Hello everyone I have been re-reading my 5x great-grandfather's Yorkshire will dated 1775, and upon the re-reading I found a question. "Item I give and bequeath unto my Loving wife Ann Stonehouse her Executive Administrator or asigns all that Farm or Tennement of Leashold Estate lying and being att Moorhouse in Bransdale in the Parish of Kirby Moorside in the County of York" My question: "bequest....Farm or Tennement of Leashold Estate" Would he have owned the land at Moorhouse... or not? I don't know how that works in Great Britain, but in the U S, he would not have been able to bequeath to his wife a piece of property that he did not own. I just don't know what a "Leashold Estate" is. Or how she would benefit by this bequest if he did not own it. If he did NOT own it, would she be able to live there? (I find no evidence that she or her children ever did. I do have evidence that she moved to Fangdale Beck, possibly to live with her oldest son, some years after her husband - Joseph STONEHOUSE - died.) Just to muddy the waters a bit, they were living at Bracken Hill in Bilsdale - as tenant farmers - when this will was written. I have always wondered why he was a tenant farmer if he owned another farm across the valley, without sons old enough to run the "family" farm while he was tenant farming. I have wondered who, then, ran Moorhouse. Can you come up with suggestions or ideas - or evidence - to clarify this situation? Thank you. Nancy >From sunny Michigan, U S of A

> Hello everyone > > I have been re-reading my 5x great-grandfather's Yorkshire will dated > 1775, and upon the re-reading I found a question. > > "Item I give and bequeath unto my Loving wife Ann Stonehouse her > Executive Administrator or asigns all that Farm or Tennement of > Leashold Estate lying and being att Moorhouse in Bransdale in the > Parish of Kirby Moorside in the County of York" > > My question: > > "bequest....Farm or Tennement of Leashold Estate" Would he have owned > the land at Moorhouse... or not? A leasehold is temporary ownership of land etc for a stated period of years - often 9, 19, 99, even 999 years, after which ownership reverts to the original lessor. So he could leave his wife the remaining 'term' or term or years' in the property, during which it was hers to do as she liked with other than (usually) sell off the timber on the land or demolish or damage the house. There is a complication of this (which does not appear to apply here) where property has been taken on a 'lease of lives' for an indeterminate period. It is measured by the life of the longest liver of three named person, who need not even be relatives, though they usually are, so they can be kept an eye on healthwise. If the first lessees names himself and two young children (not infants)then the lease lasts till the youngest child dies. It was normally possible to pay a little extra and substitute one life if an orignal nominee died young. > The named persons do not necessarily become the owners of the property, which is left in the usual way. Leaseholds were 'wasting assets,' so counted as personal estate, not real estate, for taxation purposes. > > If he did NOT own it, would she be able to live there? Yes if she wanted to, though it may have been bought in for renting purposes > Just to muddy the waters a bit, they were living at Bracken Hill in > Bilsdale - as tenant farmers - when this will was written. I have > always wondered why he was a tenant farmer if he owned another farm > across the valley, without sons old enough to run the "family" farm > while he was tenant farming. I have wondered who, then, ran > Moorhouse. Maybe the tenanted farm was big and fertile, but the leased farm had access to a stream, or owned a field which rounded off the main farm. It could have been bought in with an eye to giving the widow an income (or home) when the husband died.