No. 12.
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF GOVERNOR PARKE.
It may not be uninteresting to some of my readers to peruse a copy of the will of that unhappy man, Governor Parke: it is here inserted. It is worthy of notice, that anxious as Col. Parke was to perpetuate his name, it has become utterly extinct. The latter sentence of his will was written upon the morning of the very day in which he met his fate:—
“In the name of God, Amen. I, Daniel Parke, Capt.-Gen. and Chief Governor, &c., of all the Leeward Islands, make this, my last Will and Testament, in manner following: (Imprimis, I bequeath my soul to Almighty God.) I give all my estate in these islands, both land and houses, negroes, debts, and so forth, to Thos. Long, Esq. and Mister Ceasar Rodney, for the use of Mistress Lucy Chester, being the daughter of Mistress Katharine Chester,[[85]] though she is not yet christened, and if her mother thinks fit to call her after any other name, I still doe bequeath all my estate in the four islands of my government to her; but in case she dies before she attains the age of twenty-one years, then I bequeath the same to her mother, Mistress Katharine Chester, that it shall be and remain in the hands of my loving friends, Collonel Thos. Long and Mister Ceasar Rodney, the produce of the same to be paid into her own hands, but to no other person whatsoever, and after the decease of the said Mistress Katharine Chester, then I bequeath the same to my godson, Julius Ceasar Parke, and his heirs for ever, but in case the said youngest daughter of the said Mistress Katharine Chester lives to marry and have children, I give the whole to her eldest son, and the heirs male of his body, and for the want of such heirs, to her second son’s son, and the heirs of his body, and for want of such, to her next, and so on to her heir, provided still, he that heirs itt, calls himself by the name of Parke; and my will is, that the said youngest daughter of Mistress Katharine Chester alter her name, and that she calls herself by the name of Parke, and that whosoever shall marry her, calls himself by the name of Parke, and that she and the heirs of her body, themselves by the name of Parke, and use my coat of arms which is yet of my family of the county of Essex, but in case she refuses, or her heirs, to call themselves by the name of Parke, then my will is, that all my estate, both real and personal, go to my godson, Julius Ceasar Parke, to him and the heirs of his body for ever, and for want of such heirs, to the heirs of my daughter Francis Curtis, and for want of such heirs, to the heirs of the body of my daughter Lucy Bird, always provided whoever shall enjoy this my estate, shall call themselves by the names of Parke.
“Item, I give to my daughter Francis Curtis, all my estate, both real and personal, either in Virginia or England, and the heirs of her body, provided they shall call themselves by the name of Parke, and for want of such heirs, to the heirs of the body of my daughter Lucy Bird, and for want of such heirs, to the heirs of the body of the youngest daughter, now living, of Mistress Katharine Chester, and for want of such heirs, to the heirs of the body of Julius Ceasar Parke, provided still, that whoever has this my estate shall call themselves by the name of Parke, and in case of failure of heirs, or that they refuse to call themselves by the name of Parke, then my Will is, that my estate go to the poor of the parish of White Church, in Hampshire, but my Will is, that my daughter Francis Curtis pay out of my estate in Hampshire and Virginia, the following legacies and all my debts, that is, to my daughter Lucy Bird, one thousand pounds sterling; to my godson Julius Ceasar Parke, fifty pounds sterling each year during his life; to my three sisters and their children, fifty pounds to buy them rings; and to my Executors, hereafter named in England, each twenty pounds, and my Will is, that Thos. Long, Esq. of this island, and Mister Ceasar Rodney, and Major Saml. Byam, be my Executors in trust for the performance of what is to be done with my estate in the Leeward Islands; and that Micajah Perry, Esq., Mister Thomas Laws, and Mr. Richard Perry, of London, merchant, be Executors in trust for the performance of what is to be done in England and Virginia, and I doe hereby Revoke all former Wills, Declaring this to be my last Will and Testament, being writ with all my owne hand, signed and sealed in St John’s, in Antigua, the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord, One thousand seven hundred nine and ten.
“Sealed, published, and Declared to be his Will and Testament,
Daniel Parke.
“In the presence of us,
“Herbert Pember,
“John Birmingham,
“William Martin.
“December the seventh. One thousand seven hundred and ten, I doe appoint in the room of Collonel Thos. Long, deceased, Mister Abraham Redwood to be one of my Executors in trust, to see this my Will performed.
“Daniel Parke.
“By the Honourable Walter Hamilton, Esq., Lieut-Gen. and Commander-in-Chief in and over all her Majesty’s Leeward Charibbe Islands in America, and ordering of the same for the time being, December twentieth, One thousand seven hundred and ten.
“Then Hubert Pember, of the said island, Esq., and William Martin, of the town of St. John’s, vintner, personally came and appeared before me, and made oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, that they were present, and did see his late Excellency Daniel Parke, Esq., late Capt. Gen. and Governor-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands, sign, seal, publish, and declare the within instrument of writing, as and for his last Will and Testament, and were subscribing witnesses to the same, and that the said Daniel Parke was then of perfect mind, memory, and understanding, to the best of their judgment and knowledge.
“Sworn before me the day and year above written,
“Walter Hamilton. “Robt. Pember.
“Wm. Martin.”
[[85]] Wife of Edward Chester, Esq.
No. 13.
ACCOUNT OF THE MACKINNON FAMILY.
This Dr. Mackinnon (mentioned page 81, vol. 1,) was the second son of Lacklin More Mac’kinnon, chieftain of the powerful Highland clan of the Mac’Kinnons. He was the founder of the Mackinnon family in Antigua; and as his estates in that island are still in the hands of his representative, Wm. Alex. Mackinnon, Esq., a short account of that gentleman’s lineal descent, from the celebrated Dr. Mackinnon, may not prove superfluous.
Genealogy.
Dr. Daniel Mackinnon, of Dickenson’s Bay, Antigua, member of the legislature in that island, representing the town of St. John’s in the assembly convened 22 May, 1710, and one of the most influential men of his day, m. Alice, dau. of William Thomas, Esq. of Antigua, and ancestor of the present Sir George Thomas, Bart., by whom he had issue,
i. William, of whom hereafter.
ii. Charles, m. the dau. of —— Cunningham, Esq., of St. Christopher’s, by whom he had issue.
iii. Elizabeth, m. at St. John’s, Antigua, 28 April, 1708, 1st, Francis Carlisle, Esq. of Antigua, the second of the name in that island, by whom she had a dau., Alice, who m. Ralph Payne, Esq. of St. Christopher’s, (nephew of Sir Charles Payne, created a baronet in 1737,) and who, on her decease, m. 2ndly, Margaret Galway, and by her had Admiral John Payne, and Gen. Sir William Payne, who m. Lady Harriet Quin, dau. of the Earl of Dunraven, and who, in 1814, took the name of Galway. He was succeeded by his son, the present Baronet in 1831.) But by Alice Carlisle, the first wife of the aforesaid Ralph Payne, he had Sir Ralph Payne, K.B., late Lord Lavington, of whom a more ample detail will be found in another place (vide page 136, and [Appendix No. 15].) Elizabeth (the dau. of Dr. Daniel Mackinnon above mentioned) m. 2ndly, at a very advanced age, John Gray, of Antigua, Esq.
i. William Mackinnon, son and heir, succeeded his father, Daniel Mackinnon, born in 1697, died 8 Oct. 1767, and was buried in Abbey Church, Bath, where there is a monument erected to his memory, m. Charity, second dau. of William Yeamans, of Mill Hill, Antigua, by whom he left issue,
i. William, son and heir, of whom hereafter.
ii. Elizabeth, m. Thomas Fraser, Esq., M.D., of Antigua, by whom she had, 1. William-Mackinnon Fraser, of London and of Bath; 2. Jane, m. to Charles Grant, Esq., chairman of the Hon. East India Company, by whom she had the present Lord Glenelg; 3. Charity, m. to William Chambers, Esq. M.D., by whom she was the mother of the celebrated physician of the same name now living. To revert to the son,
i. William Mackinnon, (the son of William, by his wife, Charity Yeamans,) who m. Dorothy, the dau. of Henry Vernon, Esq., of an ancient family of that name, in Staffordshire, and had issue,
i. William, of whom presently.
ii. Daniel, Esq., barrister-at-law, who m. Rachel, dau. of Thomas Eliot, Esq., and had issue.
iii. Henry, major-general in the army, who was slain at Badajos, Spain, by the explosion of a mine, leaving, by Catharine, his wife, dau. of Sir John Call, Bart., (since re-married to A. R. Prior, Esq.,) 1. George, a colonel in the army, and of the Coldstream Regt. of Guards, and 2. Donald, captain in — Regt. of Infantry.
i. William, the eldest son, m. Harriott, the dau. of Francis Ffrye, of Bermudian Valley, Antigua, Esq., by whom he had,
i. William-Alexander, now a most able and useful M.P., representing Lymington, in Hampshire, m. to Emma, dau. of Joseph Palmer, Esq.
ii. Daniel, colonel in the Coldstream regt. of Guards.
iii. Harriott, the wife of the Rev. Dr. Molesworth, rector of Rochdale, in Lancashire.