John Sober I

Slave-owner in Barbados, dying there in 1755.

1. John Sober, son of John Sober of the Isle of Barbados, gentleman, matriculated Queen's College, Oxford, 24/08/1731, age 16 years.

2. Will of John Sober [late of the parish of St Peter Island of Barbados but now] of Little Burstead Essex [made 12/10/1751 with a codicil made in Barbados 16/11/1755] proved 03/03/1763. The will comprises mostly instructions to his trustees about the management of his [unnamed] estate as an 'improving estate' on which he required them to maintain a population of at least 200 enslaved people. He left his wife late Mary Wilcox £1500 over and above her entitlement funder their marriage settlement of 1743, and £3000 currency each to four of his children, Sarah, Mary, Abraham and Cumberbatch, his father-in-law Abraham Cumberbatch [presumably father of John Sober's first wife] having broken his contract with John Sober to provide for them in his [Abraham Cumberbatch's] recent will. His residuary heir was his eldest son John, whom he instructed should go to Oxford at the age of 17.

3. John, Sarah, Mary, Abraham and Cumberbatch, were the children of John Sober and his first wife Mary nee Cumberbatch, daughter of Abraham Cumberbatch (d. 1750) and are mentioned in the will of Mary's aunt Ann Cumberbatch (written in 1752).

Although his will was not proved in London until 1763, his will was recorded in Barbados in December 1755 when he was shown as deceased.

1. Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online].

2. PROB 11/886/17.

3. James C. Brandow, Genealogies of Barbados Families: From Caribbeana and the Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society (1983) p. 537.

We are grateful to Mark Dickinson for his assistance with compiling this entry.