Will of Elizabeth Cowmeadow - Reading old handwriting (General)

by Mike Pinchin , Bedford, England, Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 20:39 (2236 days ago) @ probinson

Like Jeff, given time and my best glasses, I’m sure I could transcribe most of it – more than one word in five, anyway. With these documents it’s often a case of having a working knowledge of the kind of legal language used in them and therefore being able to recognize words from that. If you want it quickly then an expert is in order.

She names her living daughter as Mary Ann TYLER (who had a child born before marriage) which is at variance with the newspaper report above which names her as Mrs ROBERTS. I expect this is because, as is sometimes the case, the reporter just got it wrong! The executors were her husband, William MEEK, and Henry ROBERTS. Why Mrs ROBERTS appears I don’t know – perhaps another mistake.

Apart from Mary Ann she mentions her deceased daughter, Elizabeth, and her deceased sons William, John and James. There are bequests for their children, her grandchildren.

The granting of probate refers to the court case of ROBERTS v COWMEADOW and COWMEADOW and others. This, apparently, was brought to establish the force and validity of the will. I have not seen any reference to the outcome of the case but I will have another look.