Joseph ALSTON [3505]

  General Notes:

Joseph was a minor on the 8th June 1689.

Joseph with his sisters are not mentioned in there fathers will, Cresswell conjectures the will may have been made in a hurry, Joseph being in extremis?.

However the extremis is likely to have been financial, Joseph is described below in a suit dated 1704/5 by his cousin Sir Joseph [3235] as:
Joseph "was a very extravagant young man, not likely to be in a capacity to retrieve the said estate, and had already contracted debts of his own, which rendered him unable to go out publicly for fear of being arrested, (Sir Joseph) thought it advisable to absolutely sell the said estate, which proposal was readily embraced by his uncle. Before Joseph the son would consent to join in a conveyance, he bargained for the sum of L400 for his own uses ; and with his mother Mary informed Orator he would never consent to the sale unless he received security for the payment of the said sum.
Orator thereupon gave his bond in a penal sum of L800 to secure the said payment; and moreover paid him the L400 a full year before he received a penny of the purchase money.
And afterwards the said Joseph fell into a crazed condition, acquired by his excessive intemperance, whereupon his mother placed him with one Glaudus Galhard, a person noted for curing lunatics ; who sued Orator for L112 for the said Joseph's maintenance. etc etc."

This suit gives a further idea of Joseph's behaviour - see Sir Joseph [3235])
Deponents evidence is to the effect that 10 or 11 years since the defendant Joseph was compos mentis, unless he was " in drink." One deponent was told by the said Joseph that he only pretended to he mad, because he had no money or credit wherewith he might maintain himself.

ALSTON v. ALSTON.
Bill, 8 June 1689, by Joseph, John, James, Elizabeth, Anne, Clare and Margaret Alston, children of Edward Alston of Lowton, co. Bucks., all under the age of 21, by the said Edward Alston their father, v. Dame Elizabeth Alston and Sir Joseph Alston.
They claim legacies under the will of their grandfather, Sir Joseph Alston, late of Chelsea, bart., decd.
The genealogical matter is as in Alston v. Alston (Reynardson 301/1 1704/5).
Reynardson 301/3 1689
Alstoniana Page 183