This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks topic “Land”*. I thought I’d write about one of my many
yeoman ancestors. English yeoman were farmers
who owned the land they worked. They
were not quite landed gentry but were still prominent members of their local
community and relatively wealthy.
Timothy Briggs was born about 1649 in Thurnham, in the
parish of Cockerham, Lancashire, England.
The Briggs family had lived in the Thurnham area for at least two
generations before Timothy. He was the
youngest child, as far as I know, of Edmund Briggs and Margaret Wilkins. His older siblings were Anna, Elizabeth,
Rebecca, John (who died in infancy), Mary (who died in infancy) and Joshua.
Margaret Briggs nee Wilkins died in 1667 and Edmund Briggs
died in 1671. Brother Joshua only survived
his father by a year, dying in 1672.
On 9 October 1672, Timothy married Agnes Deane at St Mary’s
church in Lancaster. While the Briggs
family were baptised and buried in Cockerham, they seemed to prefer nearby
Lancaster for weddings. Maybe this was because
it is a more impressive church for a big wedding? Timothy and Agnes had at least three
children: Edmund (my ancestor), Abigail and Hannah.
On 7th December 1697, Timothy wrote his will (which I have a
copy of). He claimed to be in sound and
perfect health. However, within weeks he
was dead aged only 49. I am not sure of
the exact date of death as the Cockerham burial registers for that period are
water damaged and haven’t been scanned. The
inventory of his goods and chattels was taken on 18 January 1698 (it says 1697 because
at that time the year started on 25 March). Probate was granted on 20 July 1698.
Timothy left most of his estate to his son Edmund, however
he also left bequests to his wife and daughters. Wife Agnes got £20 plus £4 a year. His will is not long but does have a few
points of interest. Both his sons-in-law
are mentioned: Abigail was the wife of Henry Langton, and they had a son,
Timothy. Hannah was married to Thomas
Hodgkinson, to recently to have children.
What makes interesting reading is the inventory that
accompanies the will. The inventory list
all of Timothy’s possessions at the time of his death. His most valuable possessions were 3 cows
valued at £11 and Oats and Barley, also valued at £11. As well as the cows, livestock included 2
oxen, possibly for ploughing his fields, 4 young steers (castrated males), 1
young heifer (female who hasn’t had a calf), 3 calves and 2 horses. The horses were valued at £10.
The inventory also gives an indication of the size of house
that Timothy and his family lived in. A
buttery, kitchen, parlour, a house chamber, east chamber and a bed room are
mentioned, so it sounds like a reasonably sizable residence for the time. The kitchen furniture, including a table and
chairs, was valued at £5.
As he had cows and a buttery, I guess he may have partly
been a dairy farmer but it seems that he might also have farmed oats and
barley. Thurham is near the sea (Morecombe
bay) and some of the area nearby is tidal estuary with dangerous quick sands,
so may not have been good arable land.
There are also now canals through Thurnham, so it was likely very damp
back in Timothy’s time.
Timothy had books valued at £2. I am not sure if that means
he had a lot of books or if books were very valuable.
I particularly like that bacon gets a mention in the
inventory. He had beef and bacon valued
at £1 10s. I would guess that this was a
lot of meat as some of the live animals were not worth much more.
Finally, Timothy had £7 in money and apparel.
His total goods and chattles were valued at £116 7s. In
addition to this, he had title to the land he farmed. It doesn’t seem like much
at all, but he would have been wealthy compared to many of his contemporaries.
It is nice to be able to get an idea of how one of my
ancestors lived off the land that he owned.
*I am not managing to write about 52 ancestors in 52 weeks.
Notes on Lineage: Me > Mum > Daphne Smith > Esther Lees > Fanny Sarah Eliza Briggs > Frederick Henderson Briggs > Henry Sparrow Briggs > Jehu Briggs > Timothy Briggs > Edmund Briggs > Timothy Briggs
