National Wills Index the importance of
probate documents to the family history researcher Ian Galbraith
Origins.net presented at WDYTYA Live, February 2013
Summary • • • • •
Why probate documents are important What is the National Wills Index Why the National Wills Index is important Current status of the NWI What’s coming
www.nationalwillsindex.com
The importance of probate records • The richest single source for genealogy, family history, social & local history • Censuses & parish registers provide the skeleton - probate records provide the flesh
www.nationalwillsindex.com
What can probate records tell you? • Relatives & friends -
the best resource for family relationships
• Possessions, and their value -
actual and as perceived by their owner
• Places -
associated with the deceased
• Social context & relationships -
who the deceased was involved with and how www.nationalwillsindex.com
High chance of finding your ancestors in wills • The average will mentions 10-20 people with relationships - >5M pre-1858 wills exist, c.100M names
• Good chance your ancestor is mentioned in a will – even if they didn’t leave one • Not just the well-off who left wills www.nationalwillsindex.com
Relationship information in a will Will of Mary Catton of Goulthorp, Yorkshire Widow, 1804 son William Catton son Robert Catton son Matthew Catton “douther” Jane Little “grandouter” Mary Barnot “grandouter” Elizabeth Barnot “granson” William Barnot
son in law John Collings
(bequests totalling £200)
witnesses: Robert Quarton, John Catton
Possessions of Richard Minson, Stepney, mariner 1701 Richard Minson (X) of Stepney, mariner my sister Mary Hales, exec.; to my mother her keep for life and my house in Ratcliffe to my niece and the furniture of room my mother lives in and £50 when she is of age; Henry Punchard and Thomas Vear to make the best of it at the return of the ship to deliver to the exec.; to my cousin Richard Hales the one thirty-second part of the ship and £100 and rest; £10 to be paid to John Packwell; to Joanna Lany £10; to Mathew Lany £10 after the death of my sister; to Mr Vear a little coloured drugget coat and a red scarlet jacket with silver twisted buttons and pair of stockings; to Richard Bolt the dark drugget suit and a pair of stockings; to John Miller a ‘drabdiberi’ coat, a mohair coat, a serge waistcoat and hat and half a hundredweight of rice; to Mr Thomas a guinea ring; to Magnus Housin a guinea ring; to William Bramble 12 pewter plates and a dish; Mrs Day to have seal ring she gave me and as much gold as will make a ring as large as she wishes; the silver beer cup to my niece Elizabeth Hales; my small silver cup and instruments, plates and cards for cousin Richard Hales; to John Davis a guinea ring Witnesses: Henry Punchard, chief mate; Thomas Veare, second mate; John Gundry, boatswain; John Booth, gunner; Jeremiah Pulling, carpenter www.nationalwillsindex.com
Possessions of Ann Sandford, London, widow 1701
…to Ann Sandford daughter of John Sandford late deceased who was the son of my late husband George Sandford £5, my silver tankard, two of my best silver spoons, my best brass pot, bed in the kitchen with the green curtains and valence and two of my best blankets; to Mary Sandford and her daughter Ann Sandford all my linen locked in my wrought box in my chamber; to the three children of Elizabeth Pease £2 and to my cousin Ann Pease my riding hood; to Peter Hatt £2 and a little feather bed in my chamber and the bedstead in the kitchen, the fire grate and rest of chimney furniture, a blanket, bolster, iron pot, second best of my brass skillets and years andirons in the kitchen and my great bowl and washing tub, two leather chairs, a brass kettle in the kitchen, two joined stools, a pair of bodices and all my clothes, two sheafs, two white aprons and two lace handkerchiefs and four plain ones, my long best scarf, a black laced band and a white laced band, my little Bible and a pestle and mortar, a spit, a frying pan, a pewter basin marked JHJ and also a pewter pot marked JHA and my pull up jack and a pewter dish, three pairs of good sheets, a rug, the curtains and valence in the kitchen, a pair of good pillowcases, two pairs of coarse pillowcases, 6 napkins, two ordinary tablecloths, my great warming pan which was his father’s; …to said John Dencome a little flockbed and a pair of andirons; … Witnesses: Ann Locker (X); Peter Pearce, clerk to Mr Day of Nag’s Head Court, Gracechurch Street www.nationalwillsindex.com
Possessions of Elizabeth Booth, widow, Glossop, Derbyshire, 1808 ‌ to my daughter Mary Bayley, my Burkitt upon the New Testament, to my grandaughter Mary Waterhouse my Bible, all my other books to my daughter Ellen Waterhouse, to my said grandaughter my Bedsteads, one featherbed, six of my best Blankets, one bed Quilt, one new Bolster, one other Bolster, two Pillows, three Chass(?) Beds, one Chest, one Box, one Tea table, and all my Teaspoons, Tea Tongs, Teapots, Tea cups, and Saucers and other Tea Utensils, one Tea board, one handboard, one Looking Glass, one Dresser, one Brass Mortar and Pestle, one Clock and one Cupboard, all the rest of my household Goods and Furniture to my said daughter Ellen Waterhouse, remainder of my personal Estate and Effects and all my Cloaths and wearing apparel to my said daughter Mary Bayley‌ www.nationalwillsindex.com
Places associated with Benjamin Stone, will dated 1843, probate 1861 late of Chester, will written at Everton, Lancs, formerly of Newhaven, Sussex
National Wills Index
Abstract of will of Henry Michell, Stepney 1703 Henry Michell (X), citizen and cutler, infirm and sick my debts (not including those debts of my wife from whom I am divorced by sentence of Doctor's Commons; it having pleased God to have afflicted me with an unfortunate woman to wit Lucy who has broken all bonds of conjugal duty having eloped from me and behaved herself unjustly and rudely to me and by such loose and libertine conversation has drawn such scandal upon herself and me thereby that forced me to expend the greatest part of my estate I was then worth in the world to obtain the said sentence of divorce ... and having also often told me that the two children I was supposed to have had by her to wit Henry my son and Lucy Heath my daughter now wife of Henry Heath were not the issue of my body and whereas the said children have following my wife their mother’s ill example behaved themselves very disobediently, undutifully and unkindly towards me I pray God to forgive them all as I heartily do but my positive will is to give to my wife, son and daughter 1s each) I owe Mary Sharp, widow of Sir Thomas Wright now wife of John Sharp of Stepney, esquire, snr. several sums of money and for her kindness to her all my estate, exec. 11 May 1703 Witnesses: Rowland Cross; J. Turner; Richard Grove Proved: 11 Jun 1703 to exec. (died of All Hallows the Great but in Stepney) www.nationalwillsindex.com
Other kinds of probate documents • • • •
inventories administrations accounts act books … etc.
What do they tell you?
www.nationalwillsindex.com
part of a Bristol inventory, 1776 -
contents of a bedroom
www.nationalwillsindex.com
part of an inventory - 16th C haberdasher’s stock
www.nationalwillsindex.com
Administration bond for estate of Mary Gowland, Knapton, Yorks, 1797 son: Richard Gowland, farmer (admr.) daughters: Hannah, wife of Henry Blackburn, labourer Elizabeth, wife of John Taylor Ann, spinster plus: William Hudson, farmer Edward Clough (witness)
Account for estate of James Smallpeece, Cheltenham 1715
National Wills Index
Act Books
www.nationalwillsindex.com
National Wills Index
Entries from Chester Act Book 1839 (same page)
2 sisters, on same page; with reference to later entries
www.nationalwillsindex.com
Entries from Chester Act Book 1840
www.nationalwillsindex.com
Entry from Oxford Administration Act Book, 1833
Thomas Wise’s wife, Margaret, remarried to Evan Evans www.nationalwillsindex.com
The problem with wills • Where was the will proved? • Could be almost anywhere - in contrast to most other kinds of genealogical data, eg parish registers
• Essential to have a country-wide probate index www.nationalwillsindex.com
Out-of-county probate jurisdictions: examples • Kent: Shoreham (36 parishes) wills are at Lambeth Palace; south-London parishes at LMA • Northants: King’s Sutton wills at Oxford • Northumberland: Hexham wills at York
• Warwickshire: most wills at Lichfield, Staffs; SW part of county at Worcester; those of Stratford-on-Avon are at Stratford www.nationalwillsindex.com
Berkshire wills proved at Oxford, 1838 Benjamin Cordry, Bray Mary Senior, Reading
www.nationalwillsindex.com
“out-of-place” probate • Edmund Bayliff, of Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland, died on board HMS Diamond, will proved at Hertford 1740 • Amos Langdon, Uffcolme, Devon, proved at Salisbury 1776
• John Millward, Alstonfield, Staffs, proved at York 1801 • Ann Skyrme, Hay-on-Wye, proved at Gloucester 1829
www.nationalwillsindex.com
Where to find pre-1858 wills • Where might the will have been proved? - dozens of courts - local or “remote”? - Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) - Prerogative Court of York (PCY) • Where are the records now? - dispersed to local archives - not always obvious where www.nationalwillsindex.com
Probate indexes are crucial • Most – but not all – source material has been indexed -
indexes are all over the place can be difficult to access many unpublished many in manuscript or typewritten form many exist as only one copy
• centralised national index essential www.nationalwillsindex.com
National Wills Index project • Centralised resource for English probate indexes (not just wills) • Abstracts & transcriptions • Digitised images of original documents • Hard copy service (from local archives) • Indexing & image digitisation projects
www.nationalwillsindex.com
National Wills Index • largest online resource for pre-1858 English probate material • Indexes, abstracts, source documents -
most comprehensive set of online indexes largest collection of probate abstract growing collection of digitised images
• most material available nowhere else online • index includes wills of people from every English county www.nationalwillsindex.com
National Wills Index project Who are involved? • • • • •
Origins.net British Record Society FamilySearch Borthwick Institute for Archives Local record offices -
eg Oxfordshire, Kent, Cheshire
• Local record societies -
eg Bristol & Gloucester, Somerset
• Devon Wills Project • individual specialists www.nationalwillsindex.com
What’s on the NWI now • Indexes - Beds, Berks, Bristol, Bucks, Cambs, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbys, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Glos, Herts, Hunts, Kent, Lancs, Leics, Lincs, London, Middx, Norfolk, Northants, Northumberland, Notts, Oxon, Rutland, Somerset, Staffs, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, Worcs, Yorks; PCC, PCY - Indexes are complete for Beds, Cambs, Cheshire, Essex, Glos, Herts, Oxon, Surrey, Yorks
• Abstracts - Berks, Bucks, Cheshire, Durham, Glos, Kent, Lancs, Lincs, London, Middx, Northumberland, Oxon, Somerset, Surrey (complete), Yorks
• Digitised images - Cheshire, Oxfordshire
Most of this material is available only on the NWI www.nationalwillsindex.com
What’s coming on the NWI • more of everything - indexes, abstracts, digitised images • in preparation now: - abstracts & transcriptions of wills & inventories from -
Bristol, Cheshire, Durham, Kent, London, Middx, Northumberland, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, Yorks British & Irish Inventories Index digitised images of original wills for Oxon,Yorks
• more guidance on searching for and using probate records www.nationalwillsindex.com
Summary •
Probate documents are a major resource - but can be difficult to find
•
The NWI is unlocking their value The National Wills Index – only at Origins.net www.nationalwillsindex.com