Joel Savell

Apparently resident slave-owner in Jamaica whose wife Sarah was living in the City of London (where she died c. 1800) when Savell made his will in 1786.

1. Will of Joel or Joell Savell planter of Trelawny proved 09/08/1787. In the will he left his wife Sarah of the City of London an annuity of £200 p.a. He left £1000 in trust for Ann Savell a 'free quadroon girl' now in Great Britain, she to receive the interest until 1794 when she was to be paid the principal. He instructed that Malcolm Beveridge should have the management of his estate for three years, and then it was to be sold for a minimum of £15,000, to be paid £3000 upfront and £12000 in annual instalments of £2000, with his residuary heir his sister Elizabeth Grange. His trustees and executors were John and James Palmer (who appear to have themselves bought the Acton estate).

2. The will was the subject of a subsequent suit Stapleton v Palmer in 1794, brought by [James] Stapleton, one of the sons-in-law, of Elizabeth Grange over the division of the residuary estate, of which he claimed one-fifth after her death. The account of the case, which described the testator as 'Joel Savile', shows the sale of the estate on 4th August 1791 for £11,600, but with a delayed conveyance during which Stapleton's wife Sarah died. Palmer, the defendant, who argued that Sarah's share was lost by her death before the conveyance was completed, was married to Hester George [sic] another of the daughters of Elizabeth Grange, according to the account of the case, but this appears to have been incorrect. The 'Palmer' of the suit must have been one of the executors of Joel Savell's will, either John or James Palmer, and Hester Grange was the daughter of Elizabeth Grange, marrying Thompson Pater.

1. PROB 11/1156/113

2. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery...1778-1794 (1819) Vol. IV pp. 490-492. James Stapleton had married Sarah Grange at St Dunstan in the West 01/01/1785, when one of the witnesses was Hester Grange, Ancestry.com, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]. The only possible marriage for Hester Grange to date was to Thompson Pater in 1792.