WANTED, somone to decipher old English Will of 1680 PLEASE

[Querty]

I go dizzy when I try to read this old English script of the 1680 ( I think) Will of my many times great grandfather.

I get a few words then dyslexia cuts in. The Will also seems to finish in mid sentence and maybe someone can confirm if only part of it was emailed down from National Archives ?

I will attempt to attach it here :

Oops. I see it is "Crown Copyright" and I am not sure if I can display it here so to be on the safe side I have removed it. If someone can contact me with a Private Message I guess it would be OK to share with an individual.

[Kate P]

Haven't tried to read it all but you can clearly see that there is another page to the right of that one, that has been cut off on the scanner, so I would certainly suggest that there is further text missing, yes.

Kate x

[Querty]

Thanks Kate. Sorry for the delay but, having discovered it is copyright, it took me some time to work out how to delete the attachment ( not very obvious). I had not noticed the page to the right, so maybe the Nat. Archives have some more. I have written to them to query it, as this is the first time I have purchased something from them.

[Oakum Picker]

I had a quick look when you posted it. I think it was complete. When the written words did not fill the line, the gaps were filled in with perpendicular lines or squiggles in your case. Edward left his 2 sons & 3 daughters a shilling each & the remainder to his wife Elizabeth. PM me your email & I'll have a go at the whole thing.

[dicole]

I did not see yours, I have an 1682 will and would agree with Glen, squiggles and strokes were used to fill up a line and start a new word on a new line. The will I have has a definite margin on both right and left, and went over two pages. There is a wide margin of the outside of the page (left margin on left page, but rightside on right page) where the name of the Testator is written at the beginning of each new will.

I found that most of the will was written without punctuation, so sometimes it helps to read it out loud, sometimes you can work out what it being said. In the will I have the "e"s look like "o"s with the crossing loop, but the "o"s are just plain "o"s. Capital I looks like a fancy Captial J.

Diane

[Uncle John]

I found that most of the will was written without punctuation, so sometimes it helps to read it out loud, sometimes you can work out what it being said.

I'd be surprised if there was any punctuation at all in a legal document such as a will. It has to be 100% unambiguous so punctuation is barred.

[dicole]

Hi Uncle John

So there was a reason for the lack of punctuation (and the squiggles, which make sure no one could add anything into the end of a line) - I thought it was just the way English was written way back then, but I have not had much to do with very old documents (yet ! I am sure there will be more as I take the generations back).

Di

[Heather Positive Thinker]

When I used to type wills, in the not so distant past at Lincolns Inn, London - we werent allowed to use punctuation or make a typing error as we couldnt tippex or rub anything out.

[Uncle John]

Similarly, even today, when dealing with a legal document you get told never to pin or staple it, so there's no possibility of slipping in an extra page. And often every page is initialled and dated.