Help deciphering a will

[Kit]

Pleasant Jacob (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/5111/40611_311594-00085/620444?backurl=%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3dnCW448%26_phstart%3dsucce ssSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26db%3dcanturburyprerog ativecourt%26so%3d2%26pcat%3dCLP_WILLS%26gss%3dang s-c%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26 gsfn%3dpleasant%26gsfn_x%3dNP_NN%26gsln%3djacob%26 gsln_x%3dNP_NN%26cpxt%3d1%26cp%3d4%26MSAV%3d2%26ui dh%3de35&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults)

Could someone please identify any people mentioned in this will and their relationship if mentioned? It's been a while since I tried reading a will and I am having trouble. It starts - This is the last will and testament of me Pleasant Jacob of Bensington in the county of Oxford Spinster...

Thank you.

[Merry]

I bequeath to my friends Mrs Plessy Hoar the wife of Mr James Hoar and Mrs Mary Stevens widow both of Bensington aforesaid the legacy of four hundred pounds sterling to be divided equally between them but if either of them shall die in my lifetime then I give the legacy of four hundred pounds to the survivor of them I bequeath to my friend Mr Nicholas Caesar Corsellis of Bensington aforesaid the legacy or sum of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling and to my cousin Mr Priest Shrubb Ormiston of Walworth Surrey the life legacy of one hundred and fifty pounds I bequeath to Edward Wise son of my late cousin William Wise of Drayton Oxon the legacy of nineteen pounds nineteen shillings I bequeath to my cousin Ellen Lyus wife of Mr George Lyus Pleasant Brown wife of Mr William Brown and Eliza Andrews wife of Mr Michael Andrews and to Emma Ormiston wife of the said Mr Priest Shrubb Ormiston the legacy of nineteen pounds nineteen shillings a piece and if any of the last four mentioned legatees shall die in my lifetime I give the legacy intended for each of them so dying to her eldest daughter if any living at my decease and I bequeath to Mr Richard Coles of Britwell Prior Oxon my friend Miss Caroline Matilda Corsellis of Bensington aforesaid and my cousins James Ormiston and Ann Dibbin and Mary Dibbin spinsters the legacy of nineteen pounds and nineteen shillings a piece (the next part is about when they will get their bequests and instructions to the exors) All the residue of my property ......... (after payment of debts, funeral expenses and the above legacies are to be divided equally between the said Mr Priest Shrubb Ormiston and Mary Stevens who will also be the executors) .....(signed 10th Mar 1852)....(witnesses Chas Hedges Sol Wallingford Thos Hutchings Broad Bensington)

Proved 24 Oct 1857 by the oaths of Mr Priest Shrubb Ormiston and Mary Corsellis the wife of Nicholas Caesar Corsellis (formerly Stevens widow)....

The parts in brackets are my interpretation of what is written (to save typing) and the dotted parts ..... are where it's standard legal stuff you can probably read/work out yourself (again to save my two fingered typing!)

[Merry]

I just checked Ellen Lyus wife of Mr George Lyus to see if I had the surname spelled correctly. She was originally Eleanor Frances Ormiston who married George Lyus in Dec 1837 at St Mildred Bread Street in London.

EDIT: I note that they didn't use the new style parish register (introduced July 1837) so their fathers names etc are not recorded!

[Kit]

Hello thanks Merry, I appreciate it very much.

I have no idea exactly who this woman is but she is related to my husband's family.

He has a Pleasant Jacob in his tree but she marries a William Shrubb. The Shrubbs and Ormistons are OH's family are known to me and the Lyus' are inlaws. You did well, Lyus is often transcribed Lyns.

I now have to work out who this Pleasant is as there are a few of them but they also have real names, OH's xgreat grandma is called Pleasant and Mary as well and was baptised and married that way.

Just to make life simpler, Pleasant Mary married William who also used the name Priest but I don't know why.

[Merry]

In 1851 she says she is aged 70 and born in Ewelme Oxfordshire. She is a visitor in the house of Thomas Powell aged 74 and his widowed sister, Mary Stevens aged 54 who I guess is probably the lady who married Nicholas Caesar Corsellis by the time the will was proved.

There's an entry in ancestry's Oxfordshire, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1538-1812 for the parish of Ewelme:

Pleasant, daughter of William and Ann Jacob, was privately baptised July 14 1779 - was received into the church July 28 1779

Her parents, William and Ann, married in the parish of Benson, Oxfordshire (Benson seems to be an alternative name/spelling for Bensington):

William Jacob of this parish and Ann Wise of the parish of Drayton in this county were married by licence this seventeenth day of November in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy four by me Thomas Gibbons (curate) They both signed and the witnesses were Frances Millachip and William Willis (serial witness)

[Merry]

his widowed sister, Mary Stevens aged 54 who I guess is probably the lady who married Nicholas Caesar Corsellis by the time the will as proved.


The marriage was in Jan 1853 and Mary's father was Thomas Powell, so that fits.

Pleasant Jacob was buried 10 Sep 1857 at Bensington/Benson aged 79.

[Merry]

I could go on, but would probably be old ground for you!

[Merry]

Just one more bit! I see public trees have Mary (Pleasant) Jacob who married William/Priest Shrubb as being born about 1740.

There is this baptism in Benson:


Mary Jacob
Baptism 1 May 1740 Benson
parents William, Pleasance

and this one


William Jacob
Baptism 7 Mar 1735 Benson
parents William, Pleasance

who could well be the father of Pleasant who wrote the 1852 will.

[Merry]

Just to make life simpler, Pleasant Mary married William who also used the name Priest but I don't know why

Because I'm nosy, I wanted to find where they used their more unusual names, but I have only found them as William and Mary??

[Dotty]

Pleasant Jacob's sister, Ann married William, brother of Fanny Coles Powell.
For further details please see the website on the history of Bensington https://www.bensingtonhistory.org/families. On the "Families" page scroll down to find a history of the Powell family. Information about Pleasant can be found on pages 123 -126 of this file. Hope this helps.

[Kit]

Thank you Dotty, I'm off to look now.