Mystified by this "Will"

Lorna Allison · Post by **Lorna Allison** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:38 am

Hi

I would welcome assistance in understanding a will just received from SP. It is a Testament and seems to take 9 pages to officially agree that the deceased's son can inherit his father's estate and be his executor.

The "Inventory" quoted purports to give the personal & moveable property of this dec. woollen manufacturer as £5.1.8d (??), deposited in the BL Bank. However further on it says " ..the heritable & moveable in respect of which estate duty is payable on the death of the dec. exclusive of property settled otherwise than by the Will of deceased, does not exceed £300 sterling as shewn in the foregoing inventory and in the Statement and Accounts hereto annexed". (No annexe appears in the 9 pages received).

From an account re Kirk Yetholm on the net, this deceased (Peter Govanlock) is said to have owned a great many properties in the village including a mill and a farm. He did not marry but made a will in favour of his son, clearly stated in this testament as being his son born to him by Alice Taylor (the boy took his name when he was in his early 20s).

I would dearly like to find out what properties he owned and wonder if such information would be available and where (NAS?)

Another will I got from SP (different family) gave pages and pages of inventoried items down to every jug and teaspoon (this was "something dative", apparently due to no will having been made).

The Govanlock will has been useful in that it clarifies the relationship of father and son, but frustrating because no property or other family members are mentioned. I am presuming that the £300 mentioned is simply a legal ceiling figure which has not been met. Was property not counted for tax purposes or has this astute chap managed to divest himself of all his worldly goods before handing in his dinner pail?

Any clarification would be most helpful.

Regards

Lorna

Post by **paddyscar** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:02 am

Hi Lorna:

Another will I got from SP (different family) gave pages and pages of inventoried items down to every jug and teaspoon (this was "something dative", apparently due to no will having been made).

This document would likely be a "Testament Dative" http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ent+dative

Frances

Post by **Anne H** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:29 pm

Hi Lorna,

You might get lucky and find a sasine recorded in NAS. Take a look at their site for further information. http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/sasines.asp

Hope you find something.!

Regards,
Anne H

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:43 pm

Hi Lorna
Property in Scotland was split into moveable property and land, dealt with quite separately. As Anne says, if he had land, it will most likely be a record of the transfer of the land within in the Sasines. The index is now searcheable on the PCs at NAS.

Best wishes
Lesley

Lorna Allison · Post by **Lorna Allison** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:33 pm

Thank you all - most instructive.

I am building up a few things for my next visit to NAS.

Regards

Lorna