52 Ancestors - Week 9 - Will - Hester (Lovell) Stanton
This morning I walked through the living room of my 3x great grandmother, Hester. Well, if I'm honest, it may not have been her living room, it may just have been her garden. Around me the stall holders of the Motueka Sunday Market, held on Deck's Reserve, were selling everything from blueberries to second hand hoes. It wasn't until I found Hester's will and newspaper advertisements related to her estate, that I realised the connection.
Hester passed away in Motueka in 1898 aged 85 and after her death, the property she and her husband Ben had cleared of forest and where they had run a store, was auctioned. It was bought by Dr. Deck, one of the witnesses to her will "signed" with a very shaky cross the previous year. In the 1950s, these three acres were gifted by Dr. Deck's daughters to the people of Motueka and are now the Deck's Reserve. Half of the area is a carpark during the week but a market on Sundays, and half is parkland where the local history trail plaques are located. Sadly, no where makes mention of the original European owners, Ben and Hester Lovell.
Apart from the witness and the cross, Hester's will is unremarkable from a 21st century viewpoint. In it, she leave a portion to her husband, with the rest to be divided amongst her descendants. What is interesting initially is that she made a will at all. At that time, a woman rarely owned property in her own right as at her marriage, it usually passed to her husband. Hester had inherited less than 100 pounds when Ben passed away in 1873 and I assume that included their Motueka land. Within two years, she had married Edward Stanton, a widower, her neighbour for many years. Edward must never have taken control of Hester's property and within 25 years its value had risen considerably. Her probate file states that her estate was worth about 700 pounds, so the "Deck's Reserve" land really must have been the "valuable freehold property" advertised in the newspapers.
Hester's will makes me wonder about her relationship with Edward. Edward is bequeathed a mere 6 pounds! Newspaper articles show that in 1882, Hester took out a protection order as Edward was failing to support her and in 1890, Edward was jailed for 2 months with hard labour for indecent exposure to young girls. These two facts do not suggest a happy marriage. On the other hand, Edward was the informant for Hester's death certificate and he obviously knew about her. To us, 6 pounds may appear miserly, but it was equivalent to 4 months Old Age Pension that Edward was awarded in 1899. (It is interesting that pensioners had to be 'of good moral character' given Edward's earlier conviction.) I do wonder if by bequeathing Edward something, Hester was ensuring that her will could not be contested so the bulk of her estate went to her five surviving children and her son's widow, all of whom were struggling financially.
While Hester's will throws up questions about her second marriage, the probate file does resolve the issue of her parentage. At her second marriage, Hester is registered as Esther SPICER Lovell, and it is the only time I can find the use of this middle name. The Spicer name does appear as the middle name of her children, Sarah and Thomas. Many researchers have jumped to the conclusion that Hester's maiden name was Spicer. However, the death certificate helpfully filled in with information from Edward Stanton clarifies that Hester's parents were George Lovell and Sarah Spicer. Spicer was her mother's maiden name. In fact, Hester Lovell had married her cousin Ben Lovell.
Reading Hester's will has given me a tiny insight into the life of a poor assisted immigrant who arrived in Nelson in 1842. After 56 years of very hard work, she managed to die a reasonably wealthy woman.
Hester passed away in Motueka in 1898 aged 85 and after her death, the property she and her husband Ben had cleared of forest and where they had run a store, was auctioned. It was bought by Dr. Deck, one of the witnesses to her will "signed" with a very shaky cross the previous year. In the 1950s, these three acres were gifted by Dr. Deck's daughters to the people of Motueka and are now the Deck's Reserve. Half of the area is a carpark during the week but a market on Sundays, and half is parkland where the local history trail plaques are located. Sadly, no where makes mention of the original European owners, Ben and Hester Lovell.
Apart from the witness and the cross, Hester's will is unremarkable from a 21st century viewpoint. In it, she leave a portion to her husband, with the rest to be divided amongst her descendants. What is interesting initially is that she made a will at all. At that time, a woman rarely owned property in her own right as at her marriage, it usually passed to her husband. Hester had inherited less than 100 pounds when Ben passed away in 1873 and I assume that included their Motueka land. Within two years, she had married Edward Stanton, a widower, her neighbour for many years. Edward must never have taken control of Hester's property and within 25 years its value had risen considerably. Her probate file states that her estate was worth about 700 pounds, so the "Deck's Reserve" land really must have been the "valuable freehold property" advertised in the newspapers.
Hester's will makes me wonder about her relationship with Edward. Edward is bequeathed a mere 6 pounds! Newspaper articles show that in 1882, Hester took out a protection order as Edward was failing to support her and in 1890, Edward was jailed for 2 months with hard labour for indecent exposure to young girls. These two facts do not suggest a happy marriage. On the other hand, Edward was the informant for Hester's death certificate and he obviously knew about her. To us, 6 pounds may appear miserly, but it was equivalent to 4 months Old Age Pension that Edward was awarded in 1899. (It is interesting that pensioners had to be 'of good moral character' given Edward's earlier conviction.) I do wonder if by bequeathing Edward something, Hester was ensuring that her will could not be contested so the bulk of her estate went to her five surviving children and her son's widow, all of whom were struggling financially.
While Hester's will throws up questions about her second marriage, the probate file does resolve the issue of her parentage. At her second marriage, Hester is registered as Esther SPICER Lovell, and it is the only time I can find the use of this middle name. The Spicer name does appear as the middle name of her children, Sarah and Thomas. Many researchers have jumped to the conclusion that Hester's maiden name was Spicer. However, the death certificate helpfully filled in with information from Edward Stanton clarifies that Hester's parents were George Lovell and Sarah Spicer. Spicer was her mother's maiden name. In fact, Hester Lovell had married her cousin Ben Lovell.
Reading Hester's will has given me a tiny insight into the life of a poor assisted immigrant who arrived in Nelson in 1842. After 56 years of very hard work, she managed to die a reasonably wealthy woman.
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