Will of Rev. Henry Scudder of Collingbourne Ducis 1651
dated 20 February 1651[1]
Reprinted from ©Scudder Searches, v. V, no. 1, (Winter 1993) 7-9.
Rev. Henry Scudder [2]
For centuries, Rev. Henry Scudder has been the most famous Scudder in England because of his book, The Christian’s Daily Walk in Holy Security and Peace. For two hundred years, this book was a staple in many Christian households on both sides of the Atlantic. American Scudders, and other authors, had long speculated about what relationship, if any, he might have had to the Scudder family in America. It was not until the 1920s, that a great-granddaughter of Dr. John Scudder, the original missionary to India, found a copy of the will of Rev. Scudder to share with the Scudder Association. The American Scudders will always be grateful to Helen Booraem (Scudder) Bouchier for helping us to discover our accurate roots.[3]
Rev. Henry1 Scudder’s[4] will fortuitously refers to his brother Thomas1 (T) and family in New England and to his “cousins,” John Scudder and Elizabeth Lathrop, also in New England.[5] Rev. Henry’s will of 1651 also devises to his daughters some properties mentioned in the wills of WilliamA Scudder, Yeoman of Darenth [his uncle] and of his father, HenryA Scudder, Yeoman of Horton Kirby, Kent. The three sons of HenryA Scudder that are mentioned in his will are named in WilliamA’s will as sons of his “deceased brother Henry.” See these links to transcriptions of these wills for easy comparison. Will of William1 Scudder and will of HenryA Scudder.
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Will of Rev Henry Scudder
[1] “Will of Henry Scudder of Collingbourne Ducis 1651,” Scudder Searches, Scudder Association, volume V, no. 1, (Winter 1993), 7–9. Retranscribed for this issue by Simon J. Skudder of Bristol.
Please also see Scudder Searches, Scudder Association, volume V, no. 2, (Summer 1993), “Correction,” p. 2 that corrects the mistaken interpretation of where Savernake is that appeared in the Winter 1993 issue:
“In Scudder Searches, Vol V, No 1, page 7, we published a new transcription by Simon J Skudder of the will of the Reverend Henry Scudder of Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire. At the top of the third page (page 9 of the issue), Simon identified a house and fifty and one-half acres of land ‘lying in the great parke in Savernarke’ owned and being bequeathed to his heirs by the Rev Henry, as lying in Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent. Simon has recently discovered a park at Savernake in Wiltshire, about eight miles north of Collingbourne Ducis, which he feels is far more likely to have been the correct location of the Rev Henry’s land.”
[2] “Henry Scudder,” by William Sherwin, 1674 engraving, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Scudder.jpg.
[3] See “Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Time Again to Separate Scudder Facts from Fiction,” Scudder Family Historical & Biographical Journal,” (April 2019). Also “Past Scudder Association Historians,” Scudder Searches, volume 6, no. 2, (Summer 1996): 3–6.
[4] The letter “A” is not an initial but a generational designation.This will assist in clearing up some confusion in print about the relationships among the immigrants. HenryA’s sons Rev. Henry1, Thomas1 and John1 will share the same generational number “1” to show their proper relationships. Therefore, their children will be generation “2”. There has been confusion about the relationships between Thomas1 (T), John2 (J) and Elizabeth2 (E) because of their immigrant ancestor status designating them as “American Scudder generation 1” to each of their descendant lines but they were not the same generation in the family structure.
[5] John and Elizabeth were Thomas1’s niece and nephew.
©Scudder Association Foundation, June, 2019 All rights reserved