104 THE STORY OF THE BETTISCOMBE SKULL. 



he left a widow, Mary, and an only son, who was appointed sole 

 executor. Substantial legacies were given to his grandson, 

 George William Pinney, at 21, and to his grand-daughter 

 Sophia at 18, and a smaller one to his nephew, Azariah Pinney, 

 of Bettiscombe. These two grand-children were, of course, 

 two of the three surviving children left by the testator's 

 only son, John Pinney, whose monumental slab exists in 

 Fig Tree Church, Nevis, already mentioned by me (in my 

 former paper), and who is there described (in Latin) as having 

 been born on May 3rd, 1686, and as having died on December 

 llth, 1720. The date of John's birth as here recorded gives 

 rise to rather interesting considerations. Did Mary, the wife 

 of Azariah Pinney, accompany her husband to Nevis on his 

 restoration to comparative freedom ? Who was she ? 



According to the monumental inscription in Fig Tree 

 Church there appears to have been another son of this John 

 surviving him ; and from the will of John Pinney's widow 

 Mary (nee Helme), we learn that this son w r as John Frederick 

 Pinnej 7 , then described as her only son, to whom she left 

 everything ; her other children (the two legatees under their 

 grandfather Azariah's will) being evidently then dead. This 

 will was proved in London by John Frederick Pinney, only 

 son and executor, in 1735. John Pinney, the father, seems 

 to have died before proving his father Azariah's will, or having 

 made one himself, and eventually administration to both 

 estates was taken out by John Frederick Pinney, the grandson, 

 in 1742. 



This John Frederick Pinney was then the sole lineal des- 

 cendant of Azariah Pinney, of Bettiscombe, nephew of 

 the Azariah Pinney, of Nevis, and heir to all the West 

 Indian properties. But he was also to become the heir to 

 the English family property as well under the will (made in 

 1758) of his cousin Azariah Pinney, of Bettiscombe, 

 nephew of Azariah Pinney, of Nevis, who, although he does 

 not seem to have possessed any West Indian estates himself, 

 was evidently a man of means, and rebuilt the old house at 

 Bettiscombe. He appears to have been married, for he 



