Will of William Lakin of Ruddington (Transcription)

The last will and testament of William Lakin of Ruddington, transcribed from the original document held by the Nottinghamshire County Archives. This man was the father of the two Lakins (William and John) who later joined Richard, Robert, and John Blood in the 1655 petition to establish the town of Groton in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The section of importance to the Blood genealogy is highlighted. This section implies several things:

• There was a family relationship between Richard Blood Senior and William Lakin; most likely that Richard's wife was William's sister, making Richard's male children his nephews. This is the view taken by Douglas Richardson (TAG 70:144, 1995) and I see no flaw in his reasoning. Without this family relationship there is no explanation for the contingency to Richard Blood's children.
• Richard probably had minor children (under 21 at the time) as they were not named in the will. As far as I can ascertain adult children or other adult beneficiaries were always named. Whether this was law or convention I am not sure, but the fact they are not named almost certainly means they were minors.
• Richard probably had more than two children due to the use of "all the children of" instead of "the child of" or "both the children of" -- note that the writer of the will (we can assume a legal clerk or scrivener hired for the purpose) uses "both" and "either" to refer to William's two sons. It is not a stretch to assume he would have been consistent in his usage if Richard Blood had had only two children to reference.
• This is the only time in six documents between 1611 and 1637 in which this Richard is referred to as "Senior," even though there was at least one and possibly as many as three other adult Richard Bloods alive in Ruddington at the time of this will. There must be some reason for this, and I believe the reason was to distinguish Richard Blood, Senior from another Richard Blood in the same will. Since the only unnamed people in the will are "all the children of Richard Blood Senior," it stands to reason that this other Richard Blood must be in that group. This would most likely be Richard Blood born 1617.

Taken together, the above accurately reflects the situation if Richard, Robert, and John were all sons of this Richard, Senior. There were more than two (so not "both"), they were all minors in 1633, and son Richard's presence in the will could have necessitated the used of Senior to differentiate his father. It also means Richard, Senior followed the convention of naming his first son after himself, as appears to have been a common practice among the Ruddington Bloods. This would also explain the close relationship between William's and Richard Senior's sons once in the Massachusetts Bay Colony -- they were all first cousins.

Obligatory copyright notice: This is my own transcription of the original document. Therefore, this is my own original work.