In the name of God Amen the fourth day of March, anno one
thousand, five hundred, ninety nine in the fortieth and two year of the reign
of our sovereign Lady Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England, France and
Ireland, Queen defender of the faith etc. I John Collett of Westerfield in the
county of Suffolk, gentleman, although weak in body, yet of whole and perfect
remembrance, praised be God, revoking all former wills and testaments do make
and ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following
First I commend my soul to Almighty God my saviour Christ Jesus by the merits of whose precious death and passion only and by no other means I hope most assuredly and faithfully to be saved and my body to be buried in the Church or churchyard of Westerfield or in any other place wheresoever it shall please god to call me out of this Frail and transitory Life at the disposition of my Executrix
Item whereas I am indebted unto Francis Lucas of Shribland gentleman the sum of Eleven Pounds and to one William Robenson of Tuddeneham Twenty Pounds Ten Shillings for the payment of which said debts as they shall be due and payable at their several days for the which I have great care and for the payment of all other my debts whatsoever I will that my executrix shall presently after my decease make sale of all my corn, cattle and hay and with the money thereof coming pay my said debts and after all my debts paid my will and meaning is the surplus of the said money if any shall be shall remain and be to Dameron Collett my daughter
Item I further give and bequeath to the said Dameron Collett my said daughter her executors and assignees all my copyhold lands, tenements and hereditaments lying and being in Little Claston and Church Claston in Essex for and during the space of ten years next ensuing after the day of my death upon condition she shall pay Forty Shillings a year, yearly, out of the said lands to Edith Collett my daughter if the said Edith shall so long live, and after the expiration of the said ten years, I will the said lands shall remain and be to the right heirs of mine own body lawfully begotten upon condition they likewise shall pay out of the said lands forty shillings a year to my said daughter Edith Collett during her natural life, and in default of payment of the said forty shilling yearly, I will the said Edith Collett shall have the said lands during her natural life
Item I give and bequeath my said daughter Dameron Collett the bed and furniture whereon I now lie wholly as it stands
Item I give and bequeath to John Collett my son and to his heirs forever my free land lying and being in Westerfield, Whitton, Thurlston and Witnesham commonly called and known by the name of Upgates
Item I give and bequeath to Dameron Collett my said daughter and to her heirs forever one piece of Free Lane containing by estimation one acre more or less lying near Christopher Ashe in Saint Margaret’s parish in Ipswich
Item I give and bequeath to Edith Collett my daughter all such title rights and interest which I have in the house which I bought of William Peacock and his wife which was given to them by John Dameron deceased my father-in-law during the natural lives of the longer liver of them both
Item I give to the poor people of Westerfield Twenty Shillings
Item all the rest of my goods unbequeathed as well
movable as unmovable my will and meaning is shall be should and the same to be
equally divided and distributed amongst my children
Item I do ordain, constitute and make the said Dameron
Collett my daughter my sold Executrix
Item I desire and earnestly entreat John Lany esquire and
Francis Lucas gentleman to be the overseers of this my last Will and Testament
and I give to the said John Lany for his pains Forty Shillings
Signed in the presence of us Francis Lucas, Thomas
Burroughe, John Collett
Only three of his eight children are
specifically mentioned in the Will
And they are:
Dameron Collett (Ref. 18H10); Edith
Collet (Ref. 18H15); John Collett (Ref. 18H14)