Hello All It was actually the surname. I don't know why a first name was not used in the will but "Digwed" is the husband of "Alice Digweed" There were several in the area but if the IGI is anything to go by the name was more prominent in Berkshire regards Chris Bartlett > > > "....by Digwed her husband twelve pence ....." (not two pence) Thank you, I did see this > > > What a lovely name for a husband! My guess is that the modern development > of the name is David - following a g-y shift in some local dialect. Any > other offers? > > Gordon Barlow > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > To contact the list administrator: > OLD-ENGLISH-admin@rootsweb.com > > >

Hello All Remember your Jane Austen and other contemporary writers. Women tended to refer to their husbands by their surnames in and around the 18th century e.g. Mrs. Bennet referred to Mr. Bennet and addressed him while in their own home as Mr. Bennet. It was very common to leave out the christian name when referring to relatives and, if they did not have a title, just the surname would be used. (Mr. or Master was considered a title and was not conferred on one and all as it is now, denoting in those days a member of the minor gentry or similar status.) It could be expected at that date that the spelling of a name could vary within a document but not indicate any change in the relationship or the name of the person. Audrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Bartlett" <woodcom@ihug.co.nz> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 7:13 AM Subject: [OEL] DIGWEED > Hello All > > It was actually the surname. I don't know why a first name was not used > in the will but "Digwed" is the husband of "Alice Digweed" > > There were several in the area but if the IGI is anything to go by the > name was more prominent in Berkshire > > regards > Chris Bartlett > > > > > > "....by Digwed her husband twelve pence ....." (not two pence) > > Thank you, I did see this > > > > > What a lovely name for a husband! My guess is that the modern development > > of the name is David - following a g-y shift in some local dialect. Any > > other offers? > > > > Gordon Barlow > > > > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > > To contact the list administrator: > > OLD-ENGLISH-admin@rootsweb.com > > > > > > > > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > Going away for a while? > Don't forget to UNSUBSCRIBE! > OLD-ENGLISH-L-request@rootsweb.com > >

Hello everyone Thanks to anyone I may have missed replying to for the help with Agnis Bartlett's will. The will of John Busby of Westcott Barton in Oxfordshire is quite short compared to hers but there are more queries here as the writing and some words seem to be beyond my present abilities despite a lot of looking. I have placed it at the following web address and would appreciate some help in sorting it out. http://www.angelfire.com/bc3/woodcom/page20.html I have not included transcriptions for pieces crossed out except for the possible word at the beginning of line 6 which seems to start with the name of the Godchild I cant read in line 5 regards Chris Bartlett