imployed partly for the maintenance and education of the said children, and partly for the raysing up of the porcons laid out in the purchase. And for the remaynder of the said estate I leave itt to the discretion of my said Executors to leave it to which of the children they shall thincke most fitt. Item if I in my life time shall purchase any such estate, my will is, that my said Executors shall have power to pay out of the said porcons such somes as shall be left unpaid at the time of my death for and toward the use aforesaid. Item my will is that my said Executors shall have power to imploye the said porcons of my said children or any part of them for the placing of them in schooles of learning or bindinge them out Apprentices as they shall see fittest for them. Item my will is that if any of my children die before they come to the age of one and twenty yeares, that then their whole porcons or what shall remayne not disposed of shall be equally devided and given to the surviving children. Lastly I doe ordaine and constitute Elizabeth my wife Mr. John Byon my father in lawe Mr. Samuell Periam my brother in lawe Mr. Robert Balch my brother to be Executors in trust of this my last Will and Testament, and for their paynes I give unto each of them twentie shillings to buy a ringe, and satisfaction out of my estate for what expense they shall be at in pformance of this said trust. In Wittness whereof I have sett my hand and Seale the day and yeare above written. Thomas Balch./ Sealed published and delivered in the presence of Ro: Sydenhm George Peppin, John Grase."

At the time this will was proved it was endorsed as follows:

"Probatum fuit Testamentum suprascriptum apud London Coram venli viro dno Nathanaele Brent milite legum dcore Curie Prerogativæ Mro sive Custode Itime constitut Undecimo die Mensis Septembris Anno Dni Millmo Sexcenmo Quadragesimo Octavo Jurament Elizabethæ Balch relce dci def et unius Execut in hmoi testamento noiat Cui Comissa fuit Administraco oium et singulorum bonorum jurium et creditorum dci def de bene et fidelr administrand eadem Ad sca Dei Evangelia Vigore Comissionis in ea parte emanat jurat. Reservata ptate similem Comissionem faciend Johanni Byam Samueli Perriam et Robto Balch Executor fiduciar in testamento pred etiam noiat cum venerint seu eorum alter venerit eand petitur."

The Rev. Thomas Balch married Elizabeth Byam, daughter of the Rev. John Byam, whose estate divers inhabitants of Dulverton sought to have sequestrated because, as they alleged, the Rev. John Byam had adhered during the Civil War to the King's side. But the commissioners appointed by Parliament to pass judgment upon cases of sequestration confirmed the Rev. John Byam in his estate as his accusers failed to make good their charges.

To the honorable the Commissioners for Compounding with Delinquents The humble petition of the parisoners of Dulverton in ye County of Summerset.61

Sheweth

That whereas the parsonage of Dulverton in the County of Summersett being lyable to sequestration,

01 State Papers Domestic Interregnum. Volume G. 81 fo. 317.