I recently purchased a copy of a will from
www.scottishdocuments.com. The will belonged to Mary
Sloan of
Girvan and was dated March 04, 1887 from the
Ayr Sheriff Court Inventories. I have several questions, and hope that someone on the list can offer me some insight into any or all of the following:
1. The will lists the person as "Mary Gray or
Sloan". Does this mean that Mary's maiden (or previous) name was
Sloan, and married name was Gray? My ancestor was Mary
Henderson, married to Robert
Sloan, both of
Girvan. It's possible that Mary remarried after the death of Robert, but unfortunately, I don't have death dates for either.
2. It lists various debts and money owed to her, including "James
McCrindle, fisher,
Girvan, half year's rent due at Martinmas, 1886". What is Martinmas?
3. The deceased was from "Ailsa Place,
Girvan", yet it lists Andrew
MacLean Esquire "One of Her Majesties Justices of the
Peace for the County of Lanark". If this will was for a person in Ayrshire, why would a
Justice from Lanark handle the settlement of the estate?
4. It lists "rents of heritage due by the following tenants...". What are these?
5. It states "Total Amount of Personal Estate in
Scotland England and Ireland". Does this mean that she had assets in each of these countries, or did they just automatically list all countries if one had assets in only one of them?
This Will is the first I have come across the Gray surname in my
Sloan research. The executrix is listed as Jane Gray, "lately residing in Aisla Place, now in Kilmarnock". I'm assuming it is Mary's daughter or grand-daughter. I do have a Jean
Sloan in the family; her name was given to me from a transcription of the 1851 Census from Girvan; I suppose it's possible that Jean could have been mistaken for Jane. I'm cautiously optimistic that this Will belongs to my g-g-grandmother, but I will need to confirm this before I make that assumption.
I would appreciate any input on these questions.
Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Sheridan