Is there a legal expert amongst the list who could advise me whether I understand this correctly: "Conveyance from Thomas PARKER of Lower Brailes, yeoman, John HARBERT of Brailes, taylor, son and heir of Richard HARBERT of the same, yeoman deceased, with the consent direction and appointment of Margaret EDDEN, widow of Robert EDDEN of Brailes, labourer deceased, and John EDDEN of Brailes, chapman, to Edward WALKER of the Grove End of Upper Brailes, yeoman, of a cottage and lands (in Brailes) being a settlement upon the marriage of the said John EDDEN and Mary his wife, formerly settled by Thomas EDDEN of London, silkweaver and Mary his wife, to the said Margaret EDDEN.  To hold to the use of the said John and Mary and their heirs". Margaret EDDEN, widow of Robert EDDEN was appointed by Thomas and Mary EDDEN of London to hold or look after a cottage and lands in Brailes for and until John EDDEN (chapman) married Mary, in other words, they inherited it? Thanks in anticipation,  Confused in Tenerife(Lynne) _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969

<<Is there a legal expert amongst the list who could advise me whether I understand this correctly: "Conveyance from Thomas PARKER of Lower Brailes, yeoman, John HARBERT of Brailes, taylor, son and heir of Richard HARBERT of the same, yeoman deceased, with the consent direction and appointment of Margaret EDDEN, widow of Robert EDDEN of Brailes, labourer deceased, and John EDDEN of Brailes, chapman, to Edward WALKER of the Grove End of Upper Brailes, yeoman, of a cottage and lands (in Brailes) being a settlement upon the marriage of the said John EDDEN and Mary his wife, formerly settled by Thomas EDDEN of London, silkweaver and Mary his wife, to the said Margaret EDDEN. To hold to the use of the said John and Mary and their heirs". Margaret EDDEN, widow of Robert EDDEN was appointed by Thomas and Mary EDDEN of London to hold or look after a cottage and lands in Brailes for and until John EDDEN (chapman) married Mary, in other words, they inherited it?>> Very interesting - one doesn't often see explicit marriage settlements made by this class of people - silkweavers, chapmen, labourers - or relating to such a small landholding (as opposed to marriage settlements by the landed elite, among whom they were absolutely de rigeur, and usually dealt with large estates). Your interpretation is almost right, Lynn, but I doubt if Thomas and Mary's settled the property on Margaret to hold until John married Mary - it's unlikely that John had even been conceived at that point. I think a better interpretation would be as follows. 1. The cottage and lands originally belonged to Thomas Edden, silkweaver of London, and his wife Mary. 2. Some time previously Thomas and Mary had settled the cottage and lands on one Margaret, who is now the widow of Robert Edden, labourer of Brailes. I suspect Robert was Thomas and Mary's son and the cottage and lands were actually settled on both him and Margaret, jointly, on the occasion of their marriage - in other words that the earlier settlement was also a marriage settlement. 3. Robert has since died and Margaret has decided to re-settle the cottage and lands on John Edden, chapman of Brailes, and his new wife Mary, on the occasion of their marriage. Again, one asumes John Edden is the son of Robert and Margaret. To give effect to this second marriage settlement the trustees of the old settlement (Parker and Harbert - Richard Harbert would have been one of the original trustees but has died and been replaced by his son and heir) have conveyed the cottage and lands to the trustee of the new settlement, Edward Walker, yeoman of Grove End. (It's a bit odd that there's only one trustee of the new settlement - at least two would be normal - but perhaps that reflects the small size of the settled property and the small wealth of the parties.) Matt Tompkins