1720 Complaint & Answer - Jonathan Reeve vs. Elizabeth Reeve

Introduction

Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Pleadings 1714 to 1758

Transcript

4 May 1720

To the Right Honoble Thomas Lord Parker Baron of Maidesfeild Lord High Chancellr of Great Brittaine
Humbly complaining sheweth unto ye Lordshipp your orator Jonathan Reeve of Stamborne in the County of Essex Gentleman (eldest son and heire at Law and alsoe one of the Executors of the last Will and Testamt of Jonathan Reeve late of Bocking in the said County of Essex Gentleman deceased) that the said Jonathan Reeve your orators father who was in his life time seized of an estate of inheritance in fee simple or of some other estate of & in a certaine capitall messuage or farme and certaine lands and grounds called High-garrett scituate lying and being in Bocking aforesaid or in some other adjacent parish or parishes for & in consideracon of four hundred pounds to him paid by Richard Hais Esqr did by way of mortgage execute under his hand and seale to the said Richard Hais some indenture of demise or lease of the aforesd messuage farme & lands for some long terme of years under some certaine provisoe or condison herein contained or makeing void or assigning the same over to your orators said father on paymt of the said four hundred pounds and interest thereof or yor orators said father did execute to the said Richard How some other conveyance or conveyances whereby the freehold and inheritance of the said premisses were conveyed to the said Richard How and his heirs under some provisoe or condicon therein contained for the redempcon of the premisses to yor orators said father But yor orator haveing no counterpart thereof (the same as well as the other title deeds of the said estate being in the hands custody or power of Elizabeth Reeve yor orators mother (the other executor of the said Jonathan Reeve deced) or of some other person in trust for her and by & with her directon and consent) cannot particularly setforth the same And yor orator further sheweth that in some short time after the said estate was soe mortgaged as aforesaid the said Jonathan Reeve yor orators father did by indenture of lease and release bearing date the fifteenth and sixteenth dayes of December Anno Dm One thousand six hundred and ninety eight made or menconed to be made between the said Jonathan Reeve the father and the said Elizabeth his wife of the one part and Anthony Bentall & Nicholas Marrett of the other part did settle and assure the aforesd prmisses upon himself for life and after his decease to and upon the said Elizabeth his wife for the terme of her naturall life and after their decease and upon ye orator & to & upon John Reeve yor orators Brother their heirs & Assignes forever subject nevertheless to the paymt of the said four hundred pounds & interest And yor orator further sheweth that the said Jonathan Reeve yor orators said father died alsoe lease and executor to some other person or persons (but to whom by name yor orator cannot setforth) some other deed or conveyance of the said estate by way of mortgage or security for secureing the paymt of the further sume of one hundred and fifty pounds and interest for the same and the aforesaid premisses stand still charged with the said severall sumes of four hundred pounds and one hundred and fifty pounds principall moneys besides a great arreare of interest for the same and yor orator alsoe further sheweth that the said Jonathan Reeve the father on or about the two and twentyeth Day of September which was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve did duly make execute publish and deliver his last will and testament thereof made the said Elizabeth his wife and yor orator joynt executors who for sometime after this testators death acted together as such untill some unhappy differences did arise between them and thereupon your orators said mother took upon herself the sole executortop? and did agree wholly to disburthen yor orator thereof and to that end & purpose and to indure yor orator to submit thereunto the said Elizabeth Reeve yor orators mother did seale execute and deliver to your orator a deed of sale bearing date on or about the seventeenth day of Aprill Anno Dm one thousand seven hundred and seventeen of all the stock cropp of corne goods chattells and household stuffe then belonging to standing and being upon the said? fairme called High-Garrett as the same are particularly contained described and menconed in a ? or inventory to the same deed of sale annexed for secureing to your orator the payment of two hundred and sixty pounds wch yor orator had depended and said out of his own proper moneys in the paymt of the debts of his said father the testator and yor orator alsoe further sheweth that in the said Deed of sale is contained a covent from ye orators said mother for the further secureing yor said orator from all or any of the personall debts of his said father and alsoe from all other debts contracted between yor orator and his said mother while they acted as joynt executors and also from and against a debt of one hundred pounds and interest due to one Mr John Maysent? therein named and the said deed of sale was alsoe given for the indempinty and saveing harmlesse of your orator from all cost charge or trouble as he should or might any way sustaine or be?? by reason or means of any such comenced or to be comenced against him by any creditor or creditors of the said testator as in and by the said Bill of sale which yor orator is ready to produce as this honble court shall drect more freely may appeare and your prator further shewes that his said father the said Jonathan Reeve the testator was at the time of his death over and besides the lands herein before menconed possesed of certaine other lands and tenemts lyeing in the severall parishes of Little Totham and Gold hanger in the said County of Essex which premisses were (in consideracon of one hundred pounds advanced and lent upon the same) by the said Jonathan Reeve the testator conveyed and assured to him the said Jonathan Reeve his heirs by virtue of a mortgage thereof made to him from one Nathaniel S Sowtell? of Little Totham aforesaid bearing date sometime in or about the year one thousand six hundred ninety three And your orator was in hopes he should have reced and taken the rents and profits of the last menconed premisses as he is heir at law of his said father and likewise that your orators said mother could out of the rents and proffits which she receives out of the testators estate have kept ? the interest of the principal moneys which were due from his said father upon the before menconed mortages and that she could according to her agreemt and covents in the said bill of sale have ?ntted the household goods and other things of the said farme called High Garretts to have continue there and that the same should have been subject to satisfye your orators said debts of two hundred and sixty pounds and remaines as a further security to your orator according to the purport and true intent & meaning of the said Bill of sale But now soe it is may it please your Lordpp that your orators said mother by combinacon to and with diverse other persons unknown to your orator whose names when discovered your orator prayes may be intered herein with apt words charge them not only keeps your orator out of the possco of all his said fathers reall estate and receives the rents and proffits thereof to her own use without taking any care to pay off either the principal or any interest in arrears for the said pricipall sumes due upon the mortgages thereof as aforesd but likewise comitts great strife & wast upon the premisses and not withstanding the aforesd Bill of sale of the said personall estate to your orator hath sold disposed of removed & taken away from the said fairms called High Garretts to her given use ??rall of the said household goods stock and other things therein menconed without paying any of the said testators debts thereout and absolutely refuses to permitt your orator to have any benefitt by the said Bill of sale altho your orator for ? sake and rather than have had any difference with so near a relacon was willing to have paid his said mother an annuity of twenty pounds a yeare for her life out of the said farme called High Garretts in ? she would according to her premise have made him a lease of the said farme for twenty one years if she thereto so long live yett she now likewise refuse to comply with her said promise and by these methods and other such like unkind usage is likely to have a very great debt upon the reall estate and to cutt down all or most part of the timber growing thereon and to imbezle & make of the said personall estate to the utter rmis of your orator all which actings and doeings of your orators said mother or ? are submitted to your Lordpps great wisdome and judgemt In tender consideracon whereof and for that your orators wittnesses who could prove the truth of all and singular the premisses are either dead or in parts remote? or beyond the seas and unknowne to your orator so that your orator is remediless in the premisses by the strict rents of comon law and forasmuch as matters of this nature are properly examinable and releivable in a court of Equity ? end therefore that the said Elizabeth Reeve and her confederates may on their corporall oathes true and perfect answer make to all and singular the premisses as fully and particularly as if the same were here againe repeated and interrogated and more especially discover if the said testator did not dye seied or possessed of such reall and personall estate as aforesaid and if the severall incumbrances aforesaid were not left upon the said testators estate and whether such mortgages agreemts and bill of slae were not make or ? as hereinbefore setforth and what principal and interest hath been paid upon the said severall mortgages and what is now unpaid and who the said testator made executors of his last will and what part of the goods and stock or other personall estate of the said testator are since the said Bill of sale disposed of and by whom and how applyed and whether she the said Elizabeth did not promise your orator a lease of the said farme called High Garretts for the consideration aforesaid and that the said Elizabeth Reeve may be obliged out of the rents and proffits of the said reall estate to keep down the interest of the principall sumes due uponmortgage thereupon before her marriage and may be compelled to give security not to imbezle the said testators personall estate and may be restrained by the unjuncon of this Honble court from comitting any strip or wast upon any part of the freehold or copyhold premisses of which yor orators said father dyed sezied and that yor orator may have such other and further releife in the premisses as to your Lordpp shall seem meet and agreeable to Equity & good conscience may it please your Lordpp to grant unto your orator his majestyes most graious writt of spa? to be directed to her the said Elizabeth Reeve Reeve wido and the rest of her confedrates when discovered thereby comanding her at a certaine day and under a certaine paine therein to be limitted personally to be and appeare before yuor Lordpp in this Honoble court then and there upon her corporall oath true and perfect answr make to all & singular the premisses and further to stand to and abide such order & decree therein as to your Lordpp shall seem meet And your orator shall ever pray &c.

The Answer of Elizth Reeve widow to the Bill of Complaint of Jonathan Reeve Complt
This Deft saeing and refering to herself now and at all times hereafter all & all manner of benefitt & advantage of exion that can or may be had or to be to the manifold errors insufficiencyes & other imperfecions in the Compts said Bill of Complt contained for answer thereunto or to so much thereof as she this Defts is advised is materiall or effectuall to answer unto she answereth & saith that she doth admitt it to be true that the Complt is eldest son & heir at law & also one of the extors of the last Will & Testam of Jonathan Reeve (this Defts late husband) in the Complts Bill named & doth believe that her said late husbandwas seized in fee of and in the lands & premises in the Complts Bill sett forth and this Deft further answereth & saith she doth admitt it to be true that the said Jonathan Reeve deced did by indenture of lease & Release the lease bearing date the fifteenth & the release the sixteeth day of Decembr in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred & ninety eight make a settlement of the premises in the Complts Bill menconed in wch conveyancethe Complt by his Bill suggests that some mortgages are therein menconed to be made by the said Jonathan Reeve & that the sd Settlement was made subsequent & suject to the same wherefore for the Compts satisfacon therein this Deft sett forth the said deed of release in her verbe as followeth This Indenture made the sixteenth day of December in the Tenth year of the Reigne of our Sovraigne Lord William the Third by the Grace of God of England Scotland France & Ireland King Defenr of the faith &c Annoq Dm 1698 between Jonathan Reeve of Bocking in the County of Essex Gent & Elizth his wife of the one part & Anthony Bentall of Halsted in the said County Gent & Nicholas Merrett of Halsted aforesaid Clothier of the other part Witnesseth that the said Jonathan Reeve for and in consideration of the great love & affection wch the said Jonathan Reeve hath & beareth for & towards the said Elizth his wife and of a considerable sume of money wch the said Johnathan had wch the said Elizth at ? their intermarriage & fora competent provision & means of livelyhood & maintenance to be had made & provided to & for the said Elizth for & during the terme ofurall? life in case she shall happen to survive the said Jonathan Reeve her husband & to the end & intent that all & every the messuage lands tenemts & hereditamts hereinafter menconed may be settled & established & may remain continue & beheld & enjoyed according to the sevrall & respective uses thereof in & by the severall? expressed limited & declared and also in consideracon of ten shillings of lawfull money of England to the said Jonathan Reeve in hand paid by the said Anthony Bentall & Nicholas Merrett at & before the insealing & delivery of these prsents the receipt whereof he doth hereby acknowledge hee the said Jonathan Reeve hath granted released ratifyed quitclaymed & confirmed & by these prsents doth grant lease ratifye quit clayme & confirm unto the said Anthony Bentall & Nicholas Marrett & their heirs forever all that capitall message or tenemt called Barretts otherwise High Garrett with the house edifices buildings barnes stables malthouses kilne yards orchards gardens & curtilages with theappurtenances to the same belonging situate lying & being in Bocking aforesaid and all the lands tenemts meadows houses pasutres feedings woods underwoods rents ? sezuires & hereditaments with their appurtenances to the said capitall messuage belonging or appertaining or to or with the said messuage used occupied or enjoyed lying & being in Bocking aforesaid (that is to say one field called homefield or the great field now divided into five parcells containing together in the whole by estimacon forty acres more or less with one parcell of meadow adjoyning to the orchard of the said messuage containing by estimacon one acre more or less one meadow adjoyning called longmeadow & one feild adjoyning to the said meadow called twenty acres containing by estimacon twenty acres more or less ne other meadow called Cross Meadow containing by estimacon three acres more or less also one feild called great Brownstall containing by estimacon twenty acres more or less also two crofts of land lying together called Tylers Crofts containing by estimacon eight acres more or less one feild called great ?feild containing by estimacon fifteen acres more or less also one meadow called great Meadow otherwise Cowhorse meadow containing by estimacon eight acres more or less also one parcell of arrable land lying next adjoyning to the said great madow late divided with a quicksett from the said great meadow abutting upon great hillfield aoresaid one other feild called Soezzyets feild containing by estimacon fifteen acres more or less also one little croft of land upon wch the cowhouse standeth containing by estimacon one acre & a halfe more or less also one parcell of meadow called Thoruepoel? containing by estimacon two acres more or less & one croft or parcell of land called Saiether? Croft containing by estimacon three acres more or less lying like an Harp between the Highway leading from Gosfield to Brantree on the one part & the Highway leading from Halstead to Brantree on the other part or by whatsoever other names or names the said prmses ? or have been called or known & ow or late in the teure or occupacon of John Reeve Gent brother of the said Jonathan Reeve his assigne or assignes & all other the lands tenements & hereditaments to the said capitall messuage belonging or therewith also occupoed or enjoyed & all that messuage or tenement with the yards gardens & appertenances to the same belonging and two crofts or parcells of land to the same beloging or therewith used and now or late in the tenure or occupacon of the said John Reeve his assignee or assignes whereof one croft or parcell lyeth on the back side of the said messuage & conteyns by estimacon three acres more or less & was sometime parcell of a certain feild there called twenty acres & the other parcell is called the slade containing by estimacon three acres more or less lying against a certain lane called Newhall lane towards the West & .... Croft o land adjoyning with a Barne upon the same croft & one feild or croft of land called Lue?pittfeild now or late in the tenure of the said John Reeve his assignee or assigns all wch said prmises are sitaute lying & being in Bocking aforesaid together with ? comodityes & appurtenances wtsoever to the aforesaid prmises or any part or parcell thereof belonging or appertaining and also all those sevrall messuages or tenemts wth the yards gardens & appurtenances thereunto belonging in Bocking aforesaid now or late in the sevrall tenures or pccupacon of Tho Botts Edws Batement (blank) Tyler widow (blank) Taylor widow John Bayley & Stephen Laseil their assignee or assignes (all wch said messuages lands tenemts & prmises the said Jonathan Reeve lately had and purchased to him & his heirs of & from the said John Reeve his brother & the same now are in the actuall possession of the said Anthony Bentall & Nicholas Marrett by virtue of a bargaine & sale to them thereof made for one year by the said Jonathan Reeve in & by indenture bearing date the day next before the day of the date of the signr seal & by force of the statute for transferring of uses into possession and the revercen & revercions remainder & remainders of all & singular the prmises to have and to hold the said messuages lands tenemts meadows astures woods woodgrounds & all & singular the prmises hereinbefore menconed & intended to be hereby granted wth there & every of their appurtenances unto the said Anthony Bentall & Nicholas Merrett their heirs & assignes forever to & for the sevrall & respective uses hereinafter menconed (that is to say) To the use of the said Jonathan Reeve & of his assignes for & during the terme of his nrall ife without impeachmt of or for any manner of wast & from & after his decease to the use of the said Elizth Reeve & of her assignes for & during the terme of her ntrall life without impeachmt of or for any manner of wast for her joynture & in Barr of Dower & from & after the sevrall deceased of the said Jonathan Reeve & of the said Elizth his wife & of the survivor of them then to the use of Jonathan Reeve Eldest son & John Reeve second son of the said Jonathan Reeve & Elizth his wife & the heirs & assigns of the said John Reeve (sic?) & John Reeve the sons forever & to & for none othr use intent & purpose wtsoever and the said Jonathan Reeve party hereunto for himself his heirs extors & adjstrators & forever of them doe covenant promise & grant to & with the said Anthony Bentall & Niholas Marrett their heirs & assigns by the sd prsons in manner & forme following (that is to say) that for & notwithstanding any act done by him the said Jonathan Reeve all & singular the said messuages lands & prmises hereinbefore mensoned to be granted & every part & marcell thereof with every of their appurtences shall or lawfully may from time to time & at all times from henceforth forever be remain & containe & be peaceably & quietly held & enjoyed according to the sevrall & respectfull uses & estates thereof hereinbefore expressed & declared according to the true intent & meaning of these prsents & that free & cleare freely & clearly acquitted exonerated & discharged or by the said Jonathan Reeve his heirs extors or adstrators at all times thereafter well & sufficiently saved & kept harmless & endemnifyed of from & against all and all manner of former & other gifts grants bargains sales leases mortgages & especially one mortgage of four hundred pounds lately made to Richard Hewe Esqr joyntures dower, uses, wills, estates, jutails, debts, rents, arrearages of rents, statues, reconizances, judgemts, extenis, execucons & of & from all other estates titles troubles charges & incumbrances wtsoever the rents & services from thenceforth to grow due & payable to the Lord or Lord of the ? fees whereof the prmises for & in respect of the? thereof only excepted and lastly that he the said Jonathan Reeve & his heirs & all & ever other person & persons lawfully clayming or to clayme from by or under him or them shall & will from time to time & at all times hereafter upon the reasonable request of the said Anthony Bentall & Nicholas Marrett or either of them their or either of their heirs or assignes at the costs & charges of the said Jonathan Reeve his heirs or assigns make do execute or cause to be made done & executed all & every such further & other reasonable act & acts devised & assurances in the law soever for the better & more sure conveying & confirming of the said messuages lands & prmises unto & for all ? the uses aforesaid as by the said anthony Bentall & Nicholas Marrett or either of them their or either of their heirs or assignes or their or ay of their counsell assurances in the learned in the law shall be reasonably devised advised or required In witness whereof the siad parties to these prsets have hereunto set their hands & seals the day & year first above written - as by the said deeds of Lease & Release in this Defts custody & ready to be produced it doth & may appear By wch said deed of Release it doth appear how & what manner the said Jonathan Reeve the Complts father settled his estate and this Deft further answereth & saith that she knoweth not nor overheard that the said Jonathan Reeve the Complts said late father doer made a settlement of his estate to the purport & effect in the Complts Bill sett forth or any other settlemt other than by the said deeds of lease & release herein before sett forth in wch said deeds or either of them no mencon or notice is taken of any the mortgages in the Complts bill suggested or of any other mortgage grant or incumbrance wtsoever save only one mortgage of four hundred pound lately made to Richd How Esqr wch said mortgage was long since paid & discharged as this Deft believes & this Deft further answereth & saith that she never saw the said Jonathan Reeve deced seale or execute all any or either of the mortgages in the Bill menconed & sett forth or any other mortgage or mortgages wtsoever or any deed or conveyances by way of mortgage or security wtsoever of the prmises in the Complts bill menconed or of any part or parcell ? to the persons or person in the Complts Bill named or to any other person or persons wtsoever for the paying or securing of any sume or sumes of money wtsoever nor doth the Deft know or believe that the said prmises or or any part of them were are or stand charged with the paymt of ay sume or sumes of money wtsoever either for principall or interest upon any mortgage or securitywtsoever and this Deft further answereth & saith that she doth admitt it to be true that the said Jonathan Reeve did make his last Will & Testament of such date & to the purport & effect in the Complts Bill set forth & thereof the Complts & this Deft Joynt extors & that the Compt & this Deft joyntly proved the said Will & for sometimes acted joyntly in the said extorship vizt rom the testators death to the ourth of April One thousand seven hundred & seventeen during wch time the Compts acted in the said extorship & reced in what part of the testators estate he though fit & likewise reced the rents & proffitts of the reall estate tho the same were by the said settlement in joynture to this Deft and this Deft further answereth & saith that on the said fourth day of April one thousand seven hundred & seventeen the Compt & this Deft came to an agreemt touching all matters between them relating to the said extorship wch agreemt being afterwards reduced into writing in & y the said two following deeds vizt by a deed poll bearing date the said seventeenth day of the sae month of Aprill whereby after writing that the said testator had made such will & that he the Compt & this Deft had duely proved the same & possessed themselves of the testators personall estate & had thereon paid & satisfied most of his personall debts and also that this Deft was willing & had agreed solely to undertake the further execucon of the said Will & to discharge the remainder of the personall debts of the testator & also reciting that this Deft had agreed to pay or give security by a Deed of sale of the Household goods & sttock upon the farme called High Garrett (being the prmises in the Complts Bill menconed) to pay unto the Complt the sum of Two hundred & sixty pounds by him expended in & abt the paying & discharging the testators debts & legacyes & also to indemnify & save harmless the Compt his heirs extors & adstrators & their lands tenemts goods & chattells of & from all charges damages & expences wch he or they should or might sustain incurr or bbe put unto upon the act of the said extorship and also this Deft paying & discharging all such debts as the Compts & this Deft had joyntly contracted and also one debt of one hundred pounds & interest wch the Compt had solely contracted wth John Maysent Gent for and towards paying & discharging the testators debts & legacy He the Compt for the said consideracons & in consideration of one hundred pounds, part of the said two hundred & sixty pounds to him in hand paid by this Deft at & before the sealing & delivery of the said deed the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged he the said Compt did devise release & forever quitt claime unto the Deft her extors adstrators & assigns the said Extorship & all the personall estate of the said testator & all his estate right title interest possion claim or demand wtsoever of in & to the same & of in & to the stock thereupon the said High Garrett farme or elsewhere & all ? suits bills bonds debts accounts sume & sumes of money & demands wtsoever and the said Compt did thereby for himself his heirs extors & Adstrators covenant prmose & grant to & wth this Dept her extors & Adstrators not to ? a ? debt due to the said testator and that he would pmitt & suffer this Deft at anytime to make use of his the Complts name in prosecuting for the recovery of any debt or debts due to the testator she this Deft indemnifying him & their insodoing as by the said deed of release duely executed by the said Compt in this Defts custody ready to be produced it doth & may appear and this Deft further answerth & saith that the actually paid the sume of one hundred pounds agreed to be paid by the Deft to the said Compt on his executing the said release and did also at the same time execute to the Compt a bill of sale of the stock on the said High Farretts forme wch bill of sale bears even date wth the said deed of release & after writing to the effect as in the said deed of release is recited This Deft for performing the said agreemt on her part & in consideration of five shillings to her in hand paid by the Compt did grant bargain & sell unto the said Compt the seivall parcells of stock & household goods in the said bill of sale particularly menconed to hold to the said Complt his extors & adstrators subject neverthelesse to a condicon to be void on her this Defts paying the moneys & discharging the sevall conditions & agreemts in the said deed of release menconed & conveyed as by the said deed of Bargain & sale when the same shall be produced it doth & may appear and the Deft further answereth & saith that ? the execution of the said deeds she hath paid all the testators debts wch then remained unpaid wch have ever come to her knowledge & hath also paid the said debt of one hundred pounds & interest to the said John Maysent and hath also to will on the thirtieth day of Septembr one thousand hundred seventeen paid to the Compt the remaining sume of one hundred sixty pound & all interest due for the same as by a receipt under the Compts hand for the same in this Defts custody & ready to be produced it doth & may appear and this Dept well hoped that she should have had no further demand or trouble from the Compt touching the said testators personall estate in regard she hath punctually performed the said agreement on her part and the rather ? that the Compt never compained to the Deft that he had any molestation or trouble anyway touching the same since the said deeds were executed between the Compt & the Dept nor doth he somuch as in? that ? wtsoever has been made on and touching the same since that time and this Dept further answereth & saith that she doth admitt it to be true that the testator did in his life time lend to one Nathl Bowtell deced in the Compts bill named the sume of one hundred pound upon a mortgage or conveyance ? he made to the testator & his heirs by the said Bowtell of certain lands in little Totham & Goldhanger in the Compts Bill mensoned but doth denye that she this Deft ever reced the mortgage money or any interest for the same (save only three pound five shillings & six pence or thereabouts) or was ever in preption? of his rents or proffitts of the said mortgaged prmises he the said Complt himself as heir at law to his said Father upon his said fathers death during thereon & afterwards upon the heir at law of the said Bowtells applying to the Comptt & paying the principall & interest due on the said mortgage to the said Compt (exept as aforesaid) he the said compt himself reconveyed the said prmises to the heir at law of the said Bowtell but whither this Deft was a party to the said deeds cannot sett forth not having the said deeds or any counterpart thereof nor doth this Deft know where the same are and the Deft further answereth & saith that she doth admitt it to be true that since the said Bill of Sale she hath been obliged to sell & dispose of some part of the stock comprized therein to pay & satisfye sevrall of the testators debts & to raise money to pay the Complt & the said Mr Maysent wch she hopes she might justly do there being still more than sufficient on the said High Garretts farme to indemnify the Compt no debt appearing to be demanded from the Compt nor now due from the testate of the said testator & this Deft saith that there is now a good a stock on the said farme as there was when bill of sale made to Compt and this Deft further answereth & saith that she doth not know that the testator dyed seized of any other reall estate or estates other than what were mentioned in the Compts bill & in the said last Will & Testament of the said testator & doth admitt that upon the said testators death she entered into & upon the said prmises called High Garrett as she humbly conceived it her right to do by virtue of the said settlement made by the said testtor But doth absolutely denye that she hath done or omitted to be done any craft? strip or spoile on the said prmises or that she hath felled or cutt or permitted to be felled or cutt any timber trees from of the said prmises other than for the necessary repairing & supporting the same and this Deft further answering saith that she hath not nor ever had nor any other pson or psons In trust for her now hath or ever had any deed or deeds of mortgage or other deed or deeds wtsoever relating to the said prmises or any part or any counter part or counter parts of any deed or deeds of mortgage or other deed or deeds relateing to the said prmises or any part or parts save as hereinbefore set forth & one mortgage cancelled dated the tenty fifth day of Octobr One thousand six hundred & ninety three made by one John Reeve to Richd How Esqr of the prmises called the High Garrett in consideratio of four hundred pound wch the Deft takes to be the mortgage mentconed in the said indenture of release and one deed poll of release bearing date the thirteenth day of October in the Tenth year of the Reign of his late Majestye King Willm the Third Anno Dm One Thousand Six hundred & ninety eight whereby John Reeve of Bocking in the County of Essex in consideration of the sume of One thousand five hundred pounds Grant Release & confirme to the said testator & his heirs the said prmises called High Garretts wth Deed together with the severall deeds before mencioned this Deft humbly hopes she is intitled to keep for the prservacon of her estate for life the compt by his said Bill not having offerred to confirme to this Deft her said estate and the Deft further answereth & saith that she cannot sett forth the pticular Goods sold since the said Bill of sale nor is the Complt as she is advised & humbly insists intitled to demand the same she this Deft having fully complyed with the terms of the said release & Bill of Sale the Compt setting forth no personal demand upon him as Extor of the said Jonathan Reeves estate and this Deft further answereth & saith that the Complt being courtshipp with one Sarah Wade a pson this Deft did not approve of to be a wife to the Complt & this Deft having often desired the Compt to desist any further proceeding with her in that affair wch the Compt takeing no notice This Deft told him in case he would not ?enclude a match with the said Sarah Wade she this Deft would lett the Complt have a lease of the sd High Garrett farme for some time at the rent of or rather for a rent charge of twenty guineas p annum upon wch proposall the said Complt promised not intermarry wth the said Sarah Wade But such proposall being Verbal only & no wayes reduced into writing & the Complt imediately after intermarriage with the said Sarah Wade this Deft is advised & humbly insists is no wayes intitled to have a pformance of such promise & this Deft denyes all combacacon? and confederacy charged ? her without that any other matter or thing in the Compts said Bill of Complaint contained materiall or essentall for this Deft to make answer unto & not herein & hereby well & sufficiently answered unto confessed or avoided traversed or denyed is to the knowldge of the Deft true all wch matters & things this Deft is ready to averr maintain & prove as the Honble Court shall award and humbly prays to be here? dismissed with her reasonable costs and charges in this behalfe most wrongfully sustained.
Jon. Cheveley

Source

National Archives, Kew - C 11/463/22
TNA Series C11