Will of John Plomer of Stone, yeoman, 1715

Centre for Bucks Studies D/A/We/54/48

In the name of God amen I John Plumer [sic] of Stone in the County of Bucks yeom(an) being of Good & perfect memory & understanding blessed be God for it Doe make & Ordayne this my Last will & Testam(en)t in manner & forme Following (that is to say first & before all Earthly things I Give & bequeath my Soule into the hands of Almighty God my Creator trusting to be Saved by the merritts of Jesus Christ my mercyfull Rede\e/mer & my body to the Earth from whence It Came to be buryed in a Decent manner at the discretion of my Executor hereafter menc(i)oned Item I Give unto my wife Allice Plumer[?] Plomer ten pounds to bye buy her mourning Item I Give unto my Son John Plomer one hundred pounds Item I Give unto the poore Liveing in the towne of Stone five pounds to be distributed at the discretion of the Churchwarden & overseers all which Legacyes my will is shall be paid Six months after my decease Item I Give unto my two Sons & Daughter William Jane & John all the debt due from S(i)r Thomas Lee Bar(on?)itt (if ever payed) Equally to be divided between them Item I Give unto my wife Allice \Plome[?]/ Plomer two feather beds two feather boulsters two feather pillows And (th)e Rest of the furniture belonging to

[p.2] so [sic] & 6 bed [sic] Six Cane Chaires one table two Kettles one porridge pot one Skillet Six pewter Dishes 12 pewter plates two brass Candlesticks three paire of Flax Sheets three paire of Hemp Sheets one paire of Holland Pillow beers one paire of flaxen pillow beers two flax table Clothes one dozen & half of Flax Knapkins Item I Give unto Jane Horton one flax table Cloth & Six flax Knapkins Six pewter dishes All the rest of my goods Ch Cattells & Chattells my debts Legacyes & funerall discharged I Give unto my Son William Plomer whom I make Sole Executor of this my Last will & Testam(en)t Wittness my hand & Seale this Thirty first day of January 1714 John Plomer Sealed & delivered in the p(re)sence of John Calcott Henry Whitsed Thomas Sayer

Probate on 16th May 1715 before Isaac Lodington surrogate to William Plomer, natural and legitimate son of the deceased and executor named in the will.

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Notes

John Plomer or Plummer was owner of half of The Bell, which passed to his son William at the 1715 manor court. It remained in the ownership of his descendants until 1779.

John Plomer inherited half of The Bell and other property from his mother Dorothy, nee Pym, in 1672 when he was aged 3 (he was baptised at Stone in April 1669). At the 1685 court it was reported that John Plomer jr had died and his heir was Ann wife of James Hunt, who would have been his aunt, also nee Pym. However, a John Plomer is recorded in the court rolls from 1687 as committing default, showing that he owned property in Winslow. John and Alice his wife appeared at the 1698 court as co-owners with James and Ann Hunt of another property. It therefore seems that something must have happened at the 1686 manor court, for which records don't survive: either it was found that John jr wasn't really dead, or John sr was able to buy back the half share to hold with his 2nd wife Alice. It is therefore not clear whether the man who made this will was John jr or John sr.

William Plomer the son died intestate in 1730; his widow Hannah made a will in 1733 (proved 1734; National Archives PROB 11/663/295 ) which was drawn up by the Winslow lawyers Peter and John Goldsworth. It refers to her sons John and William, 3 daughters (all 5 under age), and makes her brotheri-in-law Robert Stevens of Granborough one of her trustees. She wouldn't have had the power to bequeath The Bell, which must have passed to the eldest son John when his father died.