THE TOWNSONS OF LYTH

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Will of Leonard Townson, buried 16th September 1667 at Crosthwaite.

(Lancashire Record Office Ref. WRW DK Leonard Townson 1667)

In the blessed name of God amen the thirteenth day of September in the nineteenth year of the reign of our sovereign lord Charles the Second Anno Dom 1667    I Leonard Townson of the Law in the Lyth in the parish of Heversham county of Westmorland husbandman being at this present infirm and diseased in my mortal body yet in good and perfect mind and memory praised be God for the same and considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time and manner of dying do therefore while I am in perfect mind and memory make ordain and deliver this my last will and testament in manner and form following   First and principally I commend my soul into the merciful hands of Jesus Christ my saviour and redeemer trusting and steadfastly believing  through the alone merits of my blessed saviour to give full and free remission of all my sins and to be made an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven   And I commit my body to the earth from whence it was derived desiring that the same may be decently buried in Crosthwaite Church as near my wife as conveniently may be   And for my temporal estate which God at present hath endowed me withal for which I shall bless and praise God while I have a being in this life I do devise and dispose thereof as following   First I give and bequeath my messuage and tenement in the Raw in the Lyth with all its appurtenances of the yearly rent of 6 shillings 8 pence unto James Townson my elder son and his heirs for ever he paying out the same the sum of three score and fifteen pounds forty pounds whereof I hand AR  (?) and the remainder which is yet unpaid being thirty five pounds I give and bequeath unto my daughter Ellen and my said son James to pay her the said sum within one year after my death and he to hand it made up to forty pounds out of my goods and personal estate at the said first year end after my death   Item I give and bequeath unto Thomas Townson my younger son and his heirs for ever all my messuage and tenement at the Law in the Lyth of the yearly rent of 8 shillings 8 pence or thereabouts he paying out of the same the sum of one hundred pounds the one half thereof at the first year end after his entrance thereunto and the other half at the second year end after his entrance thereunto  of which said sum I give forty pounds to my daughter Jenett another forty to my daughter Margaret and twenty pounds the remainder of the said hundred pounds to be equally divided amongst my three daughters Ellen Jenett and Margaret   And I give and bequeath unto my said daughter Margaret a bedroom convenient for her at the Law during her life if she shall need to make use of the same for herself  and also a chest which was Elizabeth Dixons   Item I give and bequeath all my husbandry gear unto my said two sons James and Thomas equally between them   And I give and bequeath over and beside to my said son James A cupboard at the Raw two pair of bedstocks there and a chest   And unto my son Thomas the cupboard in the buttery at the Law and a pair of the best bedstocks there   Item I give and bequeath unto my son in law Thomas Powe five pounds in full for his Childs portion for he can claim nothing but of my own good will   And all the rest of my goods and possessions  my debts bequests and funeral expenses being first discharged   I give and bequeath unto my three daughters Ellen Jenett and Margaret whom I make joint executors of this my will  Supervisors hereof I make and appoint my good friends Francis Bowes of Low Wood in Witherslack and William Garnett my late landlord desiring them to see this my will truly performed and I give to each of them for their pains to be taken herein ten shillings apiece   And if any of them my children be stubborn or seem to break or disannul this my will nor will be advised by my supervisors it is my mind and will that which of them it be shall gain no benefit thereby but the same to be equally divided amongst the rest which are contented  and in regard of the great pains I have taken all my lifetime I earnestly desire a loving and peaceable agreement amongst my children   And in testimony whereof I have to this my last will and testament put my hand and seal the day and year above written

The will has the mark of Leonard Townson and is witnessed by Stephen and William Garnett.