We have tried to ensure the correct will for a person associated with Cook has been presented here. An unconventional name (to our ears anyway) such as Noble Arrowsmith presented little problem, as did entries that listed the man as serving on the Endeavour. Common names though, such as Thomas Jones, throw up many possibilities and it is nearly impossible to determine the correct one. Other problems stem from spelling, which was not standard at the time so that a name would vary depending on who recorded it. Many of the seamen were illiterate and would not have known who to spell their own name. John Reading, for example, appeared variously as Reading, Redding and Readon. John Baptista's will was found under John Baptisto after using some lateral thinking and the fuzzy search option on the database.
The wills reproduced here represent searches of the National Archives database, which, as yet, contains largely the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury covering principally southern England and Wales (originally the Anglican ecclesiastical province of Canterbury. Gradually the search will be extended to other repositories such as York, Edinburgh and Belfast when they become available online. The wills of some men will never be found. Some men will have never lodged a will, others will have lodged them in other countries, and yet others will have belonged to othe religious denominations.
Searches can be performed on DocumentsOnline and more information can be found at Topics: Wills from the Family Records Centre and About the Wills.
Cliff Thornton, in the U.K., has done the real work, including locating and transcribing the documents. The originals in longhand and the script of the time had little in the way of punctuation and layout. The versions reproduced here have been made more legible thanks to Cliff who has introduced punctuation and broken the text up into paragraphs.
Eventually I hope to reproduce many more of them on these pages.
To see information about associates of Cook click on
Cook Wills
To see information about wills of men who sailed with Cook A to D. click on
Crews' wills 1: A to D
To see information about wills of men who sailed with Cook E to L. click on
Crews' wills 2: E to L
To see information about wills of men who sailed with Cook M to R. click on
Crews' wills 3: M to R
To see information about wills of men who sailed with Cook S to Z. click on
Crews' wills 4: S to Z
The following list records the database entries located so far, thought to be for men who sailed with James Cook. To see a will, click on the person's name.