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Transcript of the Inventory of Thomas Collingwood who died 1696

A True & perfect Inventory of all the goods & Chattels of Thomas Collingwood late of North Somercoats deceased Apprised by Adrian Bransby Christopher Hutton Mark Smyth & Nathaniel heaton this first day of October 1696

Imprimis his purse & Apparel & money left in the house
Debts without speciality
In the chamber over the parlour Wooll unsold
One Bedstead 1 coverlet 2 blankets & 1 pillow with other hushlements
In the plour 1 bedstead 1 feather Bed 3 coverlets 5 blankets & pair Of curtains & vallance 1 bolster & 2 pillows
One other little bed & furniture thereto
One trunk 2 chests & 2 boxes wth Linning in them with other hushlemts
In the Dairy 1 Barrel 12 milk bowls 2 cream pots & other hushlements 
Provision in the house
In the hall 1 table 1 dresser 2 forms 4 chairs 4 stools with bits thereto & other hushlements
Puter & brass & 2 iron pots
In the kitchin 2 tubs & 1 old stool
Six Horses
One cow & 2 calves
Four cows & a calf
Nine Weathers & a tup
Sixty Ews
Three & forty hogs
A Mair & foal bridle & sadle
One swine hog
Two geese & a gander
Hay & corn
One Belfrey Wood stocks & blocks about the yard & ground & fields
Summ £sd
£ - s - d 
05-00-00
14-00-00
08-00-00
01-00-00

02-13-04
00-03-04
01-10-00
00-06-08
00-10-00

01-00-00
02-00-00
00-01-02
14-00-00
05-00-00
11-00-00
05-00-00
24-00-00
11-00-00
05-05-00
00-10-00
00-01-06
10-00-00
05-00-00
127-01-00
Isaac Smith
Adrian Bransby
Nat Heaton
Christopher Hutton 

Some terms used above:

Chattels - personal, movable property ie: not buildings or land
Imprimis - Latin meaning in the first place
Apparel - clothes
Debts without speciality - money owed to Thomas 
Hushlements - odds and ends; items of little value 
Feather bed - this was just the mattress not the whole piece of furniture we know (see below)
Bedstead - the wooden frame with slats or rope which held the bed (mattress)
Furniture - the bed's furniture included the fabric hangings designed to keep drafts out and would have given some privacy - the whole bed (mattress, bedstead and hangings) would often be the most valuable item of household furniture and so they were often mentioned in Wills
Linning - linen
Hall - this was the main living room in the house
Puter - pewter
Weather - (wether) castrated male sheep 
Tup - male sheep, ram
Belfry - a bell tower or wooden framework housing a bell

The inventory gives a good picture of the family's lifestyle in rural Lincolnshire. Thomas left his widow, Mary, and four surviving children aged between 1 and 7 years. Their first two children had both died in early infancy.

Several generations of this branch of the family were Graziers - cattle farmers. Sheep were the family's main concern. They would have been fairly self-sufficient with their livestock and crops providing for most of their needs as well as produce to sell. Typically, their possessions consisted of just the basic things they would need in the home - comfortable and warm bedding; food preparation; somewhere to sit and eat and storage.

£14.00 was owed to Thomas at the time of his death, although it does not state what this relates to, it is likely that it would be rent from land or other property mentioned in his Will.

Thomas's Will mentions land totalling fifteen and a half acres left to his children. Interestingly when he wrote the Will they thought Mary may be pregnant - 'if in case my wife shall prove with child (And a Son)'. There is no record of another child after this though.

Thomas had been left one shilling by his mother, Ellen Collingwood, when she died 5 years earlier.


Click here for THOMAS'S WILL

In transcribing family wills for this site I have maintained spelling and punctuation of the Wills or Probate Copies
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