Once upon a time, farmers had to grow hemp
I've been at this exploration for a year now, having started a week after New Year's 2021. The journey has led me places I never thought I'd go or even knew about, and I intend to post a reflection piece next week about midweek. Today, I'm going to switch back to my side of the family, going back to the most profitable of the branches, that of Orpha Morse, my grandmother 12 generations back. One of her ancestors, Elizabeth Jasper, married into the Morse branch. The entry for her father, Lancelot Jasper, contains a link to his will, which follows: "17 February, 1616 [1] "To William, my son, and Francis [sic] his wife, for their lives, the tenement wherein I dwell, which I purchased of Gregorye Fysher, with the hemp land and crofy [2] thereto belonging, on condition that they pay to Rose, my wife, for life, 40s a year, quarterly; [3] otherwise my son Henrie is to enter thereon. "If William and Frances pay the annuity, then the tenement shall, after their d