11. NICHOLSON-DUCKETT

Riley Tree

RICHARD NICHOLSON and JANE DUCKETT (11)

 

RICHARD NICHOLSON. In 1731 James Fawcett married Mary Nicholson in the Wensleydale village of Askrigg. We have traced her ancestry back to Richard Nicholson, whom we believe to be her grandfather.

The full parish registers have only survived from 1701 onwards, with fragmentary Bishops Transcript before that. The earliest record we have of Richard is not his baptism or marriage, but a will from 1687.[1]

16th December 1687.
Memorandum that John Duckett late of Worton in the Chaplrey of Askrigg of the Archdeaconry of Richmond and diocese of Chester deceased on or about the second day of February last past being indisposed and finding himself very ill in health did call for one Richard Nicholson his next neigour and whoe lived under the same roofe with him and desired him to send for one John Scarr wch he did and when he came she said John Duckett being then of perfect minde & soud disposing memory and haveing a minde then to side or dispose of estate he had did nuncupatively declare his last will and minde in these or the like words in effect following vizt I give to George Hutchinson his [then] youngest childe Mathew the sum of five pounds Item he gave unto Richard Nicholson the house where he lived for three years and to his daughter Jane one Coffer And all the rest of his personall estate he did give and except his brothers children came which said will or words or to the like effect were spoken and declared in the presence of the said Richard Nicholson and others then present. Richard Nicholson Jur. 

A noncupative will was one which was not drawn up in the legal form, and might be simply spoken, but was nevertheless held to express the wishes of the deceased. Richard Nicholson made this declaration, which was witnessed by others.

The fact that John Duckett and Richard Nicholson were living under the same roof, and that John Duckett left this house to Richard, implies a close relationship between them. The most likely explanation is that Richard was John Duckett’s son-in-law. Since John mentions his daughter Jane in the same sentence, it is far to conclude that she was Richard’s wife. This assumption is borne out later, with the burials of Richard Nicholson and Jane Nicholson widow, both of Worton.

 

JANE DUCKETT. Duckett does not seem to be a local name. It does not appear in the registers of Askrigg and the surrounding parishes. John Duckett’s will is the only one in the list of old wills for Worton. We have no clue as to where this family came from.

It seems likely that the George Hutchinson mentioned in her father’s will was her brother-in-law and Mathew her nephew. The absence of any other legatees, other than John Duckett’s brother’s children, suggests that Jane had no brothers.

The name of Richard Nicholson Jur implies that he was their son. The baptisms of this younger Richard’s children give him a likely birth date in the late 1660s. At the time of his grandfather’s will, he would have been barely into adulthood.

This makes it likely that the older Richard Nicholson was born either side of 1640. He is likely to have been a small child at the time of the Civil War of the 1640s.

We do not have the record of their marriage, nor of their child, or children’s. baptisms. We do not know whether Richard junior was an only child.

Worton is a hamlet in Wensleydale, a mile SE of the village of Askrigg. It lies just south of the River Ure. We have wills showing that there were many Nicholsons living there in the 16^th and 17the century, and they were probably there long before that.

The most prominent building was Worton Hall, built in 1600, and one of the oldest surviving farmhouse in Wensleydale.

Richard and Jane continued to live at Worton until their deaths. They lived through a succession of Stuart monarchs and into the reign of George I.

Burials. St Oswald, Askrigg.
1722 May 19  Richard Nichalson of Worton householder
Richard was probably in his sixties.
1725 Feb 20  Jane Nichalson of Worton widow.

 

[1] https://yorkshiredaleshistory.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/33-26-john-duckett-worton-1687.pdf