Contract of Marriage & Testament questions

[ksyoung]

I downloaded a testament written in 1831, and after several days of transcription and research, I am left with some questions -

First, the testament mentions a "Contract of Marriage" twice -
"... and annuity to my said spouse contained in the Contract of Marriage twixt her and me..."
"... consent of my said spouse declared that she has been fully provided for by our Contract of Marriage..."

At first I thought that this was just an expression referring to an implied obligation of husband to wife, but after reading up on Deeds etc I learned that there could be a marriage contract drawn up back then. Does anyone out there have experience in finding these? How hard is it to dig them out of the Register of Deeds? The marriage in question took place abt 1809 in Stewarton parish, Ayrshire.

Next question - the Testament says that the lands (Gallowberry) go to the eldest son. I thought that the eldest son inherited the land by law anyway, so why go on about it for pages and pages.

And - there is the phrase " the eleven shilling and one penny half penny land" and "parts of the five mark Land of Gallowberry". Is this a way of describing land - by the ? fee for leasing it?

And what's a "yeard"? Does this mean "yard" i.e. field? This is the one word that I could not find in a glossary. Tiends and pertinents I have figured out.

Thanks to all, Katherine

[LesleyB]

Hi Katherine
Contracts of marriage can sometimes be found, if they have survived. I found one relating to my lot from the 1770s whcih was listed on the Fife FHS site. They may be held at local acrhives or at NAS, but as far as I'm aware it was not something that eveyone had drawn up - I suspect moslty those who had a bit of money or land. Sometimes the date of the marriage contract and where it was written will be referred to in a later document - I'm guessing these sort of helpful facts are not included in your testament?

parts of the five mark Land of Gallowberry

That seems more likely to be merk - a merk was worth 13 and 1/3 pence English money in the late 1700s. Land can be described as yielding a specified number of merks in rent per annum.

And what's a "yeard"? Does this mean "yard" i.e. field? This is the one word that I could not find in a glossary. Tiends and pertinents I have figured out.

Depends on the context -a yard was/is also a measure of length equal to three feet. [some of us who remember feet and inches from schooldays still and think in yards though we can also handle metres!!] Could this be the meaning in your context?

Best wishes
Lesley

[LesleyB]

See also
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/conte ... ?r=554&407
Inheritance
Under Scots Law, an individual's property was divided into two types:
Heritable property consisted of land, buildings, minerals and mining rights, and passed to the eldest son according to the law of primogeniture.
Moveable property consisted of anything that could be moved e.g. household and personal effects, investments, tools, machinery. It was divided into a maximum of three parts: the widow's part, the bairns part (all children had a right to an equal share) and the dead's part. For more detailed information on inheritance see FAQs on Property & Inheritance

Before the early years of the 19th century, testaments related only to the moveable property of the deceased. However, from the early 19th century onwards, it was not uncommon to find dispositions, settlements, trust dispositions and settlements, etc. recorded in the commissary court registers, and these documents often included details of heritable property. After 1868, the law of primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited everything, still applied to heritable property unless there had been a specific disposition or bequest by the deceased to another party.

and Who got the "guids" and "geir" (the possessions)?
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/conte ... x.aspx?380

[ksyoung]

Thanks for the help. I'll check with the FHS in Ayrshire and see what old documents and records they have. I assume that the marriage contract would be drawn up at about the time of the marriage - 1809 in this case.

As for "yeards" - here is an example of how it is used in the testament:
... with houses buildings yeards + pertinents ..."

Katherine

[LesleyB]

Hi Katherine

Thanks for the help. I'll check with the FHS in Ayrshire and see what old documents and records they have. I assume that the marriage contract would be drawn up at about the time of the marriage - 1809 in this case.

The document itself is likely to be in an archive somewhere - but an Ayrshire FHS might know where to look.

As for "yeards" - here is an example of how it is used in the testament:
... with houses buildings yeards + pertinents ..."

In that case I think you were correct with yards as an area of ground.

I think of yards as being flat areas close to houses, sometimes with out buildings surrounding them - the sort of place where you keep chickens, or tools of your trade or perhaps hung your washing out etc. (no reference to back that up - its just the impression of yards I've picked up from Testaments and the like)

Best wishes
Lesley

[AndrewP]

Hi Katherine and Lesley,

Most of the archives pertaining to Ayrshire are held by Ayrshire Archives (appropriately enough ). According to their website, they are moving premises and currently unable to undertake historical research.

http://www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk/

However, copies of some of their material is also held in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) in Edinburgh. Worth checking their online index.

http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/

All the best,

AndrewP

[Currie]

Hello All,

I suppose it would be a relatively smallish area quite often with a fence to keep something in or out. Church-yard, Barn-yard, House-yard, Stock-yard and so on come to mind.

The Church-yeard spelling seems to be relatively common in that time period.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=yxY ... =&as_brr=1

Alan

[Montrose Budie]

I downloaded a testament written in 1831, and after several days of transcription and research, I am left with some questions -
First, the testament mentions a "Contract of Marriage" twice -
"... and annuity to my said spouse contained in the Contract of Marriage twixt her and me..."
"... consent of my said spouse declared that she has been fully provided for by our Contract of Marriage..."

It was a lot more common than folk realise for there to be a contract of marriage back then and for several centuries previously; this contract nearly always being recorded in the Registers of Deeds in Edinburgh, or a local court.

One of the reason for this not being more widely known is that the Register of Deeds in Edinburgh at NAS is largely unindexed, so can be an absolutely, time-consuming pain, to the point of not being a sensible task, to search. Check with NAS for the latest situation with respect to available indexes involving the time period covering this marriage, as it's most likely, but not certain, that the contract was registered at the time of the marriage.

Next question - the Testament says that the lands (Gallowberry) go to the eldest son. I thought that the eldest son inherited the land by law anyway, so why go on about it for pages and pages.

Correct!, so I don't know, unless there was some other form of process already in place such as a tailzie that conflicted with this contract, in which case this testament could have led to some interesting income for lawyers ! See http://www.scan.org.uk/researchrtools/glossary_e.htm under the heading 'entail'.

And - there is the phrase " the eleven shilling and one penny half penny land" and "parts of the five mark Land of Gallowberry". Is this a way of describing land - by the ? fee for leasing it?

Every now and then, not that often, there were major (re)valuations of land in the context of determining the taxation liability of the land owner. One of the major bases of the valuation was the rental value, hence phrases such as these; the sums quoted being the then rental value [very possibly quite different from the current rental value], and also being a highly convenient, shorthand method of defining precisely the land involved since there would be records elsewhere that would fully define the land involved, thereby avoiding the need to specify the land involved in great detail in the contract. Just have a look at a full sasine to understand the many pages that could be involved in defining a piece of land down to the level, in burghs, of feet and inches !

While 'merk' is the guid auld Scots, 'mark' was also in widespread use in Scotland.

See the excellent article by Margaret Young at http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/online/land_registers.htm .

MB