Waters, Genealogical Gleanings in England, vol. 1 (1901)

Abstracts of English wills relating to New England families, first printed in the Register, read in the archive.org full text. Used for the Bigg, Foster and Bate families (pp. 21-23):

• Smallhope Bigg of Cranbrook, clothier, 3 May 1638, proved 3 Oct 1638: kinsfolk “Thomas Bate, of Lydd, James Bate, Clement Bate, the wife of William Batchelor, John Compton, Edward White and Martha his wife, all which are now resident in New England, twenty shillings each”; “ten pounds to be distributed to them or to others in New England by my mother and my brother John Stow”; “To my mother Rachell Bigg one hundred pounds”; “To my sisters Patience Foster and Elizabeth Stow in New England. To Hopestill Foster, son of my sister three hundred pounds”; and “Godfrey Martin of Old Romney and his sisters.” After a hearing between John Bigg, the executor, and the widow, “Patience Bigg alias Foster, wife of Richard Foster, and Elizabeth Bigg alias Stow,” the will was confirmed on 4 Apr 1639.
• John Bigg of Maidstone, jurat, will begun 17 Aug 1640, “finished March 27, 1641, probated Feb. 7, 1642”: legacies to “Cheeseman, my porter and fetcher in of my water,” to “My mother Bigg, my sister Foster, my brother Stowe, all these living in New England,” to Hopestill Foster and the Stowe children, and to “My cousin James Bate of New England,” “Clement Bate” and “John Compton.”
• The agreement of 10 Sept 1653 (Suffolk Deeds 1:318) between Hopestill Foster and Thomas, Nathaniel and Samuel Stowe, ending the “many & vncomfortable differences” over the wills of their “deceased uncles Mr. Smallhope Bigg and Mr. John Bigg.”