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Wills |
Last Will and Testament of Gregory Mawrie (ca 1537/ca 1617)
Last Will and testament of Gregorie Mawrie, Barber, of Exeter.
This will was kindly transcribed for me by Renée
Jackaman
He may or may not be the same person as our Gregory. If so, he remarried before he died as there is no mention of English Maunder and his wife's name is Joane.
Last Will and Testament of Robert Carter (1722-1800)
Husband of Anne Wylly, he was the immigrant Carter who sired a dynasty of illustrious Carters in Newfoundland and beyond..
This will was transcribed by Ronald J. Fitzpatrick and published in the Newfoundland Ancestor - 7,4
Robert Carter and Wife Anne have been credited with saving Ferryland from French attack in 1762, the last occasion on which Ferryland came under enemy fire. His daughter Anne took as her third husband the widower Matthew Morry, the immigrant ancestor of all Newfoundland Morrys. His daughter Mary married Daniel Sanders and their daughter Anne married Matthew's son, Matthew II. Through these and other connections the Carter and Morry families have been intimately intertwined over the years.
Last Will and Testament of Henry Sweetland (1732/33-1791)
Second husband of Anne Carter before her marriage to Matthew Morry, the immigrant
This will was transcribed by Kevin Reddigan and appears on his website ( http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~calvertfamilies/ ) which focuses primarily on the early settlement of Caplin Bay (Calvert). Although it isn't clear if Henry and Anne actually resided in Caplin Bay or Ferryland, where she owned property from her first husband, Captain Samuel Hill, it is known that the Sweetlands had financial dealings in Caplin Bay at the time that the Morrys arrived there. William Sweetland, the son of Henry and Ann, married Priscilla Anne Morry, the daughter of Matthew Morry I. It appears that during their marriage she never resided in Newfoundland, though he was quite possibly born there and certainly died there.
Last Will and Testament of William Carter Esq. (ca 1751-1840)
Son of Robert Carter and Ann Wylly.
This will was transcribed for the Newfoundland's Grand Banks website ( http://ngb.chebucto.org/Wills/carter-william-1-347.shtml ) by Judy Benson and Ivy F. Benoit. William Carter was a Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court for 52 years and the Supreme Court before that. He was an immensely wealthy man at the time of his death, leaving lands and houses from Aquaforte to St. John's. His position of Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court alone brought in 500 pounds a year, according to notations on George LeMessurier's family tree. His land holdings in the various fishing out ports along the southern shore (fishing rooms and associated buildings) were surveyed in 1877 by John Maher, a Crown Land Surveyor from St. John's. The plans are all found at the Centre for Newfoundland Studies. it isn't clear why it took so long to carry out these surveys since it was a condition of his will.
Last Will and Testament of Nicholas Brand (1761-1854)
Husband of Maria (or Anna Maria) Hill, the daughter of Anne Carter by her first husband, Captain Samuel Hill.
The transcript of this will was found on the Newfoundland's Grand Banks website ( http://ngb.chebucto.org/ ) and was transcribed by Judy Benson and Ivy F. Benoit. Nicholas was a surgeon from Topsham, Devon, England who wound up in Ferryland for a while in the late 1700s, for reasons unknown, and wound up returning to Topsham after marrying and having at least two children in Newfoundland. These children would have as a grandfather and grandmother Robert and Anne Carter, the famous couple who saved Ferryland from a French attack in 1762.
Last Will and Testament of Robert Carter (1768-1810)
One of the many Robert Carters, all of whom played a major role in the business and day to day affairs of Ferryland during their lives. This one was my 4G Granduncle, brother of Anne Carter who was the second wife of Matthew Morry I. Considering his status as a leading businessman, it sis surprising that his Will is so short and simple. It would appear he may have not anticipated his death and was forced to make out a will on his death-bed more or less.
Last Will and Testament of John Morry (1776-1807)
Son of Matthew Morry I and father of John Morry below.
Transcribed from a digital copy of the official Will transcript
record
Last Will and Testament of Matthew Morry II (1791-1856)
This will, along with the Probate papers also included, is found in the Morry Papers (MG237) in The Rooms, though the original is on file at the Supreme Court Probate Office in St. John's. The Will itself was transcribed for the Newfoundland's Grand Banks website by volunteers Judy Benson and Ivy F. Benoit, to which I have added a transcript of the Probate papers.
Last Will and Testament of James Howe Carter (1794-1859)
Father of Mary Oxenham Carter, the wife of Arthur Kemp Morry
As transcribed on the Newfoundland GenWeb website by
James Howe Carter was an important ship owner and merchant in Ferryland. In addition to Mary Oxenham Carter, he was also the father of Sheriff James Carter and another daughter named Elizabeth about whom little is known. There may have been other children, but these three are known for sure because of birth and baptismal records in St. Saviour's Parish, Dartmouth, Devon. Daughter Mary and son James also spent their lives in Newfoundland and died there.
On a more disturbing note, James Howe Carter is also noted for having been convicted of raping a servant girl named Ellen Delahunty, who bore his child as a result. The name of the child is not known, nor is it known if he contributed to its upbringing other than through the 30 pound fine he paid.
Last Will and Testament of John Morry (1799-1837)
Son of John Morry and Mary Foale Luke
This will, which was administered by John's Uncle, Matthew II, leaves the bulk of the estate to Matthew's son James for reasons that are not explained. But for this Will, I would not even have known of the existence of this son James as he does not appear in any other documentation I have seen.
Last Will and Testament of John William White (1811-1893)
This is the Last Will and Testament of John William White, of Dodbrooke, Kingsbridge, Devon. He was the father of Catherine White, my G. Grandmother, the wife of Thomas Graham Morry III. He died and is buried in Ferryland. This will was transcribed by his G. Grandson, Cal White, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA, and kindly provided for display here.
Last Will and Testament and Probate Documents of Mary Morry Sweetland (1820-1854)
Mary Morry Sweetland was the daughter of William Sweetland and Priscilla Morry, the daughter of Matthew Morry, the immigrant. It is thought that neither her mother nor any of her siblings ever went to Newfoundland. They certainly all died in Dartmouth and are buried at St. Saviour's. Her father, William Sweetland, is thought to have essentially abandoned his English family and gone to Newfoundland on his own where he eventually became a magistrate in Bonavista. He remarried there years later but did not raise a family with his second wife. Mary and her sister Ann, her executrix and heir, both remained spinsters until their death. One wonders if their experience with their father was the cause.
I acquired a copy of this will and associated probate documents from the Devon records office in 2006 and transcribed it at that time..
Last Will and Testament of John Henry Morry (1818-1897)
This is the will of John Henry Morry, whose properties in Ferryland were originally purchased by him and his business partner, Peter Paint LeMessurier, from Arthur William Olive Holdsworth in 1844. It should be noted that, apparently because of a pecuniary shortfall, that purchase could only be completed by essentially mortgaging the property in an indenture to John's mother-in-law, Ann Coulman Winsor, in 1853. Later, in 1881 she wrote another indenture restoring the Holdsworth house and lands to her grandson, Thomas Graham Morry, but only on condition that her unmarried granddaughters (who are named in this will) would continue to have the use of this property for as long as they remained unmarried and alive.
It is interesting to note that, while John Henry Morry's will seems to reflect these earlier financial and legal arrangements to a certain degree (e.g. he makes no mention of the house he live in, which was effectively not his property for the above reasons), he nevertheless felt empowered to leave his son the lands and waterside premises which were then in his possession, even though they were in fact not John's to leave to anyone either. He was in effect leaving to his son property that he already owned or held a right to as a consequence of the indenture from the real property owner, his grandmother, Ann Coulman Winsor. I suppose this allowed the poor old man to save face, since he seems to have pretty well lost his entire fortune and all of his property during his lifetime and really had very little of his own to leave to anyone at the time of his death.
Last Will and Testament of Peter Windsor (1823-1905)
Peter Windsor was the father of Clara, the childhood sweetheart and eventually the second wife of Thomas Graham Morry III (see Will below). When T. G. Morry III married Clara in Victoria, BC on June 24th 1930, he was not destitute, but he was not at all rich either. He had lost his fortune in the bank collapse of 1894 and, being a scrupulously honest and ethical man, he spent the remainder of his working life attempting to pay off all his debts at full price, rather than for pennies on the dollar, as most Newfoundland merchants of the time chose to do. As can he seen from her father's will, Clara on the other hand would have had some personal wealth to bring to the marriage from her inheritance as well as anything she had received upon the deaths of her two previous husbands. This transcript was found on Newfoundland's Grand Banks website ( http://ngb.chebucto.org ) and was contributed by Judy Benson, Wendy Weller and Ivy Benoit.
Last Will and Testament Plus Codicil of Thomas Graham Morry III (1849-1935)
Here is the Last Will and Testament of Thomas Graham Morry (1849-1935), transcribed from a photocopy made at the Probate Office of the Newfoundland Supreme Court in August 2001. This transcription also includes the Codicil which amended the original bequests.
Last Will and Testament of John Morry (1856-1946)
This Will and First and Second Codicils are registered with the Probate Court in St. John's and a copy was kindly provided for transcription by Enid O'Brien.
Last Will and Testament of Judith (O'Leary) Morry (1872-1946)
This Will and First Codicil are registered with the Probate Court in St. John's and a copy was kindly provided for transcription by Enid O'Brien. Judith (O'Leary) Morry was the wife of John Morry above. They both left substantial estates, each in his or her own right. John, who was sixteen years his wife's senior, died only two months after her.
Last Will and Testament of Howard Leopold Morry (1885-1972)
The copy of this Will from which this transcript was made was found among papers belonging to Phyllis (Morry) Mercer in the possession of her daughter Fredris Caines in Ferryland. It is itself only a poor quality photocopy and not a signed original. It is assumed that the original is with either the lawyer or the probate office, if the will was probated.
Of note in particular is a bequest to his son Howard George Morry of land on which Dad Morry built his "Wee Hoose". Unfortunately he did not remember when writing his Will that this was the same piece of land left to another son, Thomas Graham Morry, by Dad Morry's father and hence was not his to bequeath. Errors like this must have been common in the old days when legal surveys of land passed down from generation to generation were seldom made. This reality is accentuated by the fact that the dimensions of the piece of land as given in the Will are a geometric impossibility. A triangle cannot be comprised of sides of the dimensions 125 x 140 x 283. It is assumed that the last dimension must have been 183 in reality or else it was more of an arc than a straight line. In effect we may never know because no survey of that land was ever made before or since so far as is known.
