (another one!) who was a farmer and publican in Great Ponton. Whenever any of this family appear on the census they are nearly always described as "farmer of 17 acres". It was clearly a family holding of land and we would love to know what happened to it...but the will makes no mention of that or anything else since he merely left everything "of what nature or kind soever" to his "dear wife Jane Palmer". Well, we knew that because she took over the pub and was farming the 17 acres on the census after George died. As OH says, our 17 acres are probably under the A1 dual carriageway now!
|