THOMAS MYLREA

Will - 1759 (German)

 

KK German

In the name of God Amen I Thomas Mylerea of Peel in the Isle of Man merchant being of sound mind and memory do make this my last will and testament hereby revoking and making void all will or wills by me heretofore made

Imprimus I recommend my soul to the Almighty God and as to what worldly goods and chattles I am possessed of or entitled to I do hereby bequeath them in the manner following:

Firstly I leave and bequeath unto my son Daniel Mylrea the sum of three hundred pounds sterling British money.

Item I leave and bequeath unto my said son Daniel Mylrea my half of the house I live in at Peel and half of the warehouses and other offices from ... in said Peel.

Item I leave and bequeath unto my daughter Rose Mylrea the sum of three hundred pounds sterling British money.

Item I leave and bequeath unto my son Thomas Mylrea three hundred pounds sterling British money.

Item I leave and bequeath unto my daughter Catherine Mylrea the sum of three hundred pounds sterling British money.

I further request and devise that my brother Daniel Mylrea will take the trouble to see the aforesaid …. sums bequeathed to my children layed out at interest or otherwise to the best advantage for …. benefit of my said children.

Item I appoint, nominate and constitute my dearly beloved wife Rose Mylrea my sole and only executrix and further leave and bequeath unto her all and every my goods and chattels of every kind whatsoever after the payment of the above legacies and appoint her my residuary legatee. I appoint my said wife guardian of all my said children and that she shall have the care, tuition and educating of them and that the interest of their respective legacies or fortunes shall be duely paid my said wife until they come of age which interest she is to lay out in the properest manner towards their maintenance and education.

My will is that in case one or more of my said children should die before they come of age that in that case their legacy shall be equally divided between the survivors of my said children.

In witness hereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fourteenth day of September 1759 nine Thomas Mylrea

Signed sealed and published in presence of us ….. Norris, John Reed, James McKee

At a Court holden at Peeltown before the Reverend Robert Radcliffe Vicar General and the Reverend James Wilks Episcopal Registrar upon Saturday the 20th October 1759 The foregoing will of Thomas Mylrea late of this town merchant deceased being made in the Kingdom of Ireland the witnesses thereto being resident in said Kingdom by means whereof the said will cannot at present be duly proved by said witnesses but whereas the Worshipful Daniel Mylrea, Receiver General, the Reverend William Mylrea, rector of KK Bride, and Captain William Callow of Cloughbane in the parish of KK Maughold, brothers to the testator who are now sworn guardians and supervisors of the orphans of the testator in form of law are well satisfied that the name Thomas Mylrea to this will subscribed is the proper handwriting of the testator and also that the several bequests and dispositions in said will are to the advantage of said orphans and therefore consent that the burden and execution of said will be committed to the executrix therein named, whereupon Rose Mylrea the relict is sworn executrix in form of law and has the tuition of the orphans committed unto her pursuant to the will and has given pledges for payment of debts and legacies namely the foresaid Daniel Mylrea and William Mylrea

Acceptum est Robert Radcliff

At KK Michael August 19 1769 Cath Mylrea one of the testator's children having departed this life in her minority the legacy of £300 British to her devised and bequeathed becomes due unto the surviving children namely Daniel, Thomas and Rose Mylrea according to the will of the testator so that the pecuniary legacy due to each of the survivors is four hundred pounds wherefore

I Daniel Mylrea aforesaid do hereby acknowledge to have received at and from the hands of my mother Rose Mylrea and my uncle Daniel Mylrea esq the sum of four hundred pounds in full of the percuniary legacy bequeathed unto me by my father Thomas Mylrea of what became due by the death of my sister Cath Mylrea and I do hereby discharge and acquit my said mother and uncle their executors and administrators of the same and every part thereof. Witness my hand this 19th August 1769 Daniel Mylrea. Before me James Wilks

1760 Sept 12 Phil Moore of Douglas, merchant, enters a claim against the executrix of Thomas Mylrea for the sum of British £1,000

At KK Arbory August 31 1776 Thomas Mylrea, son of Thomas Mylrea late of Peeltown, merchant, having arrived at the age of fourteen years and this day made choice of John Lace, attorney at law, as and for his guardian he the said John Lace is therefore sworn to execute the office of guardian to the said Thomas Mylrea in all manner and things appertaining to him his ward according to law. Before me John Moore

NOTES

  1. Deemster/Archdeacon/MHK/Attorney General line; and possessors of the Dollough estate
  2. The amount left to the children (£1,200) corresponds to funds in a bank in Glasgow at the time of his death. It might be a coincidence, or perhaps those were the assets he left to his children while everything else went to his wife Rose (AP x8 (2nd) -34, APx8 (2nd) -36)
  3. The marriage was deemed "clandestine" since Manx priests/vicars were not permitted to perform marriages involving Catholics, which Rose was
  4. Thomas was the second son of Daniel Mylrea & Lucy Parry, baptised 1717 in Ballaugh; he married Rose Savage in Patrick in 1743
  5. Rose Mylrea als Savage came from a family that, like her husband Thomas, made their wealth from importing liquour and other goods to the Isle of Man (Ref: Wilkins: The Smuggling Trade Revisited 2004). He also engaged in offering mortgages, although early records suggest only 1 client over a period of several years with several mortgages until the 1752 purchase from William White
  6. Of the eight children of Thomas & Rose, only four survived beyond childhood. Of the others Lucy, Elizabeth & Rose died with the first three years of their lives, the second Elizabeth when she was 11. Cath, alive when her father died, died when she was 7
  7. Thomas's brothers Daniel (b1716) and William (b1722) mentioned in the administration of Thomas's will; also William Callow, Thomas's brother-in-law, who married Thomas's sister Ann in 1745. Callow was the parish Captain of Maughold
  8. Thomas's older son Daniel married Leonora Heywood of the Nunnery, and after she died Elizabeth Proctorr (1795) then Mary Bosley (1796). Daniel took his family to Canada as a member of the 10th Veterans' Battalion and was the hero of the Harpooner incident in 1816. He died in 1822 in France aged 72. He was the father of Frederick Thomas Mylrea 1803-1862
  9. Thomas's other son Thomas died in 1781, possibly at the Battle of Providien, not having married
  10. There is no record of the baptism of the second Rose Mylrea, Thomas’s daughter, although her position in his will suggests she was older than Cath so perhaps born about 1755 (and referred to as "spinster" in her uncle's 1775 will). Nothing is known of her fate but she went with her mother to live in Ireland
  11. Sadly, son Daniel made a mess of his inheritance and opportunities, losing everything he owned including the house left to him by his father, by 1800
  12. Rose snr died in Ireland in 1791 in Strangford, but apart from the record of her will, the document itself no longer exists to tell us what happened to her daughter Rose - did she marry? did she die?
  13. Thomas was not buried in KK German which tends to support the idea that he died in Ireland

Associated Documents

Last updated: Mar 2022