Wills - just some general help

[stevie2006]

Hi is there a better way of tracing Wills in England?

On my Scottish side I have found a couple on Scotlands People - its pretty easy as you can search names and Courts and then for credits you can download and see copies of the Wills. I managed to find 2 and they were very interesting.

However on my English side I cannot find any. I have searched Ancestry but wondered if there was a better way or a site that maybe allowed searches to be done? I know not everyone made a Will but I would have thought someone somewhere on my English side might have made one? As I live in Scotland I was hoping for a way online as travelling down is not an option.

Just trying to explore some new avenues in my Tree and recently took a 6 month Worldwide subscription for Ancestry and just wanted to make the best use of it and tie up some loose ends etc

Can anyone give me any advice?

I know have birth, marriage, death certificates for most of my tree members. I also have census pages from 1841 to 1911 and Electoral roll searches. Done the War records and just looking for some new avenues to explore

Many thanks as always

Steven

[Elaine ..Spain]

When searching in Ancestry are you using the National Probate Calendar ?

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1904

also this dataset on Ancestry (for London)

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1704&o_xid=51662&o_lid=51662&o_sch=Email

You might find this link useful as well

http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Online_Probate_Indexes

.. and don't forget the FTF reference library

http://www.familytreeforum.com/content.php/302-Wills-and-Probate

[Elaine ..Spain]

.. and National Archive research guide

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/atoz/w.htm#

[stevie2006]

Thanks Elaine just didn't know where to start. Will start on some Wards and Smiths this afternoon

Wish me luck!!!!

Steven

[Janet]

Don't forget the County Record Offices from whence your folk came. There are a lot ofNorthants wils online if you do a google for Northants Wills so maybe try the same for your county of interest.

Janet

[PhotoFamily]

familysearch's wiki gives a breakdown for searching for English probate records:

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/England_Probate_Records

Sometimes it's a bit difficult to follow. Knowing when and where is the first step!

familysearch has many English probate records up to ?1920-something, but not online

[stevie2006]

Thanks Janet for the tip

Thanks Photofamily for the link. You are right its just knowing where and how to start - need to get my head all around it first

Would love to find one. The Scottish one I found had some excellent content

Steven

[Elizabeth Herts]

Steven, if you put some names and their death dates here, plus where they lived, perhaps we can help you find some?
I love looking for wills.

[stevie2006]

HI Elizabeth I can certainly do that what information is best? Full name, date of death and place of death or do you need anything else?

Thanks for the offer of help

Steven

[stevie2006]

Oh and is that a date that is too soon? IE is it deaths before a certain year?

Steven

[Elaine ..Spain]

You can post details of anyone who has died, Steven. It's just living people we have a problem with!

[stevie2006]

Here are some Elizabeth

1. Charles William Ward died St George Hanover Square, London on 3rd May 1905

2. Sarah Pettit (maiden name Poole) died 2nd December 1918 in West Ham

3. Clara Driscoll (maiden name Pettit) died 20th February 1947 in Chelmsford

4. Isabel Rolfe (maiden name Ward) died 11th July 1984 in Redbridge

5. Solomon Robert Smith died 7th April 1946 in Ilford Essex

6. Solomon Smith senior died 6th March 1941 in London City

7.Ambrose Stokes died 23rd April 1887 in Brentford

I am guessing some of the ones in 1940's might be too soon

The ones I am really interested in are the 2 Solomon's and my great gran Isabel Rolfe

If you can help that would be fantastic

Thanks again

Steven

[stevie2006]

Actually snorted out aloud there Elaine!!!!!:D

Steven

[Elizabeth Herts]

HI Elizabeth I can certainly do that what information is best? Full name, date of death and place of death or do you need anything else?

Thanks for the offer of help

Steven

That information should be fine, Steven.
We need to know where a person lived, especially if the will was made before 1858.
If you have Ancestry, it's easy enough to find a will after 1858 on there yourself. It's the early ones that are problematic!

[Elizabeth Herts]

The probate calendar on Ancestry is only searchable up to 1966, so any will for Isobel Rolfe won't show up.

I haven't found anything for the others yet. I must admit, on my father's side I think they did anything to avoid making wills as I have found very few 20th century ones for them.

[stevie2006]

Hi Elaine and Elizabeth had a good look on ancestry using the link Elaine gave me but looks like no one made a Will. Tried loads of names and dates but nothing at all

Steven

[DavidNewton]

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...f-grants-wills contains information on how to obtain copies of wills and administrations by post (if they exist). I have obtained will copies by post and it is a fairly cheap process, however, I did have the references from the National Probate Calendar I have not tried out their searching facilities.

[stevie2006]

Thanks for the link David much appreciated.

No luck whatsoever with finding any Wills looks like none had enough money to bother with one!!

Steven

[margaretmarch]

Thanks for the link David much appreciated.

No luck whatsoever with finding any Wills looks like none had enough money to bother with one!!

Steven

Not necessarily! people often disposed of their assets etc just before dying so as not to pay death duties, especially if land and property was involved.

Margaret

[stevie2006]

Thanks for that Margaret that explains maybe why not

Steven