We worked with documents written in secretary hand dating between 1650 and 1700.\u00a0 At the start, we knew only the date of the document and one or two names that someone in the past had deciphered.\u00a0 Document names were cryptic.\u00a0 They ranged from “untitled” to “1699, John Auld,” “1699, signed c. campbell” and “1655, indenture with seals, Sir Geo. Wentworth…”\u00a0<\/p>\n
In transcribing, we identified people and place names.\u00a0 When compiling and comparing, it became clear that most documents were Scottish, and tied to two families who lived about 20 miles south east of Edinburgh.\u00a0 In translating, we began to understand how land tenancy and inheritance worked for those with some resources in early modern Great Britain.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Below, learn a little about each set of documents.\u00a0 Click on the collection to be taken to a page that provides links to each documents, a finding aid for each, and a transcription and translation of the text.<\/p>\n\n\n
England<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (1) Sir George Wentworth, Will and Codicil<\/a>, 1655 and 1656<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scotland (Fisher<\/a> Family)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Five sasines (land indentures) are from John Fisher, portioner of Manuel-Foulis (Crownerland) and his son, also John Fisher. One, from 1679, assigns half the lands of Manuel-foulis (Crounnerland) to Margaret Whitlaw, John Fisher’s wife. The other four, are from 1699 and document John Fisher and his wife Helen Younger taking over the indenture from William Ker, the landowner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (2) John Fisher assigns land and rents from half the property of Maneul-Foulis to his wife, Margaret Whitlaw, 1679. Scotland (Auld Family)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Three sasines are from landowner Patrick Auld of Torbane Hill, near Bathgate, from 1698 and 1699. Two tie Auld to John Bell, one as a rental document and the other as a defendant in a complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (7) Patrick Auld rents land at Torbane Hill to John and Agnes Bell, 1698 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We worked with documents written in secretary hand dating between 1650 and 1700.\u00a0 At the start, we knew only the date of the document and one or two names that someone in the past had deciphered.\u00a0 Document names were cryptic.\u00a0 They ranged from “untitled” to “1699, John Auld,” “1699, signed c. campbell” and “1655, indenture… Continue reading The Documents<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":103,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-165","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/165\/revisions\/229"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdocs.skidmore.edu\/beitknown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
(3) Land Ownership document of John Fishar (Fisher) 1699
(4) Land Ownership document of John Fisher and wife Helen Younger, 1699
(5) John Fisher legal proceedings indicating inheritance, 1699
(6) Property inheritance of James Fisher, 1699<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(8) Bond between Patrick Auld and John Auld, 1699
(9) Demand by Alexander Bell and son John Bell with John Wardrup against landowner Patrick Auld, 1699<\/p>\n\n\n\n