1813 December 23 — THOMAS PICKERING of Great Sutton (1761-1814)

Last Will & Testament

This is the last Will and Testament of me Thomas Pickering of Sutton in the Parish of Runcorn in the County of Chester, Miller, I will and direct that all my just Debts funeral expenses and the Charges of the Probate of this my Will be first paid and discharged by my Executors hereinafter named out of my real Estate if my personal Estate shall be insufficient for that purpose  And subject to the payment thereof I give and devise all and every … Messuages Mills Malt Kilns Tenements and Hereditaments and parts or shares of Messuages Mills Malt Kilns Lands Tenements and Hereditaments situate lying and being in Liverpool in the County of Lancester and in Runcorn Sutton and Frodsham in the County of Chester or elsewhere whereof or wheren I or any person or persons in Trust for me have or hath or is or are entitled to any Estate or Interest of Freeholder Inheritance in profession Riversion Remainder or Expetancy with their any every of their appurtenances unto my Friends George Orred of Liverpool aforesaid Esquire and Samuel Blain of the same place Merchant and their heirs

To the Uses upon the Trusts and for the intents and purposes and with under and subject to the Powers Provisions and Conditions hereinafter mentioned … and declared of and concerning the same  That is today and for the best Intent and purposes that my Wife Margaret [Horrabin] Pickering and her assigned

Shall and may from and after my decease yearly and every year during her natural life have reserve and take out of all and every the said Messuages Mills Malt Kilns Lands Tenements and Hereditaments such Sum of Money by way of Annuity or yearly Rent Charge as the said George Orred and Samuel Blain or the Survivor of them his heirs or assigns shall in their or his discretion think fit and proper after they my said Truestees shall have ascertained the amount of my Property which I cannot do at present by reason a great Part of my said Property being at this time dependant upon the Issue of one or more Suit or Suits now pending in the High Court of Chancery

Such annual sums when ascertained to be paid and payable free and clear of and from all manner of Taxes Charges and Deducations whatsoever Parliamentary or otherwise by two equal Payments in the year that is to say on the twenty fifth day of March and twenty ninth day of September in each year the first payment thereafter to begin and be made on such of the said days as shall first and next happen after by decease.

And to and for the further use intent and purpose that in use the said Annuity yearly Rent Charge (after the amount thereof shall have been ascertained as aforesaid or any part thereof shall be behind or unpaid by the space of twenty days most over or after either or any of the said days wherein the sums is hereinbefore appointed to be paid and aforesaid that there and from thereforth and from time to time as often as the same of any part thereof shall be so in arrear and unpaid it shall and may be lawful to and for my said Wife Maragret Pickering and her assigns into and upon All and every the said Messuages Mills Malt Kilns Lands Tenements and Herediaments or into and upon any Part therof to enter and . . . . and the . . .  and . . .  there found to take  . . .

. . . Also I give and bequeath to the said George Ored and Samuel Blain therein Executors and administrators as well all my parts or shares of the Estate Farm or other beneficial Interest which I am entitled unto by virtue of a Lease to me and my deceased Brother Samuel Pickering given or granted by the late Sir Peter Warburton Baronet   deceased of and in all that Messuage or Dwellinghouse situate and being in Sutton aforesaid where in I now dwell together with the Water (?) Corn Mills and all and every other or the Buildings Lands Herediaments and Premises comprised in the same Lease or thereto belongings also all my Household and other Goods and Furniture Plate Linen China Horses Cows Cattle Corn Hay Implementations of Husbandry and other Stock Money out at Interest and all other my personal Estate and Effects whatsoever Upon Trust that they the said George Orred and Samuel Blain and the survivors of them and the survivor administrators and assigns of such Survivor do and shall as soon as may be after my decease sell and disperse in such parts of my said Goods Chattels personal Estate and Effects as they in their discretion shall think fit which shall not at my death consist of ready Money or be laid out or invested in the public Stocks or Funds or upon Government or real Securities at Interest for the most Money and best price and prices that can be had or reasonably gotten for the same and also collect receive and get in all such Debts and Sums of Money due any owing to me at my death which shall not then be laid out or invested in such Stocks Funds or Securities as aforesaid

And do and shall layout and invest the Monies which shall rise by such Sale or Sales and Disposition and also shall be so collected received and gotten in as aforesaid and likewise my ready Money at my death if any shall remain after answering the purposes aforesaid and also all such Monies as shall arise by Sale of my real Estates in case my said Trustees or the Survivor of them or the heirs executors or administrators of such Survivor shall dispose of the same . . .

. . . “In trust for all and every my said children now living or which may be living at the time of my decease or born in due time share or shares of such Child or Children being a son or sons to be paid assigned or transferred to him or them as and when he or they shall respectively attain his or their, age or so . . ., ages of twenty one years or so much or such part or parts thereof  as shall not have been sooner assigned or dishonored of and applied for his or their  . . .

"The Testator died the thirteenth day of December 1813"

George Orred, one of the Executors in this Will named, was sworn in common form, and he farther makes oath that the personal Estate and Effects of the Testator within the Diocese of Chester, were under the value of 3500 (English pounds).

I where name is hereunto subscribed, do solemnly, seriously, and truly affirm and declare that I am of the Sect of People dissenting from the United Church of England and Ireland commonly called Quakers, and that the writing annexed is the true last will and Testament of Thomas Pickering deceased as far as I know or believe, that I will truly execute and perform the same, and pay his debt, and then the Legacies in the said will bequeathed, as far as his Goods Chattels and Credits will extend, and the Law charge me; and that I will make a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the said Goods, Chattels and Credits, and exhibit the same into the Registry of the Consistory Court of Chester, and under a just account if my administration thereof, when I shall be hereunder required; and I farther affirm, and declare, that the Testator’s personal Estate and Effects at the time of his death, within the Diocese of Chester did not amount to the sum of 3500 (pounds) as I verily believe. The second day of May 1814

Signed Samuel Blain

Margaret Pickering the Executor in this Will named was sworn in common form, and the further made oath that the personal Estate and Effects of the Testator within the Diocese of Chester were under the of 3500 (pounds) The twentieth day of May 1814

Probate: 7th May 1814