Need transcription help with one word in a 1641 will

Question

The snippet of the will is here.

Starting from about the middle, "Item I give to all my grandchildren one ????? a piece to the value of five shillings every one of them a piece."

Thanks in advance!

Comments

Hi Mark

I'm not very good at reading these documents, but I sometimes feel it might help to know more context around these documents.

Like - whose will is it, and what was their occupation?  Which parish in Devon they lived in?  Indicating where the will can be found it it's online, as looking at the whole document can sometimes help to decipher words or phrases.  

Indicating if the person already has a profile on WikiTree could also be helpful.

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Scipio Luxton https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Luxton-119

Full copy of will is attached to profile.

Cheers 

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Looks like yonn to me, as in that or those. This makes sense in legalese but I don't know if it makes sense as to what the grandchildren are getting.

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By the way, it looks to me like there is an ampersand between "shillings" and "every."

Answer 1

One yewe (ewe) apiece.

Comments

I also think it's a yewe (ewe). I've quite often seen  single lambs or sheep  bequeathed to grandchildren.

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I think the same. Was he a farmer?

Regards,

Ann

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I'm also going with the yewe/ewe.

I feel quite cheated if I don't have sheep being liberally handed out in the wills I transcribe!

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Thanks! The letters ew do look plausibly the same as the ones at the end of his son Bartholomew’s name.

He called himself a yeoman, so yes, a farmer.

Answer 2

Might it be 'pence' apiece to the value of five shillings? It is difficult to read, although it could be 'yewe' as Vance points out. It sounds like he wants to put a cap on the value of what he is giving to each grandchild to be fair.

Yewe is also an evergreen, but that wouldn't make sense in this context.