The joint and several answers of Thomas Spittey and Mary his wife Joseph Hazwell Clerk and William Massa and Samuel James and Mary James infants of the twelve years by James Stillman – their guardian defender to the Bill of daughter of Matthew Emerson. 

The said defendants and every of them saving and resaving unto themselves now and at all … hereafter the benefit and advantage of exception to the manifold uncertainties imperfections and insufficiencies in the complainants said Bill of complaint contains for a full and perfect answer to or so much thereof as these defendants are devised in material for these defendants or any or either of them to make answer unto these defendants do jointly and severally say that .. believe it may be true that the said complainant was son and heir of the said Thomas Emerson and likewise brother and heir of the said Sarah Emerson in the said complainants said Bill namely that the said Thomas Emerson was in his lifetime and at the time of his decease possessed of a considerable personal estate, 

And these defendants have heard and do believe it to be true that the said Thomas Emerson about the time in the said complainants said Bill mentioned for that purpose did make such Will and thereby gave unto his daughter Sarah six hundred pounds to be laid out … therein expressed, And that the said Thomas Emerson appointed the said Thomas Harvey in the said complainants said Bill likewise named sole executor and trustee for his said daughter, 

And the said Thomas Spittey doth further say that he did intermarry with the said Sarah Emerson and that she the said Sarah died before she arrived at the age of one and twenty years and that he the said Thomas Spittey never had any issue by her before she died, 

And that the said Thomas Hervey sometime after the decease of the said Thomas Emerson having purchased the said farm in the said complainants Bill mentioned in the name of him the said Thomas Hervey and his heirs (in trust for her the said Sarah Emerson and her heirs) out of the monies devised to the said Sarah by her father which this defendant … been entitled unto by the said marriage in case the said monies had not been laid out in lands this defendant Thomas Spittey well hoped that he might on that account have been entitled to the said lands and thereupon he prevailed … said Samuel Wilson and Mary his wife and Anna Hervey and Elizabeth Stevens in the said Complainants said Bill named (as they the said Mary Anne and Elizabeth Stevens were co-heirs of the said Thomas Hervey) on or about the sixteenth day April one thousand seven hundred and thirteen by Deeds of lease and release bearing date on or about the sixteenth day of the same April and by fine in Easter term in the twelfth year of her last Majesties reign did  con…… trust and interest in the said farm to this defendant Thomas Spittey and his heirs 

And this defendant Thomas Spittey doth admit that he hath in his custody and power the said Deeds of lease and release and fine as also the Deeds of purchase the security upon the purchasing the said farm by him the said Thomas Hervey as aforesaid And this defendant Thomas Spittey doth further say that he apprehending the said farm did belong to him being part of his wife’s portion he the said defendant did about the time in the said complainants said Bill mentioned for that purpose convey the said farm and lands among other lands unto the other defendants Joseph Hazwell and William Massa their heirs and assigns subject to the trust therein expressed 

but in case this Honourable Court shall direct that the said farm ought to be conveyed unto the said complainants and his heirs this defendant doth submit and shall be willing to foyne? in such conveyance as this Honourable Court shall direct , And the said Thomas Spittey doth acknowledge that his said wife Sarah died without ever having any issue of her body and that the said complainant is her brother and heir And these defendants Joseph Hazwell and William Massa do jointly and severally say that they have been informed that the defendant Thomas Spittey on or about the time in the said complainants said Bill mentioned for that purpose did by the said Deeds of lease and release ….. said complainants said Bill mentioned for that purpose convey the said farm and lands unto the defendants and their heirs subject nevertheless to the payment of seven hundred pounds of lawful money of Great Britain to and … the use and behoof of Thomas, Samuel and Mary James the children of the defendants Mary Spittey by John James her former husband deceased to be paid unto them when they shall attain their respective ages of one and twenty years or days of marriage which shall first happen 

according as the said defendant Mary Spittey their mother at any time during the coverture between the said defendants Thomas Spittey and Mary his said wife shall by her last Will and Testament in writing under her hand and seal testified by three or more credible witnesses or by any other writing under her hand and seal testified as aforesaid declared limit and appoint but for more certainty therein these defendants refer themselves to the said Deeds when produced but these defendants have not taken upon them to act in the said trust but seeing that the plaintiff doth insist that he is heir at law to the said Sarah Emerson and that the said estate ought to be conveyed to him the said defendants do humbly submit themselves to the direction of this Honourable Court and humbly hope that in what they shall do in obedience to such direction they shall be indemnified and save harmless by the de…….. of this Honourable Court 

And the said Samuel James and Mary James the infants by the said James Stilleman their guardian do say that they are the surviving children of the said John James and Mary his wife (Thomas the other son being dead) and do humbly insist that by the Agreement before marriage and by the said Deeds bearing date on or about the fifteenth and sixteenth days of April one thousand seven hundred and thirteen there was a provision intended to be made for them to the value of seven hundred pounds and being infants they submit themselves to the care of this Honourable Court and humbly hope that the estate which was made and stands security for the said seven hundred pounds shall not be lessened without just reason appears to this Honourable Court for so doing And in case this Honourable Court shall see any just ground to decree the said estate in the Bill mentioned to the plaintiff and his heirs that the remaining estate contained in the said Agreement and Settlement shall stand charged with the whole sum of seven hundred pounds intended as a provision for them the said defendants Samuel and Mary James the infants, 

And these defendants and every of them do deny all manner of combination and confederacy charged against them in and by the said complainants said Bill Without that that any other matter or thing in the complainants said Bill of Complaint contained matters all or effectual in the law for them these defendants or either of them to make answer unto and not herein and hereby sufficiently answered unto confessed or avoided traversed?  or denied is true to the best of these defendants knowledge all which matters and things these defendants are ready to aver maintain and prove as this Honourable Court shall award and humbly pray to be … dismissed with their costs and charges in this behalf ….fully sustained.

Acknowledgement to the National Archives.
National Archives Ref - C11/1166/27