Research Family Tree with Wills
Wills are an extremely useful source of information about your ancestors. Each country will have its own laws, procedures and arrangements for the researcher. Until recently all records had to be accessed by researchers manually but now more and more records are coming available online.
In the first place United States probate law derived from English common law and from Spanish community property law, depending on the state. If you wish to consult probate documents for the original English colonies before Independence go to the American Colonial Probate Records article which offers important data for these colonial records.
In the United Kingdom probate has been administered by different official bodies over the years. Before 1858 all probate proceedings were dealt with by hundreds of local Church Courts. Then when the Court of Probate Act established the Principal Probate Registry 40 district registries were set up to take care of all probate cases in the country.
If you are searching for a will prior to 1858 you may visit the National Archives at Kew, and consult the relevant index on site. If however you wish to research online you may visit the Prerogative Court of Canterbury [1384-1858]. Not surprisingly these records mainly relate to testators who were resident in the south of England. And of course local archives may be consulted if required.
Now in the UK we have free access to the National Probate Calendar. This provides a vital link to wills and probate records created in England and Wales between 1861 and 1941. In fact this is the first time that this data has been made available online.
To search these records you simply enter a name, and, if you know it, the date and place of death. When you find a match that you are reasonably confident is the person you are looking for you can click on ‘View Original Image’. This entry should then provide details of the executor or executrix, their relationship with the deceased [who was often a family member] the occupation of the deceased, and the value of the estate.
When you have found the entry of your ancestor you can proceed to order a copy of the relevant probate records from the Principal Probate Registry. You need to fill in the PDF Application Form, carefully noting the statutory requirements, and all being well you should receive your documents within 21 working days, that is about a calendar month. There is a modest fee to cover the cost of this service.
One of the most exciting aspects of probate research is the discovery of family members you didn’t even know existed. You may know the names of one or two children of a certain couple on your tree. Then when you examine the probate records you may well find the names of others – and this was probably the only way you would ever have stumbled on those names. Sometimes you find names of three generations on one single will, where the deceased remembered a spouse, siblings, cousins, as well as children and grandchildren.
You will not be disappointed!
