John Pickering of Oswaldkirk, probate act, 1521

[Hazel Bargiel]

Would someone be so good as to transcribe or send me the gist of the probate act of John Pickering of Oswaldkirk (see link below)? I have circumstantial evidence that he's the link I've been looking for to connect my family to one of the medieval Pickering families. Frustratingly, it appears that he died young and suddenly without making a will, so it's possible that the probate act doesn't reveal much.

BIA17184105_RP_Pickeringe_John_Oswaldkirk_Nov_1521.pdf

John was born before 1509 (father's death), he married Jane Percehay, who died before 1583 (dispute over inheritance), and the probate act is dated 5 November 1521.

Thanks a lot!

Hazel Bargiel (nee Pickering)

[Hazel Bargiel]

Oops! The link's not working.

Please try this one: https://share.orange.fr/#3a3IAc59sH107d252180

[Vance Mead]

Here are some Pickerings in Oswaldkirk in Common Pleas: John in 1415, Richard in 1440 and 1448 (widow Margaret), and William in 1530:

Trinity 1415, d 1207, last entry:
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H5/CP40no618/bCP40no618dorses/IMG_1207.htm
Yorks. John de Fulthorp, of Scalby versus John Pykeryng, of Oswaldkirk, esq; John Gray, of Broksay, yeoman. Debt of 22 pounds.

Easter term 1440, d 1144, last entry:
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no717/bCP40no717dorses/IMG_1144.htm
Yorks. John Forest versus Richard Pikeryng, of Oswaldkyrk, knight; John Breerton, of Scarburgh, Yorks, merchant. Debt

Hilary term 1448, d 1171, third entry:
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no748/bCP40no748dorses/IMG_1171.htm
London. Ralph Holand, of London versus Richard Pykeryng, of Oswaldkyrk, Yorks, knight, executors of; (Henry Banastre, of Suthwerk, gent, yeoman of King's household; Margaret his wife, widow of Richard); (and others). Debt of six pounds 18 shillings.

Hilary term 1530, f 7367, first entry:
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H8/CP40no1064/aCP40no1064fronts/IMG_7367.htm
London. Richard Weston, knight; and Henry Wyatt, knight, treasurer of the chamber, versus Arthur Darcy, of Est Grenewiche, Kent, knight; William Pykeryng, of Oswaldkirke, Yorks, knight; John Bollys, of Haxhe, Lincs, esq; Charles Jakson, of Snytall, Yorks, gent; Thomas Tempest, of Sandall Castell, Yorks, esq; George Bryghouse, of West Grenewiche, gent. Debt.

[Hazel Bargiel]

Thanks for this, Vance. I have quite a lot of info on the Pickerings of Oswaldkirk but not this, for the simple reason that I can't read the ancient script. Did you transcribe these entries yourself or is there a transcription somewhere? (Also I've never understood how the "aalt" site works.) My quest is to find definitive documentary evidence of a link between the Oswaldkirk Pickerings and my Pickerings, which is proving difficult as we're talking about younger sons of younger sons...

[Vance Mead]

Some of the records on AALT have been indexed (about 5% of the total of almost ten million images). You can search them here:

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/Indices/CP40Indices/CP40_Indices.html

http://www.uh.edu/waalt/index.php/Main_Page

For some of these you can use google to search, for example:

site:http://aalt.law.uh.edu/indices/cp40indices/ oswaldkyrke

We have mostly retained the original spelling, so it can also be oswaldkirke, oswaldkyrk, etc.

[Wibs]

Very difficult to read due to bleeding, but what I can make out is:

Tenth? day of the month of November? ... ... ... testament of John Pickering late of Oswaldkirk, deceased, administration of the goods of this deceased was granted to R? ...son, sole executor in the same will, already sworn (saving the right of whosoever). ......
The rest is too tricky for me, but normally ends with something like 'an inventory was exhibited, above £40 (or whatever).

The key part here is the name of the executor. Have you located the will?

To decipher probate acts and other probate documents I recommend the sameple given by the Borthwick:

https://www.york.ac.uk/media/borthwick/documents/5administrations.pdf

Wibs

[Vance Mead]

I suppose you probably have this, but these are the details of the will of Thomas Pykeryng, the father of William. He also had an illegitimate son Anthony.

Thomas Pykeryng, of Yorkshire, gentleman, made 15 May 1509, probate 20 July 1510
To be buried in Greyfriars, Newgate, London
Son and heir William
Daughter Margaret
Servant Jane
Son Anthony, his son begotten of the said Jane

From British History Online:
In 1427–8 this fee was held by Sir Richard Pickering, kt., (fn. 15) who made a settlement of Oswaldkirk in 1441 (fn. 16) and died in the same year, leaving a son and heir John. (fn. 17) The successor of John would seem to have been the Thomas Pickering who died in 1509 and was followed by William his son.

[Vance Mead]

Would that be Robert? Theta's the only name that would have an upright like that.

[Hazel Bargiel]

On Thursday, 8 August 2019 12:20:55 UTC+2, Vance Mead wrote:
> Would that be Robert? Theta's the only name that would have an upright like that.
>
>
> R? ...son, sole executor in the same will

Thanks, Wibs and Vance, for taking the time and making the effort to read John Pickering's probate act (Wibs: John Pickering died before making a will).

I too read Rbt (= Robert), which occurs in the Oswaldkirk family, but not frequently. Perhaps this is the Robert (c1501-1589) who spawned the Puckerings of Flamborough, whose father I have as Thomas Pickering (fl. 1510), but there might be a generation in between, i.e. the John in question.

It was John's father Thomas (d.1509) who had an illegitimate son called Anthony with his servant Jane, and John who had a legitimate son called Anthony with his wife Jane Percehay (sorry for the confusion). Because the name is rare, it led to my theory that my first know ancestor, Anthony b1577 Bishop Burton, might have been related to the Oswaldkirk Pickerings via his father Thomas of BB, his father John d1565 BB and his father John d1521. Furthermore, in 1553 John d1656 BB and Anthony d1592 Threekingham, Lincs. (presumably brothers) sold a messuage with lands in Sainton (Sancton, 5 miles west of BB? Stainton?).
Trinity term, 7 Edward VI
Plaintiff: Thomas Langdale, gent.
Deforciants: John Pyckeryng, gent., and Anthony Pyckeryng, gent.
Property: mesuage with lands in Sainton
Feet of Fines Yorkshire 1486-1571, p.170
https://archive.org/stream/recordseries00unkngoog#page/n195 (see book in .pdf form)

Below are the links to some of my documents on the Pickerings of Oswaldkirk and the Puckerings of Flamborough, including my latest GEDCOM files of each family which show the sources on which they are based. (Where an event is followed by a ? this means that I'm not sure the event refers to that person or indeed that tree.) I would be grateful if you'd take a look at Thomas (Oswaldkirk) Pickering's IPMs to see if you can identify his landholdings in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. I'm particularly interested in knowing if the above-mentioned Sainton in Yorkshire and Threekingham in Lincolnshire are mentioned, which my untrained eye hasn't picked out. And, of course, anything else that would support my theory…

Pickerings of Oswaldkirk: https://share.orange.fr/#3cyJFGnbz612d130c312
Puckerings of Flamborough: https://share.orange.fr/#atTxmpKxmN12d130c385

Thanks in advance.

Hazel

[Vance Mead]

Here’s a Chancery case in 1583 between Anthony Pickeringe, gentleman, and Leonard Perchie or Percehey, gent, concerning land in Kirkeby Misperton, Yorks, which John Pickering, father of Anthony, had given as a marriage portion to Jane, daughter of Lyon (Lionel?) Percehay.

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT7/C78/C78no61/IMG_0013.htm

[Hazel Bargiel]

On Thursday, 8 August 2019 17:38:20 UTC+2, Vance Mead wrote:
> Here’s a Chancery case in 1583 between Anthony Pickeringe, gentleman, and Leonard Perchie or Percehey, gent, concerning land in Kirkeby Misperton, Yorks, which John Pickering, father of Anthony, had given as a marriage portion to Jane, daughter of Lyon (Lionel?) Percehay.
>
> http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT7/C78/C78no61/IMG_0013.htm

Thanks, Vance, I have this. (I wouldn't have paid the National Archives good money for it if I'd known it was on AALT!) There's a whole clutch of Anthonys around this time and they're all related. The Anthony in the Chancery case is the son of John d1521 from whom he inherited in Lincolnshire and I've managed to research him down to the present day. He's the presumed brother of John d1565 Bishop Burton who I believe is the grandfather of my Anthony. Just to confuse matters, there's another Anthony in South Cave, East Riding, but his family died out in the male line.

[Hazel Bargiel]

I finally managed to persuade the Borthwick Institute to translate the probate act for me:

On the 5th day of the month of November in the year above said, administration of the goods of John Pikeringe, late of Oswaldkirk, deceased, was granted to [blank], widow of the same deceased, sole executrix named in the said will, sworn...

So what looks like Rbt is actually Rlct.

At the same time the Borthwick informed me that the crucial missing link in my research, the actual will of John Pickering d1521, did exist at some point but is just that - missing! So I'm trying different angles.

John and his (presumed brother) Anthony sold their joint holding in "Sainton" in 1553:

Trinity term, 7 Edward VI
Plaintiff: Thomas Langdale, gent.
Deforciants: John Pyckeryng, gent., and Anthony Pyckeryng, gent.
Property: mesuage with lands in Sainton
Feet of Fines Yorkshire 1486-1571, p.170

https://archive.org/stream/recordseries00unkngoog#page/n195 (only readable in .pdf form)
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/feet-of-fines-yorks/vol1/pp153-189

Sainton doesn't exist as a place name today, but I'm inclined to think it refers to Sancton (rather than perhaps Snainton or Stainton), as the Langdales had their estate in the parish (Houghton and North Cliffe). Does anyone have access to the original document?

The father of John Pickering d1521 was Thomas Pickering d1509. John isn't even mentioned in his father's will, which is more concerned with Thomas's immortal soul and doing right by his illegitimate son Anthony. Thomas's holdings are not mentioned either, nor are they detailed in the ensuing litigation between defendants John Pickering and William Fitzwilliam and plaintiffs John's sister Margaret and her husband Robert Tenaunt re their legacies. However, names of persons and places are mentioned in Thomas's IPMs relating to Lincolnshire (1510) and Yorkshire (1511), written in (mostly unreadable to me) Latin. I have the latter three documents, all from the National Archives, which I'd be happy to send to anyone who is willing to identify the names or who is just interested.

Hazel

[Wibs]

On Wednesday, 7 August 2019 18:15:18 UTC+2, Hazel Bargiel wrote:

Don't give up on finding the will just yet Hazel. I have found several wills that the Borthwick said were missing, because they tend to look in just one place, the probate registers. There are wills in the Arhbishops' registers that are not in the probate registers, and the Borthwick holds a large number of original wills, not all of which found their way into the probate registers. So do check all sources. Have a look at my book, 'Yorkshire Probate' on the shelves in the reading room at the Borthwick to see all the class references to check.

Wibs