Pay For My Funeral You Miser! Will Catherine Allnutt

 The will of Catharine Allnutt. Written 1819. Proved 1820.

Says she is in ill health but of sound memory. 

To dear brother Zachary now of Henley Upon Thames her one third share in three cottages and gardens in Bovingdon Green which was left to her by her friend Mary Stevens. They are in the occupations of James Wheeler, Mary May and Thomas Frith. If it is not in her power to leave this to Zachary as it is supposed to descend to her dear sisters Ann and Martha then he does not need to give the £20 mentioned below to her sister Ann after all.

If Zachary can inherit the cottage share then he must pay their sister Ann £20. 

Also to Zachary the £100 navigation bond left to her by her dear friend Mary Stevens which is in her father's possession. Tells Zachary to give £20 to "my poor Aunt Argles" and £10 to Miss Sarah Fields and £10 to Miss Ann Fields who were her dear and loving friends in her painful illness.

Dear sister Ann all wearing apparel, poultry and the few books and goods she had of Miss Stevens.

Brother Zachary appointed executor as doesn't want her dear and aged father to have the trouble. She hopes Zachary will not grudge her funeral expenses as they are the last thing she will ask of him and she has for years been a faithful servant to him for pay not sufficient for necessaries in her station in life. He has plenty of property himself and a long life ahead of him in which he will enjoy it so need not take any out of the little estate she leaves behind to pay for her funeral.

Topaz pin and best earrings to "my sister Zachary Allnutt of Henley or Charlotte the wife of my brother" [Possibly meant to say "my sister MRS Zachary Allnutt also known as Charlotte the wife of my brother Zachary"].

Witnessed by Sarah Puddifant, Ann Bond, Mary Gibbons.

Notes:

Ann Bond was the wife of William Bond senior the builder. More about her and her family here.

Biographical post on Sarah Puddifant here.

Catharine and Zachary etc were children of Henry Allnutt who died not long after Catharine herself.

Transcribed and summarized by Charlotte Day from a copy of the PCC will obtained from the National Archives, Kew. Additional research also by Charlotte Day.

© Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this post content for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

The Troubles Of Minister George Edwards

George Edwards was the Minister of what we now call Christ Church in Quoiting Square between 1806 - 25. (The current building dates from after his time).

The year he took over, his congregation raised over £11 to support the work of missionaries abroad. Seems like he was off to a good start with them but things didn't always go so well.

In 1823 George got into quite some bother after he criticised one of his Sunday School teachers during a service. When I first heard about this case I thought that when it was said  he had "impugned her virtue" that he was referring to some romantic entanglement. But actually his criticism centred upon her allegedly giving her pupils leave not to attend the Sunday School. Margaret was a disgrace to the school he said and if another child was given her permission to be absent she should be banned permanently from the school premises.

You might wonder why George didn't just dispense with her services straight away if he was so unhappy. The court case details reveal however that this was not in his power to do. The school was run by a committee of ladies. This committee was voted for by the church members as a whole. George had one vote like everyone else but no more than that and certainly no power of veto or dismissal.

If George felt this difficult situation would be solved by a public admonishment he was wrong. Some of his congregation were up in arms. Margaret of course was upset. She said that only once had children been given leave not to attend and that was because their mother needed them to watch younger siblings so that she could attend her own church which was the Wesleyan Chapel.

Margaret appealed to Joseph Wright, deacon of the church. He called a meeting of members. How would you feel if a "defenceless female" perhaps your own daughter (Margaret was 24) had been publicly humiliated this way, he asked. Margaret's brother in law Samuel Washbourn asked for a formal and public apology to be made but George refused. Joseph and George exchanged "warm words" but Joseph's motion of censure against George was not seconded. Joseph would later allege that following the meeting he heard George call Margaret a "lying hussey", language which startled him.

Someone tipped off the local papers who presented events as George having lost the goodwill of the entirety of his flock by his actions. The Times newspaper took up the story so it received nationwide attention. Their report said that he had abused his position by using the pulpit for personal invective. That was too much for George and he sued the Times (but not it seems the local papers) for slander on the grounds that he had not lost the goodwill of his congregation or been unprofessional. The sum of 40 shillings damages came his way but the ruling acknowledged that the newspaper version of events was not entirely inaccurate.

The lawsuit had the unfortunate effect of renewed coverage of the original events, and in fact wider coverage than before as local papers from around the country picked it up as an interesting case. In the 1800s these papers routinely filled out their pages with non - local but interesting stories.

Whether Margaret Fair remained as a Sunday school teacher or not I cannot say but George was two more years Minister of the church before he resigned.

Members of the congregation that gave witness to what George said about Margaret were a Miss Smith, Eliza Holding, Mary Anne Stone, Samuel Washbourn, Sarah Puddifant and "John Ceilings" (perhaps John Snelling?). 

All kinds of personal factors were probably at play in this case. Samuel Washbourn admitted he had gone bankrupt previously and that the Minister was one his creditors. Their relationship was no longer good.  Margaret said that George had never been one of her favourite preachers. Perhaps he had discerned that fact and felt upset. Perhaps the fact she was aiding a Wesleyan worshipper rankled with him, or his falling out with her brother in law Washbourn meant he had less patience than otherwise with that family. 

It's a pity as the school was a pet project of George's and Margaret had been willing to be an unpaid regular teacher there since she was only 17. Everyone but George thought she was a lady of "spotless virtue". He and she could have been a great Sunday School team!

George died in Stonehouse near Plymouth Devon in 1833. His obituary said he had been ill for a number of years but still sometimes preached sermons in the Plymouth area. It is possible that this ill health contributed to him leaving Marlow. At the time of the 1823 court case he was said to be a married man with 5 children. The Manse he lived in at Marlow was in Chapel Street and was acquired during his tenure as was an additional small meeting place in the village of Bisham near Marlow.

Something about the other people in the case:

John Ceiling (Snelling? Selling?) said in his evidence that he was 80. When George Edwards was new in town it was John whose house he first visited. John obviously considered this a sign of distinction.

Samuel Washbourn was a children's clothing manufacturer and embroiderer who lived in Chapel Street next to the Manse at first. Later he moved to Quoiting Square right by the church, probably taking over the home of his deceased brother. A kind and charitable man, as was his brother John. Both suffered bankruptcy in their life.

Joseph Wright was of Marlow Mills. See my post on the Wane family published in April 2021 for a Joseph Wright's further involvement in church troubles. 

Sarah Puddifant- there's a post all about her and her husband James on the blog here

To find other people of interest to you that are mentioned in the blog use the Person Index option on the drop down menu. As of December 2021 there is 3,000 individuals from or connected to Marlow listed there. 

Researched by Charlotte Day. Most of the Salem Chapel/Congregational Church ministers have biographies here on the blog - see the menu  here to find them all. 

Sources:

Evening Mail, 7th July 1823. Copy held at the British Library Archives. Accessed by me March 2021 via the BNA.

The Statesman (London). 7th July 1823. As above.

Reports Of Cases Argued And Determined In The English Courts Of Common Law, Volume 8 by H.C Carey and Lee, 1824. Digitized by Google. Accessed March 2021.

The Evangelical Magazine And Missionary Chronicle, 1833. As above.

History of the Congregational Churches in the Berks, South Oxon and Bucks Association. 1905. WJ Blackett, Newbury.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

*DO YOU HAVE AN ANCESTRAL CONNECTION TO CHRIST CHURCH IN MARLOW? IF SO WHY NOT COMMEMORATE YOUR ANCESTOR BY SUPPORTING THE CHRIST CHURCH PATH OF LIGHT FUNDRAISING EFFORTS - SEE   Here FOR MORE INFORMATION**

James and Sarah Puddifant

James and Sarah (née Tregoe) were a married couple by 1786 when their daughter Ann was baptised at the Salem Chapel (now Christ Church URC), Quoiting Square, Great Marlow. They didn't have far to walk to get to that church living as they did just around the corner in West Street (modern 42). See below.

Sarah was born 1755, the daughter of barber surgeon and peruke maker Timothy Tregoe and Mary his wife. Her family was of Amersham origin.

James was a pawnbroker. On the 1798 posse commitatus (list of those men of fighting age in each town and village) he is stated as lame so his likelihood of being called up to do any fighting was slim.

He was obviously a religious man being a long term subscriber to the biblically inspired poetry of William Lane (on Google Books but really if you haven't read it you are not missing a lot!) as well as being a member of the Marlow branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society. In 1812 he donated £1 2 shilling to them for instance.

James died in 1816- Sarah would live on for another 24 years. Death notices give her age then as 85 so she was born circa 1755.

In his will James calls himself a gentleman. The majority of his personal possessions went to his "dear wife" Sarah and daughter Ann Millard but his sisters Mary, Susannah and Hannah also got a legacy of £10 each, his brothers John and Thomas £2 2 shillings each with bequests also to niece Mary Gray and nephews William Godfrey and James L...b..

There was another daughter Keziah (biblical name, once common) baptised at the Salem Chapel to James and Sarah. Perhaps she did not survive her childhood as neither she or any likely descendants are mentioned in her father's will.

Wife Sarah and a Timothy Tregoe were the will's executors. This was Sarah's brother Timothy Tregoe the watchmaker. By the time the will was proved it was a bit out of date as Timothy had died a few months previously. Sarah was the executor of Timothy's will too and inheritor of all her brother's Marlow property as although he had married Timothy apparently had no surviving issue. What that property consisted of isn't itemised in the will but contained at least one house rented out for profit. Sarah was asked by Timothy to pay out of her rental income 15 shillings a year to a faithful servant he had had.

Sarah continued to live in West Street. From the obituary given to her in the Reading Mercury when she died we know that she spent much time doing good during her life in Marlow. The paper said she had been for over half a century as a member of her church an "exemplar" "an excellent woman" and "attentive friend to the poor". The Aylesbury News agreed that she was well known for her benevolence  and generosity and that she had been every ready to spend time at the bedsides of the sick. "A lady more revered for her kindness" could not be found. 

In 1825 she was amongst those present when the minister of her church, George Edwards, criticised a young Sunday School teacher for allowing children to skip Sunday School, with him implying that this was down to her immoral character. The allegation was seen as extraordinary by many in his congregation including Sarah as was the use of the pulpit to make such a complaint. The falling out of minister and flock over this caught the attention of local and national newspapers. George sued the Times for slander over the nature of their coverage of his troubles. In that slander case Sarah Puddifant was one of those who gave evidence in a London Court about what she had heard the minister say and the aftermath. You can read more about this case in a post specifically about it here

Sarah's will was written in 1838 and proved in 1840 when she was approx 83. She appointed as executors and trustees of her personal property John Gibbons, a fellow West Street resident, and Jabez Millard of Grays Inn London.

The main legatee named was her granddaughter Sophia Harris, wife of John Harris who "by her husband's civil conduct lives with me". Not sure what was going on in that situation! Was Sarah being sarcastic??  As well as the interest from Sarah's investments Sophia got half the household furniture in their home and all residual property Sarah possessed. Grandson Alfred Millard got the rest of the furniture, a share of the principle of the money Sarah had invested and her leasehold property in the village of Penn near High Wycombe (her paternal grandmother Mary had come from Penn).

The rest of the principle of the money she had invested went to her granddaughter Ann Burton.

Witnesses to the will were High Street chemist Robert Footitt, Hezekiah Groom a linen draper of Woolwich and one Daniel Groom.

Extra notes= James and Sarah were both witnesses to the will of Mary Crompton written 1786. Sarah was also witness to the will of Catherine Allnutt written 1819.

Timothy Tregoe was one of the executors of the will of Thomas Ollis landlord of the Three Tuns next door to the Puddifants.

More pub content can be found by looking at the Pub Related option on the menu. All mentions of someone on this blog can be found on the Person Index. To read about others who ran businesses in West Street see the "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" option on the menu.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

**DO YOU, LIKE THE PUDDIFANTS, HAVE A FAMILY CONNECTION TO CHRIST CHURCH? IF SO, YOU MAY LIKE TO COMMEMORATE YOUR ANCESTOR BY SUPPORTING CHRIST CHURCH WALK OF LIGHT FUNDRAISING EFFORTS - SEE  Here FOR MORE INFORMATION**

Sources:

Will transcriptions by me of the wills of James Puddifant, Sarah Puddifant, Catherine Allnutt and Mary Crompton. All wills obtained from the National Archives.

The Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1812. Digitized by Google.

Property records held by my family.

The English Reports [law] volume 130. W Green. 1912.

Reading Mercury. January 25th 1840. Copy held in the British Library and accessed via the BNA.

Baptisms of Ann and Keziah Puddifant Microfilm of Independent Chapel Great Marlow baptismal registers, library of the LDS church.

Posse Comitatus from Jane Pullinger who went to the LDS Family History Library.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse content for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here. Thanks.