Will stuff

[Asa]

I'm very excited, having got a copy of my great x 9 grandfather's will today - it fills in a few gaps but also gives me a puzzle. One of the bequests is to his son, and failing his issue to a grandson, my ancestor Benjamin Cannell (Connell in the will), -

"and the heirs of his body lawfully to be begotten forever in case he returns to England before he arrives at the age of twenty five years and in case he does not return to England before he arrives at the age of twenty five years then I give devise and bequeath to " another grandson.

Firstly, I'm not really sure what this means - it sounds as if he doesn't get the bequest either way?

Secondly, I don't know what to do with the information. I know that Benjamin born in 1725 in Shoreditch, London and apprenticed to Jacob Crew, Blacksmith's Company in Dec 1740. His grandfather died in January 1743/4, which is when he's out of England. Later in life, according to his childrens' baptism entries, he was a weaver - generally the family trade. But after he was apprenticed, I know nothing of him until he appears with a wife Ann, having a daughter baptised in Shoreditch in 1749.

Why would he have been abroad and is there anyway I could find anything out about it?

The only thing I have wondered is that his great grandparents moved to Dublin from Canterbury at some point between 1683 and 1696 and his paternal grandparents were married in the French Church there. Both sides of Benjamin's family were weavers but his paternal stock were Huguenot. Perhaps he went to Ireland?

[Olde Crone]

Asa

I think it means that he or his heirs gets the money if he returns to England, but if he doesn't, then the money is to go to another grandson.

Possibly he was abroad learning to weave with the Huguenots?

OC

[Asa]

Thank you, OC - I thought that's probably what it meant but couldn't work out how it meant that - been looking at too many documents today.

That's my guess - that they may have had connections in Dublin still. I might try the Weavers records at the Guildhall next to see if there's anything in there. It might at least explain why I've not been able to find his first marriage....