Grammar and Mattey Practice and Model School; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., Vol. 4, No. 1 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Grammar and Mattey Practice and Model School Lyon G. Tyler William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 1. (Jul., 1895), pp. 3-14. WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY HISTORICAL MAGAZINE VOL. IV. JULY, 1895. NO. 1 GRAMMAR AND MATTEY PRACTICE AND MODEL SCHOOL. BY THE EDITOR. There are some curious facts connected with a family of Whaleys or Whalleys once resident in Virginia. Thomas Whaley, aged 39 in 1659, was an Englishman who lived in York County, Va. "Elizabeth Whaley, wife of Mr. Thomas Whaley, died May ye 13th 1671" - Bruton Parish Register. That Whaley was a man of some consequence is shown by the title accorded to him in the records of "Mr.", a prefix sparely used in those days. He was un- able to write, but this failing was common among gentlemen in New and Old Eng- land. Few women anywhere could write. The first event in Whaley's career worth mentioning is thus set forth in the York County records: We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being sworn and Impannelled upon a Jury of Inquest to enquire in ye death of Ursula Batten doe find as followeth: One Thomas Whaley a neighbour being desyred by mr Ashaell Batten(1) to shoot a beast for him, the said Ursula standing by the penne where ye beast was she was desyred by ye said Tho: Whaley to stand further from ye beast which shee did standing then from Thomas Whaley in ye form of an obtuse triangle like unto ye figure here below the said Whaley then shooting a ball glancing as we con- ceive upon one of ye hornes of the beast & uppon a stake of ye Cow-penne strooke the said Ursula uppon ye right breast of which wound she suddenly dyed, the beast also by the same shott dated ye 10th of December, 1662. _____________________________________________________________________________ (1) Ashael Batten had six hundred acres on the north side Queen's Creek, nearly opposite the Capitol Landing. He married four times: 1, The mother of Mrs. Elizabeth Paulin, aged 70, in 1712; 2, Constant, by whom he had Sarah and Constant; 3, Ursula, by whom he had John; and 4, Anne. Constant, the daughter (died February, 1686), married William Davis, who had Edward, Page 4. Danl Wild(1), foreman George Richards Wm Newman(4) Rob: Whithaire Richard Croshaw(2) John Russell Rich: Whithaire(2) Philip Chesley Geo: Thomas Jeremiah Rawlins Henry Protter Timothy Walker. Recr xxx decembr 1662 THO: BALLARD Cl. Cur. The parish register says, "xbr 10th 1662 Ursley Batten wife of Asrael Batten deceased". Whaley appears next as signing the "Declaracon of hte People of Virginia", at Middle Plantation, on August 3, 1676. He was one of Bacon's Majors, and after Bacon's death was in command of 40 men at King's Creek, at the house of Col. Nathaniel Bacon, Sen. Mrs Cotton describes his as "a stout, ignorant fellow", but "the most considerable person in those parts". (Ingram's "Pro- ceedings".) Being attacked at night by the followers of Berkeley, _______________________________________________________________________________ d.s.p. before 1710, and Sarah, who married John Hall. John Batten married Mary Baskervyle, daughter of John Baskervyle, clerk of York County, and Mary Barbar (daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel William Barbar) his wife, and had William Batten, who apprenticed himself for seven years to Israel Swallow, of James City, to learn the trade of a carpenter, with consent of his uncle, George Baskervyle. The Batten family is quite numerous on the Southside. (1) In 1610 Lord Delaware appointed Mr. Daniel Tucker and Mr. Robert Wild clerks of the store at Jamestown. November 24, 1647, appraisement was made of Robert Wild's property in York County. Then in 1655 Robert and Daniel Wild were living in York County, the former of whom (perhaps the father) died before 1662 and left land in York County to the other. Daniel was sworn J.P., April 24, 1660, married Margaret (died Feb. 12, 1675), widow of William Stephens, cooper, who made his will April 6, 1656, and left a son of the same name, who died s.p., February 6, 1668. Daniel and Margaret Wild had an only daughter Margaret, who married Captain John Martin of Stepney, mariner, and their issue was an only daughter Margaret, spinster, of Cheshunt Parish, Hertfordshire, who, in 1703, sold four hundred and seventy acres, in Mulberry Island, Va., originally property of William Stephens first named. This William Stephens was probably brother of Samuel Stephens, Esq., who lived in Mulberry Island, and was first husband of Lady Berkeley. Captain Philip Chesley married Daniel Wild's sister, Margaret. His will, pr. in 1674, mentions uncle John Wild and cousin Henry Wild. (2) Richard Whithaire deceased December 2, 1669. (3) For Captain Richard Croshaw, see Vol. II, p. 271. Rie Jones ought to be Rice Jones. (4) William Newman's will, proved in 1670, mentions Jane, daughter of Edward Jenkins, William Daly, servant Elizabeth, daughter of Ellen Clarke, Mr. John Page, daughter-in-law Joane, Lawrence of Compton, chamberlain, in Wiltshire, England - York Co. Records. Page 5. commanded by Capt. Hubert Farrell(1), of James City County, in company with Col. Philip Ludwell and Col. Nathaniel Bacon, he made a brave defence, drove off the assailants and killed Farrell, the commander. In January, 1677, Ingram, who had succeeded Bacon as chief commander of the patriots, surrendered West Point; and Whaley, withdrawing his force, marched to join Drummond and Lawrence in New Kent. Col. Bacon, the elder, afterwards complained that he lost by Whaley's occupation over L1000 sterling in stock, etc. Armies had no commissary de- parment worth speaking of in those times, and they lived from hand to mouth. Whaley found Lawrence and Drummond at the house of Col. Henry Gooch. The cause seemed lost, and the troops wsere disbanded. Lawrence, the Oxford scholar, one John Forth, and "the stout, ignorant fellow", Thomas Whaley, pre- ferred to ride away into the backwoods, in snow ankle deep, rather than trust to the clemency of Sir William Berkeley. Whether they reached in safety some settlement remote from Virginia or perished of hunger or cold, or the attack of savages in the forest, may never be known. We know that Major Whaley left a son named James Whaley, since James Whaley's deed in 1694 conveys to Daniel Parke a tract at the head of Queen's Creek, called the "Oyster-shell Bank", probably "Kerr's Hill", descended from his father, Thomas Whaley. Thomas Whaley had probably another child, as there is mention of Margaret Brack, niece of James Whaley, and James Allen, nephew of James Whaley. One Richard Whaley is mentioned in James Whaley's will. James Whaley (b. 1652; d. 16 May, 1701) was justice and sheriff of York County, Va. In 1695 he was about to marry Katharine Thorpe, widow of Capt. Thomas Thorpe, and daughter of Francis Seaton of Polebrooke, in Northampton. This lady died and was buaried the 8th day of June, 1695, and made Whaley beneficiary to considerable property, received by her from Major Otho Thorpe, her husband's uncle. This got Whaley into trouble with the Thorpe family; and there are some interesting papers on record regarding a quarrel which arose between Whaley and Otho ______________________________________________________________________________ (1) Farrell married Dorothy, daughter of Colonel Thomas Drew, deceased of Charles City County. They brought suit, 1671, against Mary Wynn, executrix of Colonel Robert Wynn, speaker of the House of Burgesses. (General Court Records). At St. Peter's Church, New Kent, is the tombstone of Mr. Daniel Farrell, who died 8 May, 1786, aged 42 years. In the outer wall of St. Paul's Church, Norfolk, is the tombstone of Dorothy Farrell, carried there lately from Weyanoke, in Charles City, and which says she died 18 Jan., 1673. Page 6. Thorpe's widow, Frances, who married secondly, John Annesley of Westminister; Hannah, Thomas Thorpe's sister, who married John Pell, a cooper of London; and John Grice of James City County, a justice of the peace and Otho Thorpe's cousin. Finally the matter seems to have been amicably arranged, and the title of Thorpe confirmed by sundry deeds to the plantations known as "Powhatan", in James City County, two hundred acres; "Queen's Creek Quarter", two hundred acres, on the road from Williamsburg to the French ordinary; and to several tracts of land near the Capitol Landing on the south side of Queen's Creek. Shortly after this, James Whaley married a lady whom I have identified as Mary Page, daughter of Matthew Page who died about 1673 (General Court Records), and was brother of Colonel John Page. (See John Page's will in Page Family). Whaley lived till 1701, and if not the superior of his father in the attributes of personal bravery, he was decidedly so in education and wealth. His inventories show a personal estate valued at L720 14s 9 1/2d, besides cattle, horses, sheep, and negroes. Among other items are "the statutes at large and Wingate's Abridge- ment at L3 7s 0d, and the Laws of Virginia and a parcel of old books worth L3 7s 0d". James Whaley's only son was Matthew Whaley, or "Mattey" Whaley, as his mother called him. He died at the age of nine years, and father and son are buried together in Bruton parish churchyard under a handsome box-shaped monument. The top slab reads: Here lieth the Body of JAMES WHALEY of Yorke County in Virginia who departed this life the 16 day of May Anno Domini 1701 and in the fiftieth yeare of his Age. His Body lyes to be Consumed to Dust Till the Resurrection of the Just Amongst Which Number He'll in hopes Appeare His blessed Sentence at doomsday to heare The eastern upright slab has these touching words: MATTHEW WHALEY lyes Interred here Within this Tomb upon his FATHER dear WHO DEPARTED this Life the 26th of September 1705 Aged Nine Years only child of JAMS WHALEY and MARY his wife. Page 7. John Jaquelin Ambler, son of John Ambler and Catharine Norton, says in his description of the Ambler portraits: "Among the number there was also another portrait of a young man named Matthew Whaley, who was a distant connection of the family. He was the only child of a rich man who first lived in England, and afterwards emigrated to America when their son Matthew was yet a boy. The father and mother sent a portrait of him to the Amblers in Virginia, which is the picture above alluded to. They afterwards settled in the town of Little York, from which place young Matthew was sent back to England to finish his education and make the grand tour of Europe, which after having done with great credit and improvement, he set sail for Virginia on a vessel which foundered at sea and every soul on board perished. When his devoted father and mother heard of his death, in order to preserve his name they established at Little York a free school which they richly endowed with a part of that wealth which had been intended for their son, and called it the Matthew Whaley Free School. I have seen persons who well remember this establishment, though it ceased to exist about the period when the Revolutionary War closed. When Mrs. Whaley died, a mourning ring was sent to the family with this inscription on it: 'Mary Whaley obt 31 Jan., 1742.' This ring was given to me in the year 1827 by my cousin Mary Marshall, the wife of the Chief Justice". It is evident that Mr. Ambler gets his account decidedly mixed. He is describing a series of portraits, and doubtless he confounded them. The Whaleys never lived at Yorktown, but at Williamsburg. The boy Matthew did not live to be a young man, and could not have performed the grand tour. He could not have been drowned at sea, otherwise he would not be interred in Williamsburg. It was not his father and mother who established the free school, but his mother only. It was not established at "Little York", or Yorktown, but at Wiilliamsburg. There is no account in the York books of any school at Yorktown, except that established by Governor Nicholson in 1696. James Whaley left his property, after a life-estate in his wife, to his son Matthew, and, in case of his death, to his niece Margaret Brack, wife of George Brack. The deed of Margaret Brack and her husband, dated November 25, 1706, surrendering their reversionary right to Mrs. Whaley, mentions 50 acres of James Whaley's land in York county, "whereon a school-house now stands", and several tracts adjoining. In 1737 Mary Whaley, then of the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, Middlesex county, England, sold to John Custis Whaley's "Old Field", containing 100 acres, adjoining the town land on Queen's Creek, "except one parcel of land bounded on the Eastern side by the run of water which divides this land from the land late of the said Mann Page, Esq.; on the South side by the line of Elizabeth Bray, deceased, running Page 8. between two ditches; on the Western side by the Main Road; and on the North side by a small valley next to the school-house commonly called Matthew's School house(1), including a wooden dwelling house, a kitchen, a coach house, and the said School house". The buildings are designated on the map of Williamsburg, made about the year 1800, now hanging in the College library; and the school was evidently one of the four charity schools mentioned as existing in Bruton parish in 1724 by James Blair, the then minister. Perry's Historical Collections: Virginia. In the complaint of the minister and churchwardens, filed in 1750, against Mrs. Whaley's executor, the statement is made that "the said school & the Teaching therein hath continued ever since her death (January 31, 1742), and for many years before, without any interruption; nor is there any prospect of any Interruption thereof". The tomb of Mary Whaley is in the church-yard of Saint Mary, Bedfont parish, Middlesex county, England, and bears the following inscription: (See Page Family). Here lieth the Body of MARY WHALEY, Granddaughter to Frances (Francis?) page, of Hatton, and Widdow of James Whaley, Gentleman in ye County of York and ye Colony of Virginia. She died ye 31 of Janr 1742. The father of Colonel John Page was Francis Page, whose tombstone is also at Bedfont, and reads A Vertuous Life & Good Old Age Perfumed the Memory of Francis Page. Ob Oct. 13 Anno Dom, 1678 Et Aetatis suae 84 Ex dono Johannis Page filii ejus De Comitatu Ebor in Virginia Mercatoris. The will of Mrs. Whaley, dated February 16, 1741-'42; proved February 1, 1742-'43, which, in order not to encumber the narrative, is placed at the end of this paper, gave the schoolhouse, its appurtenances and land to the minister and churchwardens of the parish of Bruton, "to teach the neediest children of the same parish who shall be offered in the art of reading, writing and arith- ______________________________________________________________________________ (1) The name "Matthew's School-house" occurs in several other deeds. Page 9. metick." And for the purpose of "eternalizing Mattey's School by the name of Mattey's School forever", she gave, in addition, L50 sterling and the residue of her estate after the payment of L100 sterling to her husband's nephew James Allen; L20 sterling to the poor of the parish of Bedfont; L100 for her funeral expenses, including a tombstone; one guinea to the minister who should perform her funeral ceremony; and L200 sterling to her executor, James Francyes, or, in case of his declining the position, then the same sum to her kinsman, Abraham Jordan, on his taking upon himself the duties of executor; L20 sterling to James Matthew Delony, and, in the even of his death before the testator's, then to his mother, Ann Delony; L5 to Mary Jauncey, the wife of John Jauncey; and reserving L100 for distribution by word of mouth. The whole estate amounted to about L1,000 sterling, of which more than L500 was the share of Mattey's School. Some doubts occurring to the executor about the execution of the will, it was referred to Sir Dudley Ryder, the king's attorney-general in England, who held that the English statute requiring one year's registration of writings for charities did not apply to Virginia, which was not mentioned; that the various legacies, including this charity, were good in law; but that the safest thing for the executor, James Franceys, to do was to have an amicable suit instituted. Barradall's Reports, 1743-'44. After this, Mr. Francyes received a letter from Mr. Richard Ambler, of York- town, in Virginia, dated June 8, 1744, in which he wrote: "I am apt to think the donation will not be applied to its intention - rather to the repairs of the church & expense of the parish than to the instruction of poor children. Some- thing of the kind hath already been hinted". Then began a suit which for procrastination threw Jarndyce and Jarndyce into the shade. Francyes declaring that he could not safely pay the money till the said accounts were established by a decree in Virginia, William Bowden, the Attorney-General of Virginia, at the relation of Thomas Dawson, the minister of Bruton, John Blair and Thomas Jones, the churchwardens, Peyton Randolph, Thos. Cobbs, Henry Tyler, Matthew Pierce, Lewis Burwell, Benjamin Waller, William Parkes, John Custis, and James Wray, filed a bill for that purpose in the General Court, and on 14 Oct., 1749, that court decreed that Mann Page, the heir-at-law, should convey the fee-simple estate of the lands, with the house and appurtenances in the bill mentioned, unto the relators, and that James Francyes pay to them the personal property of Page 10. Mrs. Whaley remaining after all just debts and charges were deducted. Mann Page's deed conveying the real estate is recorded in the deed-book at Yorktown, and bears date November 23, 1749. A bond indemnifying James Francyes was sent to Mr. Bowden, merchant in London, but Franceys declined to pay on various grounds: 1st, That the bond was only signed by nine out of the ten surviving trustees (Wray and Custis had died in the meantime); 2d, That the decree was defective in not ascertaining, by previous accounts, the exact sum he had to pay, and 3d, That the minister and churchwardens, "being no corporation", were not capable of taking anything by the said will. As the decree of the Virginia Court had no coercive effect in England, the trustees had Sir Dudley Ryder to direct a complaint in 1750 to the Right Honorable Philip Lord Hardwick, Baron of Hardwick, in the county of Gloucester, Lord High Cancellor of Great Britain. The cause was heard Tuesday, June 9, 1752, and it was decreed by the Master of the Rolls that the charity ought to be established and carried into execution, that it be referred to Mr. Eld, one of the commissioners in chancery, to take an account of the personal estate of Mrs. Whaley, her debts, expenses, and legacies, and that Mr. Franceys pay L500 to the bank in the name of the accountant general of the court, to be placed to the credit of the cause, and to be invested in South Sea annuities. No further steps were taken in the case for more than a century. Mr. Eld made no report, and the shades of oblivion enveloped the suit and all the parties to it. That the school, however, was kept up, is shown by the following advertise- emt in the Virginia Gazette: "MATTEY FREE SCHOOL, WILLIAMSBURG, Sept. 4, 1766. "The trustees for Mrs. Mary Whaley's charity to Mattey's School (the minis- ters and churchwardens of Bruton Paris) give this notice, that in the forenoon of Monday they will meet in the church of Williamsburg to choose a Master for that school. They hope to have it in their power to make such proposals as shall encourage a diligent and useful person to accept of the office". The Revolution probably swept away the means by which the school was supported, and at any rate long before 1859 the building had disappeared. In an affidavit of President Benjamin S. Ewell, of William and Mary College, and other profesors of the college, in 1865, it is stated that "there was no free school in Williams- burg or vicinity known as Mattey's School, nor any evidence in the parish, legal or college records that there had ever been a school there bearing that name, though they had been searched". Page 11. All the records of James City county had perished during the late war between the States, and it was supposed that the records of Williamsburg had also perished. But more than half the town was originally in York county, and I believe I was the first to call attention to the fact that the records of the larger part of Williamsburg were safely stored at Yorktown. In 1859 some order was entered by the high court of chancery relative to the fund in bank, and probably it was this that suggested to an English lawyer, Cyrus Martin Fisher, Esq., the advisability of writing to the church authorities in Williamsburg. These referred the matter to the authorities of William and Mary College. A letter was written to Mr. Fisher, but before he replied the war between the States broke out, and the matter was again lost sight of. After the peace Mr. Fisher replied, suggesting that as the Episcopal Church had now no connection with the State, the college, as a corporate body, should under- take the trust created by Mrs. Mary Whaley. (Report of President Benjamin S. Ewell). Accordingly, upon the petition of the president, masters, or professors of the college, dated December 14, 1865, suggesting that the college had a grammar school dependent on it for children, which had for one of its objects "the teaching of the neediest children of the parish of Bruton in the art of reading, writing, and arithmetic", the Master of the Rolls ordered that the money in bank to the credit of the cause, then amounting ot L2595. 7s. 0d, be transferred to Richard Milton Cary and Cyrus Martin Fisher, as the lawful at- torneys of William and Mary College, in Virginia. The net sum realized by the college after payment of attorney's fees and all other charges, was $8,470. (Minutes of the Board of Visitors; Chancery Papers in English Suit). The name of the Grammar School was changed to "Grammar and Mattey School", and teaching was begun in the Brafferton building in October, 1867. The main college building was then in ruins, and the Board on July 3, 1867, in order to prevent a sacrifice by premature sale of its bonds, borrowed the Mattey fund, which was in cash, to repair the same, taking care, however, to secure the loan by well secured par and interest-bearing bonds, belonging to the college. In 1870 the Board of Visitors erected at a cost of $3,942, including fixtures, a brick school-house, 60 x 40, on the lot where once the Governor's palace stood, and by an order dedicated to the use of Mrs. Whaley's trust this house, together with the lot of five or six acres, valued at $4,842, and the house and lot lately belonging to Robert Saunders, valued at $3,000, which seve- Page 12. ral sums, together with $180 advanced to the school, left the college owing the trust but $448. Subsequently the Saunders house was sold for $1,200 in 1886, making the debt $1,668. In July, 1873, the school was leased to the town authorities for a free school, who agreed to carry out for the college the provisions of Mrs. Mary Whaley's will. (College records). This connection was dissolved in July, 1894, and thereupon the Board of Visitors of the college reorganized it as a Model and Practice School, adjunct to the Chair of Pedagogy. As such it is conducted under the Faculty's supervision, by Hugh S. Bird, A.B., Principal, a graduate of the Peabody Normal School, and Miss Lucy L. Davis, Assistant Principal. The school is provided with modern apparatus, and its work at present is confined to the three first grades. Here the students in the Normal Department of the College daily resort to observe the actual fact of teaching. Hard by the school house and the beautiful palace green rests all that was mortal of little Mattey Whaley, and perhaps his spirit mingles with the happy children in the school, rejoicing in his mother's care "to eternalize Mattey's School by the name of Mattey's School forever." WILL OF JAMES WHALEY. Extracted from the Records at Yorktown. In the name of God Amen I James Whaley of Bruton Pish in York county in Virginia Gent: Doe ordain this my last will and Testament in manner & form following Impris I comitt my body to the ground to be decently buryed in sure & certain hopes that after this transitory life ended through ye meritt & me- diation of my blessed Davior & Redeemer I shall inheritt Eternall Soulvation And for the Worldly Estate itt hath pleased Almighty God to bless me with I dispose of in this manner (vizt) I appoynt my loveing wife Mary sole Extrix of this my last Will and Testament And doe give and bequeath to my said wife the one-halfe of the Psonall Estate And y other halfe part I give and bequeath to my loveing sonn Matthew. Item I give and bequeath to my said sonn all and singuelar my Lands & Tennements whatsoever & wheresoever to me belonging or apptaining, Dower to my said wife Excepted, Itm I appoynt my loving friends & kinsmen Henry Tyler and John Page of ye above aid Pish & County gentlemen Trustees for my said sonnes one halfe of ye Psonall Estate and for all and singuelar y lands & Tennements before menconed untill my said sonne attaine to the age of Seventeen years At which age he shall have and receive ye said halfe part of ye Personal Estate and all and singuelar ye lands and Tenements to him given excepting Dower to my said wife into his owne hands to his owne proper use & behoofe and to his heirs forever. Nevertheless it is provided yt if my said sonn should not Attain ye sd age of Seventeen years That I doe give & bequeath to my loveing niece Margarett wife of George Brack all yt my land and plantacon in Chickahominy by computation two hundred Acres or thereabouts lately bought by me of Richard Whaley and Elizabeth his wife And all yt my land Page 13. & plantacon in poetan by computation Two hundres Acres or thereabouts lately bought by me of George Hughes and Ann his wife to have & injoy ye said land to her and her heirs forever. Item I give & bequeath to my said wife all & singular my other lands & tennemts whatsoever if my said sonn should happen to dye before hee Attains to y age of Seventeen years In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this twelveth day of May Anno Dom 1701. JAMES WHALEY ye seal. Signed sealed & delivered In y presence of Dower to my said wife excepted estate, excepting Dower to my sd wife and Eliz: his wife-- The above words enterlened before witnessed. Dionetia Hadley Mathew Page Robert Bill Att A cort held for Yorke county May y 24th 1701 The above will was then proved in cort by y Oath of Dionetia Hadley and Coll: Mathew Page And is ordrd to Record. Test WILLIAM SEDGWICK Cl Cur february court 1701 the above Will was then proved by the Oath of Robert Bill the other Wittness & according to order is entered on Record. Test W S Cl Cur WILL OF MRS. MARY WHALEY. Extracted from the Principal Registry of the Probate Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice. In the Name of God Amen I Mary Whalley of the parish of Bruton near Williams- burg in the Colony of Virginia but now of the parish of Saint Margaret West- minister in the county of Middlesex widow being of sound mind memory and under- standing praised be God for the same Do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner following (that is to say) I give devise and bequeath to the minister and church Wardens for the time being of the said parish of Bruton in the county of York in the said Colony of Virginia and their successors a certain piece or parcel of land in the said parish of Bruton containing by estimation ten acres little more or less together with matteys Schoolhouse and a Dwelling- house lately erected and built thereon for the use of a School-master (to teach the neediest children of the same parish who shall be offered in the art of reading writing and arithmetick) and bounded by the main road leading to Queens Creek and beginning at a Gully of running water surrounding the said ten acres of land and adjoyning upon Mr. Popes land which said piece or parcel of land Schoolhouse and dwelling-house together also with all outhouses gardens and appurtenances thereunto belonging I give and devise to the said minister and churchwardens for the time being and their successors for ever upon trust to continue the same for the use benefit and behoof of the said Matteys School for the purposes aforesaid to Eternalize Matteys School by the name of Matteys School forever and so and for no other use intent or purpose whatsoever I give to Matteys School aforesaid the sum of Fifty pounds sterling to be paid to the said Minister and churchwardens for the time being and their successors at the rate of ten pounds a year for the use of the same School I hope it will be an encouragement to promote the education of the children there I give to my hus- Page 14. bands nephew James Allen the sum of one hundred pounds sterling and in case of his death before mine then I give the said one hundred pounds to his brothers and sisters on his mother's side to be divided among them share and share alike I give to the poor of the parish of Belfound (Bedfont?) in the County of Middle- sex the sum of twenty pounds sterling and I desire that five pounds part thereof may be paid to them at the time of my interment and the remaining fifteen the three quarters next following after my said interment in the proportion of five pounds a quarter and my will and desire is to be buryed in Belfound (Bedfont?) Church Yard under a handsome black marble stone underpropd by a Settle of Stone fit for that purpose between three and four foot high from the gound and I allow one hundred pounds sterling for the expence of my funeral (including the tomb- stone) I give to the minister who shall perform my funeral service a guinea I give to Mr. James Francys the sume of Two hundred pounds sterling and I do by these presents ordain and appoint him the said James Francys sole executor of this my last Will and testament hoping and desiring that he will see the due performance and execution thereof But in case it should happen that the said James Franceys should depart this life before me or should decline and renounce the Executorship and performance of this my Will then in either case but not otherwise I do by these presents ordain substitute and appoint my kinsman Abraham Jordan Executor of this my last Will and Testament and do give to my said kins- man the above sume of two hundred pounds for his trouble in performance of this my will In case of the death or the refusal of the said James Francyes as afore- said and not otherwise I give to James Matthew Delony the sume of twenty pounds sterling and in the case of his death before mine then I give the said sume of twenty pounds to his mother Anne Delony I give to Mary Jauncey the wife of John Jauncey Notary Publick the sume of five pounds sterling the rest and residue of my estate after all the above mentioned legacies are paid and satisfied (ex- cept and preserving to myself the sume of one hundred pounds to my own disposal by word of mouth codicil or writing as I shall think fit) I give and bequeath the same to the minister and church wardens for the time being of the said parish of Bruton Intrust for the use and behoof of the said school called Matteys School for the purposes above mentioned and lastly I do hereby revoke and make void all other wills by me at any time heretofore made and declare and pronounce this to be my only true and last will and testament In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the sixteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty one and in the fifteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King George the Second and soforth. MARY WHALE (s) Signed sealed published and declared by the Testatrix Mary Whaley as and for her last will and Testament in the presence of us who have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses thereunto at her request and in her presence - John Gally - Hannah Stretch - Jno Jauncey. Proved 1st February 1742. THE SEAL OF HER I certify that this copy has been examined with the orig- MAJESTY'S HIGH nal will deposited in this registry and that it is a true COURT OF JUS- copy thereof. TICE PRINCIPAL REGISTRY PRO- BATE DIVISION J. C. HAROLD Registrar