A Note on the Discovery of the Original Will of Captain John Smith: With a Verbatim Transcription

Abstract

N THE course of research work in England and on the Continent during late i966, I had occasion to obtain a photostatic copy of a will transcribed in volume Windebank 72 of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in Somerset House, London. While waiting for a correction to be made, I exchanged a few words with Miss Alice Stanley in the Literary Department, Principal Probate Registry, and during our conversation mentioned that it would be valuable for scholars on occasion to see signatures of testators. These are not to be found in the official transcriptions. At this, Miss Stanley informed me that she had been working for some months on a number of dust-laden boxes, long resting in storage, and had unearthed many early original wills. Were there any specific ones which I would like to see? Since it was late in the day, and I was leaving for New York in thirty-six hours, I hesitated, but on second thought came up with a question. Could she find the will of Captain John Smith, of Virginia fame? Miss Stanley answered that she had always been interested in Captain Smith, and that she would a look. Since I had to return the next day for my photostat, she volunteered to have a Xerox copy of Smith's will made for me, if she found it. With profound thanks, I hurried off to go through the usual formalities for the copy. Smith's will would indeed be a find. The next day, Thanksgiving Day, I returned to Somerset House, and to the easily imaginable excitement of both of us, Miss Stanley produced the will, which I could quickly identify as being that of Captain John: the text corresponded with the recorded transcript, the witnesses were those already known to anyone interested in Smith, and so on. Unquestionably, the most interesting aspect of this document, seen again for the first time in three centuries or more, was the obvious rea-