Post by donne on Aug 26, 2018 5:20:36 GMT -5
I have already posted information on the board of Paskow Dun's litigation in the Court of Chancery involving properties in Camborne and recently I've noticed another such document in TNA's Discovery catalogue involving his descendants in neighbouring St. Erth. The document in question is TNA C10/203/34 involving John Donn and John Donn of St Erth as plaintiffs, suing John Borlace and others, dated to 1681. I've always found these court documents very interesting with always the chance that they will shed some light on family connections, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to visit TNA recently and come home with photographs which were just about adequate for me to understand the gist of the documents.
I discovered that the two Donns mentioned were father and son - "John Donn the Elder and John Donn his sonne" and the document identifies them as the son and grandson respectively of Alexander and Sephronia. As such they would not be in my direct family line as I understand it but still of great interest to me. The litigation concerns the temement of 'porcolum als porcollam' in the parish of St Erth. On modern maps the placename still exists as Porthcolumb, and students of the 17th century Donne family in St Erth will recognise this as having been mentioned in Pascow Dun's will in which it is left to his son Alexander. It would appear that Alexander had gifted the family's estate in Porthcolumb to his son John prior to his death, because in his will Alexander says that his son John 'has already been provided for' and is left a token 12 pence and an obligation to pay £30 to be divided equally amongst a named brother and several sisters.
In the court papers, as the plaintiff, John Donn the Elder provides further details of his interest in Porthcolumb, saying that he held the tenement for the remainder of a 99 year lease determinable on the lives of himself, his father Alexander and mother Sephronia. The remainder of the lease was transferred to him on his marriage, 'twenty years or so ago' - around 1661, though Alexander's will mentions a deed of 1669 which is likely to refer to this transfer. The bill also states that Alexander and Sephronia had died 'some five years ago' making John Donn the Elder the sole remaining life. Since the dispute with John Borlace had its root in the the terms of a loan of £40 which John Donn the Elder had of John Borlace in 1677, it's a possibiity that the requirement for the money arose because of John Donn's need to distribute the £30 amongst his siblings as required by his father's will (Alexander died in 1677).
I have never found dates for a baptism or marriage for John Donn the elder or an unambiguous record of the baptism of a John which I could be sure was his son. And is there a record of the marriage of John Donn the younger? - the court papers seem to imply that there was a prospect of an advantageous marriage which would solve the family's financial problems. I was hoping that the papers may provide some clues but the imprecision of the dating (John Donn the elder is described as being of age 'about three score years') doesn't really help to narrow down the window in which to look. I would welcome any suggestions.
In the bill presented to the Court, the two Donns complain that John Borlace conspired to swindle them out of their interest in Porthcolumb by lending them money on unreasonable terms and not allowing them to redeem the loan made to them on the security of their estate in the Portcolumb lease. They further complain that pressure was put on them to comply by John Borlace conspiring with others (William Donn of Germoe, Humphrey Millett, Thomas Holbert and John Richardson) to have them both imprisoned for other money owed. I fear they were out-gunned legally because John Borlace replies to their bill with quite the longest legal document I have ever seen in the archives, consisting of two large pieces of parchment stitched together along one edge and making a sheet approaching six feet in length. I don't know the outcome of the litigation, but any interest by the family in the tenement of Porthcolumb would have probably disappeared on the death (unknown date) of John Donn the Elder, the sole remaining life mentioned in the lease.
I discovered that the two Donns mentioned were father and son - "John Donn the Elder and John Donn his sonne" and the document identifies them as the son and grandson respectively of Alexander and Sephronia. As such they would not be in my direct family line as I understand it but still of great interest to me. The litigation concerns the temement of 'porcolum als porcollam' in the parish of St Erth. On modern maps the placename still exists as Porthcolumb, and students of the 17th century Donne family in St Erth will recognise this as having been mentioned in Pascow Dun's will in which it is left to his son Alexander. It would appear that Alexander had gifted the family's estate in Porthcolumb to his son John prior to his death, because in his will Alexander says that his son John 'has already been provided for' and is left a token 12 pence and an obligation to pay £30 to be divided equally amongst a named brother and several sisters.
In the court papers, as the plaintiff, John Donn the Elder provides further details of his interest in Porthcolumb, saying that he held the tenement for the remainder of a 99 year lease determinable on the lives of himself, his father Alexander and mother Sephronia. The remainder of the lease was transferred to him on his marriage, 'twenty years or so ago' - around 1661, though Alexander's will mentions a deed of 1669 which is likely to refer to this transfer. The bill also states that Alexander and Sephronia had died 'some five years ago' making John Donn the Elder the sole remaining life. Since the dispute with John Borlace had its root in the the terms of a loan of £40 which John Donn the Elder had of John Borlace in 1677, it's a possibiity that the requirement for the money arose because of John Donn's need to distribute the £30 amongst his siblings as required by his father's will (Alexander died in 1677).
I have never found dates for a baptism or marriage for John Donn the elder or an unambiguous record of the baptism of a John which I could be sure was his son. And is there a record of the marriage of John Donn the younger? - the court papers seem to imply that there was a prospect of an advantageous marriage which would solve the family's financial problems. I was hoping that the papers may provide some clues but the imprecision of the dating (John Donn the elder is described as being of age 'about three score years') doesn't really help to narrow down the window in which to look. I would welcome any suggestions.
In the bill presented to the Court, the two Donns complain that John Borlace conspired to swindle them out of their interest in Porthcolumb by lending them money on unreasonable terms and not allowing them to redeem the loan made to them on the security of their estate in the Portcolumb lease. They further complain that pressure was put on them to comply by John Borlace conspiring with others (William Donn of Germoe, Humphrey Millett, Thomas Holbert and John Richardson) to have them both imprisoned for other money owed. I fear they were out-gunned legally because John Borlace replies to their bill with quite the longest legal document I have ever seen in the archives, consisting of two large pieces of parchment stitched together along one edge and making a sheet approaching six feet in length. I don't know the outcome of the litigation, but any interest by the family in the tenement of Porthcolumb would have probably disappeared on the death (unknown date) of John Donn the Elder, the sole remaining life mentioned in the lease.