Inheritance question

[Terri]

Sorry, me again.

So, in a will in 1766, Edward leaves substantial property to his wife only, and to his daughter on the death of his wife.

In 1770, the wife has died and the property goes to his (now married) daughter who also dies a couple of weeks later without making a will.

Would the property have gone to her husband, or to another member of Edward's family.

No name of either Edward's family or the husband's appear on the following years Freeholders list. (Nor did Edward leave a single thing to anyone else in his will).

A decade later none of the 8? original occupiers of Edward's property are mentioned on the Land Tax Records, but that's probably too late to be relevant. No earlier records unfortunately.

[Phoenix]

Until the Married Women's Property Act - a whole century later - a wife's property automatically belonged to her husband and she could only make a will with his consent.

Unless there were specific clauses in Edward's will, the daughter's property would automatically go to the widower - who could, of course have disposed of it. Alternatively, it could have been copyhold property or a lease for three lives which would revert to the overall landowner.

[Phoenix]

Often in Land Tax Assessments the properties are listed in a certain order, unchanged from assessment to assessment. Amounts assessed, apart from very particular years, are set in stone, so even if the property is not named you can identify it from its assessment value or the tax payable, or its position in the list.

[Terri]

Thanks Pheonix, I thought the husband must have inherited and then disposed of it, especially as there is no further trace of him or their child in the village.

I didn't know that about the Land Tax. I will have another look at the lists, see if I can spot the properties.