Joseph Hemingway of Swithens, Darton, 1786

In the name of God Amen, this is the last Will and Testament of Joseph Hemingway of Swithens in the Parish of Darton in the county of York Farmer and Maltster made the 25th day of October in the Year of Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty.

I constitute and appoint my Nephews Robert Beatson of Cinderhill in Cawthorne in the said County of York and Joseph Hemingway of Wombwell in the said County joint Executors in Trust of this my last Will and Testament…I give to the said Robert Beatson the sum of ten pounds provided he prove or join in the Probate of this my Will

Also I give to my said Nephew Joseph Hemingway the sum of ten pounds provided he prove or join in the Probate of this my last Will

Also provided my Nephew John Hemingway the brother of the same Joseph Hemingway shall be living on the 30th of April next ensuing such second day of February as shall happen upon the day of or next after the day of my decease I do in such case give unto the said John Hemingway the Tenant Right Title Interest Term and Terms of years, which I may happen at my decease to have of in or to the several Farms called Swithen Farm and Wintersett Farm which I now hold or rent of or under or as Tenant to John Silvester Smith Esquire and all other the Farms (if any other there be) which I hold or rent of or under or as a Tenant to the said Mr. Smith, and which shall on such Thirtieth day of April be to come and unexpired. The said John Hemingway and those to claim under him or in his Right paying the Rents Taxes and Assessments and doing and performing the Covenants and Things on the Tenants’ part from and after such Thirtieth Day of April to be paid and performed, And also paying upon such Thirtieth Day of April or then sufficiently securing to be paid within Three Calendar Months then next ensuing unto my Executor or the survivor of them or the Executors or Administrators of such Survivor in Trust to go and be appointed and disposed of as Part of my Personal Estate a Country Price for the Seed and Plowing for such Corn or Clover as shall upon  such Thirtieth Day of April be growing in or upon the said Farms or any of them on Lands sown therewith in Husbandlike manner and Course and not otherwise, And also in case of any of the Ground Parcel of any of the said Farms having been Summer Fallowed in the Year next before such Thirtieth Day of April. In such Case a reasonable sum of Money for and in respect of the Rent and Taxes of and for such Summer Fallowed Ground for such Fallow Year, And Provide and Order that my Executor shall and may until the Expiration of my Farm therein respectively or until such Thirtieth day of April (which of the Times shall first happen) hold and enjoy the said respective Farms and receive the Profits thereof In Trust that the same go and be applied as Part of my Personal Estate, paying out of my said Personal Estate the Rents and Taxes and performing the Covenants on the Tenants Part in the mean Time to become payable and performable for or in respect thereof, But without paying or allowing any Thing to the said John Hemingway or his Representative for the same, Also I give and devise unto my Grandson James Swettenham his Heirs and Assigns for ever Upon my said Grandson James Swettenham attaining the Age of Twenty one Years and provided he live to attain the same Age all and singular my Messuages Buildings Closes Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in Darton aforesaid now occupied, rented or Tenanted by James Greenwood with their and every of their Appurtenances, And in case my said Grandson James Swettenham shall live to attain his Age of Twenty One Years I do in such case hereby expressly charge and make Subject and Liable All and Singular the said Hereditaments and Premises by me before hereby devised unto my said Grandson as aforesaid with and with the Raising and Payment and for Granddaughter Sarah Swettenham of the sum of One Hundred Pounds of Lawful British Money upon her attaining her Age of Twenty One Years provided she live to attain that Age.  And as to and concerning All the Rest Residue and Remainder of all my Lands, Tenements Hereditaments and Real and Personal Estate, and of all the Rents Issues Profits Interest Proceeds Increasements and Improvements of and to arise and be produced therefrom or thereby (after and subject to the Payment of my Debts Funeral Expenses the Expenses of or to be occasioned by the Probate of this my last Will and the registering a Memorial thereof at Wakefield and the Damages Costs Charges Payments and Expenses by me hereby provided for or give or directed to be paid or allowed to or retained by my Executors or either of them or their or either of their Executors or Administrators or any of them, and after Payment and satisfaction of the said Two before mentioned Legacies of Ten Pounds each or such of them as shall become payable)

I Give, Devise and Bequeath the same (to wit All such Rest Residue and Remainder), unto my said Three Grandchildren James Swettenham, Sarah Swettenham and Ann Swettenham their Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns for ever

Nevertheless I do hereby Will, Order and Provide that all the Rents Issues and Profits to grow due to arise after my Decease of for or from the said before hereby given and devised Rest and Residue and Remainder of all my Lands Tenements Hereditaments and Real Estate shall be paid to and had received and taken by and I Give and Devise the same to my Executors and their Representatives in Trust for and during such and so long time as any One of my Grandchildren before named shall be living under the age of Twenty One, And that the same shall when as soon as One of my said Grandchildren before named shall be living under the age of Twenty One Years and not before together with the Increasements and Improvements thereof and together also with the Rest Residue and Remainder of my Personal Estate before hereby given and bequeathed and the Increasements and Improvements thereof be by my Executors and Trustees fully accounted for and (after all Reasonable Deductions and Allowances) delivered and paid unto the Person or respective Persons then entitled to the Residuum of my Personal Estate Any Thing hereinbefore contained to the contrary notwithstanding

Also I further Will and Provide that the Rents Issues and Profits to grow due or arise after my Decease of for or from the said Hereditaments and Premises in Darton aforesaid with their Appurtenances before hereby devised to my said Grandson James Swettenham conditionally or upon Contingency as aforesaid shall be paid to and had received and taken by and I Give and Devise the same to my Executors and Representatives in Trust until such time as my said Grandson shall attain his age of Twenty One years or depart this Life whether shall first happen, and in the Case of his Death before he shall have attained this age, In such Case for and during such and so long time as any One of my before named Grandchildren shall be living under the age of Twenty One years, and that in case of my said Grandson living to attain his Age of Twenty One years in such Case that such last devised Rents Issues and Profits upon attaining that Age and not before with the Increasements and Improvements thereof be by my Executors and Trustees accounted for and  (after all reasonable Deductions and Allowances for or in respect of Repairs or otherwise) delivered and paid unto my said Grandson or his Executors or Administrators , and that in case of the Death of my said Grandson before he shall have attained his Age of Twenty One years in such case all the said Rents Issues and Profits last devised or in the Proviso mentioned together with all the Increasements and Improvements thereof shall and when and soon as One of my Grandchildren before named shall be living under the Age of Twenty One years and not before be by my Executors and Trustees accounted for and (after all reasonable Deductions and Allowances for Repairs or otherwise) paid unto such Person or Persons as shall as then be my Heir or Coheirs at Law to be equally divided between or amongst my Coheirs if such there then be

And I further will and Order and Provide that in Case of my three Grandchildren before named shall live to attain his or her Age of Twenty One years, and in case also there shall not be at the Time of the Decease of the longest liver of them my said three Grandchildren be living any lawful Issue of the Body of any One of them my said Three Grandchildren that then both the same Case happening All my Real Estate shall upon the Decease of the longest liver of my said Three Grandchildren go and belong unto such Person or Persons as shall then be my Heir (or Coheirs) at Law in the Simple (to whom I Give and Devise the same accordingly) And all the Rest Residue and Remainder of the Real Estate by me before hereby Given Devise and Bequeathed unto my said  Three Grandchildren as aforesaid and also all the Rents Issues and Profits to grow due or arise after my Decease of for or from my Real Estate in the parish of Almondbury in the said County of York and the Increasements and Improvements of or from such last mentioned Rents Issues and Profits shall upon the Decease of the longest liver of My Three Grandchildren be accounted for and (after all reasonable Deductions and Allowances for Repairs or otherwise) go to or amongst my then next of Kindred according to the Rules by the Statutes for Distribution of the Estates any thing hereinbefore contained to the contrary of this Proviso or any part thereof in any wise notwithstanding, and I likewise Will and Provide that it shall and may be lawful to and for my said Executors and the Survivor of them and his Executors and Administrators if my said Executors or the survivor of them or his Executors or Administrators shall think fitt so to do or need shall so require to pay lay out and expend any reasonable Sum or sums of  Money part of to or to arise from my Personal Estate for or towards the Maintenance Education or Support of One or more of my said Three Grandchildren during his her or their respective Infancy or afterwards before the time of before appointed for the Payment to them of respectively of their respective Shares of such Personal Estate. The Total of the Moneys to be paid laid out and expended (if any be) to be deducted and allowed from the whole of my Personal Estate Prior to the ascertaining and dividing the clear Residuum thereof. It is my Intention and Desire that not any part of the Particulars next after mentioned, to wit, my Clothes, Wearing Apparel, Watches, Rings, Trinkets, Silver Plate, Linen, Books, Stock of Fowls, Dead Victuals, Liquors, Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Tea Equipage be sold by my Executors, But all such Stock of Fowls, Dead Victuals Liquors, Coffee, Tea and Sugar may be used and consumed at Swithens aforesaid, and that such Watches, Rings, Trinkets, Silver Plate, Coffee Equipage and Tea Equipage and also such Linen and Books as my Executors shall think proper to be reserved for that purpose shall go and be divided as Part of the Residuum of my Personal Estate, and that the Rest of the same Particulars shall be given away in such manner and to such Person or Persons as my Executors shall think fitt, and that I do also Will Order and Provide that neither of them the said Robert Beatson and Joseph Hemingway my said Trustees and Executors shall be answerable or accountable save for his own Acts Payments and Receipts only in or relating to or concerning the Premises, and that neither of them nor their or either of their Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns nor any of them shall be answerable for or liable to make good any loss of Rents Profits Interest Money or other Money of Effects happening without the Gross Neglect of or by them some or any of them, and that in Case such Neglect such of them only as shall be guilty thereof shall suffer thereby, and that I do further Will Order Direct and Provide that my Executors before named and each of them and their and each of their Heirs Executors Administrators and every of them shall have to be paid and may deduct and retain from Time to Time forth and out of my Personal Estate and the Monies Interest Increase and Improvements arising therefrom or thereby  all such sums of Money, Costs Charges Damages and Expenses as they or any of them respectively shall pay bear expend or sustain in any wise in or concerning the Trusts or Executorship of this my Will or other the Premisses or for any Council or Advice to be had or taken by them or any of them relating to or concerning the Premisses or any Trust or Thing herein mentioned comprising or contained, and also all such sums of Money as they or any of them shall reasonably deserve to have and to be paid for keeping and settling Accounts Journeys Horse hire Trouble and Lots of Time for or in respect of or in about the Premisses, and I hereby Revoke and make void all former Wills and Testaments by me made, and I Publish and Declare these eight sheets of Paper annexed together every of them signed my me and this last of them Sealed with my Seal as and for and to be my last Will and Testament.

In Witness whereof I the said Joseph Hemingway the Testator have hereunto Set my Hand and Seal the Twenty fifth Day of October in the Year of our Lord One thousand, Seven Hundred and Eighty being the Day and Year first hereinbefore mentioned

 

          

                                                                                     Joseph Hemingway  (signed)

 

These eight Sheets of Paper annexed together were every one them signed and this last of them was Sealed by the said Joseph Hemingway of Swithens the Testator and were by him Published and Declared as and for to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of us three who at the request of the said Testator in his Presence and in the Presence of one another subscribed our Names as Witness thereto

Henry Bat

William Milner

Jo. S--------

Robert Beatson and Joseph Hemingway the Executors within named were duly sworn before me

Harrison

Surrogate

[Transcribed and supplied by Ron Hemingway]