This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Roper, Rooper, Paine, Payne, Gee, Mitchell, Michell Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kgDBAEB/719 Message Board Post: Will of Katherine ROPER, Of Eltham, Kent Dated 25 Sep 1656 Proved 04 Oct 1656 In the name of God Amen the five and Twentith Day of September and in the Yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred fiftie six I Elizabeth ROPER one of the Daughters of Anthonie ROPER late of Eltham in the Countie of Kent Esquire deceased being att present sick and weake of bodie but of good and perfect minde and memorie thankes be therefore given to Almighty God Calling to minde the uncertaine Estate of this life and how Certaine we are to die and yet the tyme of our death most uncertaine being therefore mindefull and desirous to sett and dispose of such things as God of his infinite Goodnes hast given and lend me in this world I now revoke disannul and disavowe all former Wills and Testamts by me made att anie tyme before the Date of theise presents And doe make this and none other to be my only Last Will and Testament as followeth wherein I doe first bequeath and yeeld xx my soule into the hands of the holy and blessed Trinitie in unitie that gave it and my bodie to the Earth to be decentlie buried att the discre- tion of my Executor hereafter named hoping by and through the meritts death and xaficion of mine onlie Saviour and Redee- mer Jesus Christ and by noe other meanes to have full remission of all my Sinns and to see the Lord in the Land of the Living. And as touching such Estate Goods and Chattells as it hast pleased God to blesse me with all in this life I will give and dispose of the same as followeth Imprimis I will and bequeath unto my loving friend Master John PAINE of Parsoni Greene in the parish of Fulham in the Countie of Middlesex, in whose house I now live the Summe of Tenne pounds. Item unto my Loveing friend the Wife of the said John PAINE the like Summe of Tenn poundes. Item unto Ann Anne Betty my Servant the Summe of Twentie pounds And for the rest and residue of all my debts Goods and Chattells whatsoever I will devise and bequeath the same unto my deare and loving Cousin Thomas GEE of high * [page break] High Holborne in the Countie of Middlesex Gentleman whome I make and ordaine my sole and onlie Executor of this my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof E: R: Published and declared by the above named Testatrix for her last Will and Testament in the presence of us Elizabeth MICHELL Pe PENSON? The Marke of Anne NIGHTINGIRLE * * * This Will was proved at London Ye fourth day of October In the Yeare of our Lord God One Thousand six hundred fiftie and six before the Judges for probate Of Wills and granting Administrations Lawfully authorized by the oath of Thomas GEE the sole and onlie Executor named in the above written Will to whome Administration of all and singular the goods Chattells and debts of the said deceased was granted and Committed he being first legally sworne trulie and faythfullie to administer the same. * * * Will Reference: British Public Record Office (PRO), The National Archives “Will of Elizabeth Roper of Eltham, Kent” PRO Catalog Reference: Prob/11/258 PRO Image Reference: 305 See: http://www.documentsonline.pro.gov.uk/power-search.asp?searchType=powersearch Transcribed from an image of the original by William Alexander Roper, Jr., on Thursday, 25 Nov 2004. * NOTE 1: This appears to be the Will of Elizabeth ROPER, daughter of Anthony ROPER (b 13 Aug 1583, d 26 Mar 1643) and Dorothy HOLTE, granddaughter of William ROPER (d Bef 12 Nov 1628) and Catherine BROWNE (d Bef 19 Feb 1616), and great-granddaughter of Thomas ROPER (d 21 Jan 1597/8) and Lucia BROWNE (d Bef 10 Jul 1606). Thomas ROPER succeeded his father William ROPER in the ROPER family seat of Well Hall, Eltham. NOTE 2: Elizabeth ROPER’s Father’s Will, dated 24 Mar 1642 and proved 22 Feb 1648, identifies a son Edward ROPER and daughters Marie ROPER, Elizabeth ROPER and Anne ROPER. At he time of Anthony ROPER’s death, he was married to Margaret, daughter of Sir Henry COMPTON. NOTE 3: William ROPER, the great-great grandfather married Margaret MORE, daughter of Sir Thomas MORE, Lord Chancellor, who was beheaded by Henry VIII, and was the first and contemporary biographer of Sir Thomas MORE’s life. A biographical sketch of this William ROPER appears in the Dictionary of National Biography at Volume XVII, pp. 215, 216.