Jonas Pinsent: 1609 – 1658 DRO0107 (Clerk of the Court of King’s Bench, Bovey Tracey, Devon)
1) Katherine Langworthy: xxxx – 1635
Married: 1634: Loddiswell, Devon
2) Grace Langdon: xxxx – 1670
Married: xxxx: xxxx, xxxx
Children by Grace Langdon:
Jonas Pinsent: 1649 – xxxx
Richard Pinsent: 1642 – xxxx
Family Branch: Combe
PinsentID: DRO0107
Jonas Pinsent was the son of an attorney who served on the Court of Kings Bench, at Westminster and on the Western Circuit. He came from a farm in Ilsington but settled in the town of Bovey Tracey, where his son Jonas grew up with four brothers (Edward, Thomas, Ellis, and John) whose lives are discussed elsewhere as well as three sisters (Amy, Elizabeth and Johanna). Perhaps surprisingly, all but Amy grew to maturity.
Jonas Pinsent “junior” received an education and most likely followed his father into the legal profession, although the details of his life are hard to unravel – particularly insofar as they overlap with those of his similarly named father. However, he was said to be a “Clerk of His Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench” (C2/CHASI/D41/61) in 1638 and to have acted “being the attorney in the said action of Maurice Shepherd and Richard Marlborough” (C10/28/129) in 1652.
Jonas married twice: his first wife, Katherine Langworthy of Hatch Arundell, in Loddiswell, was said to be the “heiress of Carswell” and clearly came from a wealthy family. The couple married in 1634 but Katherine died the following May – perhaps in childbirth. They seems to have had a complex marriage settlement that somehow allowed Jonas’s family to retained some influence in Loddiswell after her death as Jonas’s uncle, Edward Pinsent (son of Jonas’s grandfather Jonas Pinsent by his wife, Elizabeth) was appointed vicar of Loddiswell in 1643.
Jonas was later to marry Grace Langdon of Bigbury; however, as discussed below, I do not know when or where. Jonas’s father, Jonas Pinsent “senior” died in 1637 he appointed Thomas Orchard as his executor, and made his son, Jonas “junior” (as he had been), his principal heir. He became a rich man, although much of his estate seems to have been tied up in the marriage settlement he made with the Langworthy family. For instance, Jonas and the (late) Katherine were said to be: “seized in a messuage in Henstreete including three orchards, three gardens and twenty acres in Bovey Tracey, as well as Hynes land, Prowse’s land, Park and right of pasture and turbary on Bovey Heath. Some of which property was conveyed to Thomas Pinder (now deceased) for 99 years on 20th June 1651, for £250 pounds.” Given the encumbered nature of his estate, Jonas had had to post a bond to cover his mother’s jointure, or widow’s rights and his father’s bequest of £150 each to his two sisters.
Jonas’s father was a friend of Simon Spatchurst, a “clerk of the assize on the Western Circuit” and Jonas had acted as a surety when Simon borrowed some money from a man named Johan Wells that was, unfortunately, still not fully repaid when Simon died, intestate. Jonas’s father, Jonas “senior,” had died shortly afterwards (in 1637) and it had fallen to Jonas Pinsent to apply for letters of administration to handle Simon’s estate and to deal with his father’s probate!
Jonas took responsibility for Simon’s son, Simon Spatchurst “junior,” until his seventeenth birthday, when he came “off age”. Johan Wells also seems to have died as it was his executor, James Davenport, who sued Jonas in the Court of Kings Bench over the outstanding portion of Simon Spatchurst “senior’s” debt. The issue made its way to the Court of Chancery the following year. Jonas “junior” paid Mr. Davenport £50 out of the Spatchurst estate and explained that, although Simon “senior’s” estate was valued at over £5,200 he had debts amounting to £4,100 and his financial entanglements would take time to sort out. Mr. Davenport would have to wait for the rest! Besides, Simon “junior” was now of full age and should take responsibility for his father’s debts C2-CHASI-D41-61 & D58-9).
If that were not enough, a bond that Jonas’s father had signed with the Pearse family for the “true and just dealings” of John Pearse “junior,” of Warkley, as treasurer of Lyons Inn (one of the lesser Inns of Court) came into dispute. Evidently, John Pearse was less than honest in his dealings! The litigation did not go well for anyone. William Cross, Nicholas Senior, John Tailor, William Warman and John Ollivant sued Jonas Pinsent “senior” and “junior” on several occasions on behalf of the “Ancients, Fellows and Students of the Society of Lyon’s Inn” in an attempt to recover their losses.
Mr. Cross and the others sued Jonas “junior” over the tenements at North and South Preston in Warkley he had inherited from his father, who had received them after calling in his bond with the Pearse family. They had used them as securities. Unfortunately for Jonas “junior” there were other people who either had, or felt they had, a right to the same tenements! Jonas “senior” had several debts of his own that needed paying and Jonas “junior’s” right to North and South Preston was also challenged by a Mr. Germyn and others. Some of the depositions and interrogatories have survived and they provide illustrate the complexity of the issue C2/CHASI/L65/160, C2/CHASI/L67/150, C3/CHASI/C123/125, C22/618/53 & (C2/CHASI/G52/49). Jonas somehow managed to hold on to the Warkley tenements and, following the death of John Pearce, in 1650, he paid a “heriot” of £5 to the Earl of Bath for them in June 1650 (Devon Household Accounts: 1625-1659: Pt. II: Henry, 5th Earl of Bath and Rachel Countess of Bath: 1637-1655).
Thomas Rollestone, who was a clerk and a member of Lyon’s Inn had had an on-going dispute with Jonas Pinsent “senior” before he died. He said he had acted in court for Jonas for many years and was owed £113 when Jonas died. Thomas looked to Jonas “junior” and his mother for satisfaction, and sued them in the Court of Chancery in 1641. His depositions show that he admitted that Jonas had indeed paid him £40 in 1628 and had given him bills payable for the rest. However, he said that he had done more work for him since then and he was owed another £17.
The case must have become quite acrimonious as Thomas had, at one point, arranged for the Under Sheriff for Devon to arrest Jonas while he was in Chudleigh. Elizabeth deposed that her husband had told her that he owed Thomas Rollestone money, but he had also said that Thomas owed him money – the amount was not stated. Elizabeth said that her husband’s personal (as opposed to real) estate amounted to only £180 and he was, or had been, indebted to other people. She said her children had received no cash legacies and she had only received her jointure interest in the family house, on Henstreete, in Bovey Tracey (C6/124/109 & C6/124/112).
Her son, Jonas, added that one of the problems he encountered it trying to settle his father’s affairs was that much of his father’s property had been encumbered when brought into his own marriage settlement with the Langworthy family in 1634. He said that the £150 bequests that his sisters, Elizabeth and Johanna were to receive, had already been dealt with through the financial restructuring that came with the settlement. However, some years later, in 1658, Jonas’s father’s executor, Mr. Orchard, accused Jonas of confederating with his mother, Elizabeth, and with his sisters and brothers-in-law regarding the extent of Elizabeth’s jointure (C6/159/103). Thomas Orchard, claimed that the size of the jointure had been misrepresented and Jonas had signed a bond concerning the two bequests of £150 given to Elizabeth – the wife of William Cullinge, and Johanne – wife of Nicholas Burchill.
Jonas also said that his father had sold the tenement in Bovey Tracey he bought from the Wills brothers. Nevertheless, he must have retained some of it as Ambrose Wills sued Jonas’s grandson! – yet another Jonas – over it in 1660 (C5/538/98). The “senior” Jonas had also acquired the reversion of a tenement in Holne, Devon, from the Earl of Bath, “having been a long time then before steward of several manors of the said Earl”. Presumably his son, Jonas, still held on to the reversion (C6/124/109 & C6/124/112).
Jonas and his sister Elizabeth Cullinge (Collings) were sued on another matter in 1653. Ellinor Churchwell sued them over Jeffrey Christopher’s estate. He had who died in 1646 leaving Jonas as his executor (C2/CHASI/P24/50 & C10/28/65). Jonas testified that Jeffery was his “natural” (therefor half-brother). He claimed that Jeffrey owed him money and told him there was £260 at his house – however, all he could find was £12 or £13 and he strongly suspected that Jeffrey’s sisters had taken the rest. They, of course, denied it.
Jeffrey held two leases on lives: one that he gave to Jonas and Elizabeth (Cullinge), and one in North Bovey that he gave to his nephew, Nicholas Beare. He also made several cash legacies, some of which Jonas refused to fully pay after discovering that a judgment of £223 had been made against the estate. He gave Ellinor £10, not the £20 she expected and he begrudged her that as he felt that she was implicated in the removal of items from Jeffrey’s house.
To make matters worse, John Wilmeade argued that Jeffrey Christopher’s late wife, Mary, had had several children by an earlier marriage to Richard Wilmeade and Jeffrey had, he said, signed a bond in 1610 that protected their interests. They were each to get £20 when they reached the age of 22 years. John was not sure that one of Mary’s sons, William, had ever received his bequest as he had been away at sea (C10/16/135).
Jeffrey’s death also caused other complications. Nicholas Beare, who under the terms of the will received Jeffrey’s estate at “Sandwich,” in North Bovey, accused Jonas of undervaluing it. He assessed the property at £2,500 pounds in 1647, and said the associated plate, money and goods alone were worth between £700 and £800 pounds. Nicholas also accused Jonas’s wife Elizabeth and his daughter, also named Elizabeth, of taking his ready money. They denied the claim and said they held no more money in trust for Jeffrey than the “two purses with ten pounds which they returned to him shortly after” (C6/102/21).
Nicholas Beare may have lived to regret making his extravagant claim of the value of the property. The “Committee for Compounding” – that fined Royalists for their support of King Charles I – caught up with him and fined him for his involvement in the Royalist cause in 1653. He paid half of the fine but asked to be let off the other half, as he said he was only “renting” his erstwhile uncle’s tenement in North Bovey. He claimed it actually belonged to Jonas! Whether he got away with that, I do not know.
Jonas was a major landholder in his own right. In addition to his “Capital Mansion” or house on Henstreet, in Bovey Tracey, he held on to the two leasehold tenements in Warkley (North and South Preston) that he had inherited and paid L 90 13s 7d to the Earl of Bath’s agent for them, at least for the years 1647, 1648 and 1649. (Devon Household Accounts: 1627-1659; Pt. II). Jonas also, acquired “one messuage, 60 acres of land 10 acres meadow, 3 acres wood, and 40 acres marsh with their appurtenances” at Modbury Park from John Hele in 1647. This was by means of a “false lawsuit” – a way of breaking the entail of a property.
Jonas married Grace Langdon, daughter of Richard Langdon, of Bigbury, sometime after Katherine died. I do not know when. Interestingly, documents submitted to the “Committee for Advance of Money” in 1651/2 show that Jonas and his Langdon father-in-law both held for the King during the civil war: Richard Langdon and Jonas Pinsent were tried for “delinquency“. Evidently, “Langdon was in arms, and very active against the Plymouth garrison….” and Pinsent “was clerk to the Kings Commissioners at Exeter and fined those who acted against him”. Fortunately for Jonas he was discharged under the Act of Pardon of March 1653. Jonas, had, in his legal capacity written to the same committee in late 1651 concerning an assessment of £400 that it made against John Fortescue of Fallowpit. He told them that he was his executor, and that John had died before the assessment had been made.
Jonas Pinsent and Grace (nee Langdon) held a lease on a small parcel of land called “Bridge Marsh” on the west side of the bridge over the Bovey River, in the town of Bovey Tracey, from 1651 to 1657, when they sold it to Hugh Baker of Ilsington for £23. There are several documents concerning the property in the Devon Records Office (Ref. 312M/TH/212-217). This piece of land may have been included among the six properties belonging to “Edward Pinsent’s Heirs” for which Jonas paid the Borough £10 10s in taxes in 1655 (The Borough of Bovey Tracey Court Books: D1-508M/Manor/Bovey Tracey/1). He paid a separate charge of 11s 5d for his own residence in Hind Street (Henstreete). His brother Edward, whose life is described elsewhere had, however, died three years earlier.
Grace may have been considerably younger than Jonas when they married. They had at least two children (boys) together that I know about, however, I do not know when or where and their dates of birth have had to be extrapolated from other evidence. They may have had other children, for all I know!
Jonas died in 1658 and “the death of Jonas Pinsent, gent:” was entered into Bovey Tracey [Borough] Court Books the following April (DRO D1 508M/Manor/Bovey Tracey]. This required a bit of book-keeping: “… We present Charles Heath to be a free tenant upon the alienation of part of Jonas Pinsent’s land” and “… We present Hugh Baker to be a free tenant in part of the lands late of Jonas Pinsent, gent.”
It was most likely Grace who had her hand slapped at the May 1659 meeting of the Bovey Tracey Borough Court (D1 508M/Manor/Bovey Tracey: “We continue the presentments of the Widow Pinsent’s wall against Thomas Comiam’s court, to be in decay and ought to be repaired by the said widow Pinsent”. She probably lived until around 1666. Grace and her sons Jonas and Richard both feature in legal issues after Jonas’s death. Their lives are discussed elsewhere.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Hugh Pinsent: 1540 – 1626
Grandmother: Johanna Woodley: xxxx – xxxx
Parents
Father: Jonas Pinsent: 1575 – 1637
Mother: Elizabeth Unknown: xxxx – xxxx
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Jonas Pinsent: 1575 – 1637
Peter Pinsent: 1576 – 1597
Rechord Pinsent: 1578 – xxxx
John Pinsent: xxxx – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1580 – xxxx
Margaret Pinsent: 1582 – xxxx
Mary Pinsent: xxxx – 1584
Thomas Pinsent: 1586 – xxxx
Agnes Pinsent: 1589 – xxxx
Hugh Pinsent: 1591 – xxxx
George Pinsent: 1593 – xxxx
Jane Pinsent: 1594 – xxxx
Matthew Pinsent: 1596 – 1616
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Jonas Pinsent: 1609 – 1658
Edward Pinsent: 1611 – 1652
Thomas Pinsent: 1615 – 1690
Ellis Pinsent: 1619 – 1681
John Pinsent: 1622 – 1648
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