The last will and testament of Susanna Sargeant
This is my attempt to transcribe her will. I'm not a great reader of old handwriting so there are quite a few gaps!
From the covering letter it states that "Susanna Sargeant, formerly of Rosherville in the county of Kent but late of No. 3 Keetons Road, Bermondsey in the county of Surrey, spinster, died on the 29th November 1873."
This is the last will and testament of me, Susannah Sargeant of Rosherville in the county of Kent and formerly of ___ Terrace , Liverpool Road, Islington.
I ___ that all my just ___ and funeral and testamentary expenses shall be only paid and satisfied by my executer as ____ ___ and as soon as ____ may be after my ____ I give ___ and bequeath all my property of every ___ of or to which I may ___ or ____ or ______ (except such articles as are _____ specifically ____ ____ of) unto my niece Emma Elizabeth Leader whom I appoint executer of this my will and to _________ and administrators ____ trust as soon as ______ may be after my ____ to ___ get in and ___ such parts thereof as shall ___ of money or ____ for money ___________ into money and my real estate and the ____ of my personal estate in such manner as to my said executer shall seem proper ___ upon further___ out of the ____ of all my said property to pay for the following ____ that is to say
to
my niece Frances Sarah Burkett thirty pounds,
to my niece Ann Sparwell,
wife of Charles Sparwell ten pounds,
to my niece Elizabeth Smith
thirty pounds,
to my niece Maria Smith twenty five pounds,
to my nephew
Thomas
Smith twenty pounds,
to my nephew George Smith twenty pounds,
to
my nephew William Hill thirty pounds,
to the children of my nephew James
Charles Burkett thirty pounds to be divided equally between them,
to my niece Mary Sargeant twenty five pounds,
to my niece Sarah Sargeant
twenty five pounds,
to my
niece Hannah Browning thirty pounds,
to Lavinia and Mary
Susannah Leader ten pounds each,
to the children of my nephew
William Hill ten pounds to be divided equally among them,
to the children
of my niece Hannah Browning
ten pounds to be divided equally among them,
to Roberta Ann Squires
five pounds,
to the children of said Frances Sarah Burkett twenty
pounds to
be divided equally among them,
to my nephew Thomas
Leader ten pounds,
to my
nephew William Henry Burkett ten
pounds,
to the said executer Emma
Elizabeth Leader a further sum of one hundred pounds ____ with the
payment of my just debts ___ funeral and testamentary expenses ___
the cost (?)
of my grave
and headstone which I desire may be in the churchyard of the parish
of Wokingham and to which I leave a sum of thirty pounds.
I give my silver watch to my brother Daniel Sargeant,
I give my gold watch
___ ___ and ring to my niece the said Emma
Elizabeth Leader,
I give my small
gold brooch set with hair to my said niece Frances Sarah Burkett.
I give my ___ ring which formerly belonged to Mrs ___ to my said niece
Hannah Browning.
I give my paisley shawl to my said niece Emma
Elizabeth Leader,
and all the rest of my ____ _____ I leave to my _______
_______ to be divided amongst _____
I give my household furniture to
my said niece
Emma Elizabeth Leader, Frances Sarah
Burkett and Mary Sargeant to be divided equally between them,
and as
to the rest _____ of my property of every kind
I give ____ and bequeath the same to my said niece Emma
Elizabeth Leader ___
____ _ administrators and ____ expenses of by as she may ____
Notes
I haven't managed to trace any details of Susanna Sargeant but I believe she was the sister of John Burkett's wife Mary Ann (surname unknown, presumed Sargeant!)
She was a witness at the wedding of Emma Elizabeth Burkett and Thomas Leader in 1860.
In the Berkshire Burial Index she is not listed in any of the cemeteries in Wokingham.
Frances Sarah Burkett was the wife of William Henry Burkett. Currently I don't know her maiden name but she was born 1831 in Binfield, Berkshire.