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  • Question about the Borthwick and wills

    Is anyone familiar with visiting the Borthwick Archives in York?

    I joined Origins.net for their Yorkshire Will index and have come up with 13 that are of interest to me - yippee! Some are only Admons and some I'm not too sure if they are my family.

    Now I am trying to work out the most cost effective way of getting copies. Options are .....
    1. Spend £10 on each copy with Origins.net

    2. Go to York (I do have someone to stay with) and photograph them myself. Charge of £20 for using a camera and £5 each item.

    3. Go to York with a pencil and paper and copy them out .... they may not be easy to read so it could take days!!

    What would you do?????

    Anne

  • #2
    Can't you just send £5 each from the York probate office, or are they too early?

    Christine
    Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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    • #3
      Ah, yes these are pre 1858 wills! They are the sort that often you can find in County Record offices but Yorkshire has to be different!!

      Anne

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      • #4
        Go to the Borthwick and get print outs of the microfilmed pages.

        I think you will only be offered microfilm (available on a help yourself basis.) That's all my friend & I have had access to, unless there has been a problem reading the film - in which case we were brought the copy book to consult.

        Jay
        Janet in Yorkshire



        Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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        • #5
          Oh, that's good - I didn't know what format the wills would take. It doesn't make it clear on the website that they are on microfilm. Thanks Janet.

          Anne
          Ooops - yes it does, I didn't look properly! It says the microfilm readers operate using a £2 card. Do you know how much copying you can do for the £2, please? [Not that I'm mean but I want to have enough change with me when I go!]
          Last edited by Anne in Carlisle; 16-11-10, 23:08.

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          • #6
            Can't you download pre 1858 wills from Documentsonline(National Archives) for £3.50 each?

            June

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            • #7
              No, June they are only the Canterbury wills (PCC) which are mainly but not wholly concerning the south. Us Ooop North had a separate system based at York (PCY).

              Anne

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              • #8
                Anne.....I'm still trying to work out how to get some marriage licences from Borthwick. I emailed them and they said they had them, but they can't work out how I actually get them........lol

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                • #9
                  Well, Libby, it'll be after Christmas now before I go but if they are on microfiche I could copy them for you ..... I think!!!

                  Anne

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                  • #10
                    I already have my GG-grandfather's will (proved in Wakefield) from the probate registry, but it's only a transcription, and I should like to have a copy of the original. Does Borthwick have the originals on microfilm, and are the originals also available from Origins?

                    Alternatively, would the Record Office that covers Wakefield (or Bradford, where he lived) have a copy, or are all Yorkshire wills at Borthwick?

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                    • #11
                      I think the answer to that could be quite compliated, Mary! I struggled through the Borthwick Institute website just to find out if it was microfilm the will were on. There are some FAQs on there which might go some way to answering the handwriting question - don't hold your breath!

                      As for finding other places where the will or probate record might be ... that also is complicated. I began the idea of looking because I suspected one particular family in the parish of Wath could have left wills ... I was right!!! However the Doncaster record office, where the Wath parish records are, does not keep them. I also have a lot of other Yorkshire families and think it will be much easier to just go to York and not trail round the multiple record offices which are a Yorkshire speciality, making it so difficlut to do 'all in one' visits! (Grump, grump .... and I am a Yorkshire lass!)

                      Anne

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                      • #12
                        hmmm, if their pre 1858, they won't appear in the probate calendar right? and if you have southern ancestry your most likely going to find the wills on the archives site. so if you have nothern ancestors, you have to find which records office has the wills?

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                        • #13
                          Thanks, Anne. I've had a quick look on Origins, and the will I want isn't listed; in fact Wakefield doesn't seem to be included in their database.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by kylejustin View Post
                            hmmm, if their pre 1858, they won't appear in the probate calendar right? and if you have southern ancestry your most likely going to find the wills on the archives site. so if you have nothern ancestors, you have to find which records office has the wills?
                            That's right. The wills on the TNA site are the ones proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, but the testators aren't necessarily from the south, although I expect the majority are.

                            Otherwise, you have to try the County Record Office, or the Record Office that covers the diocese where the person's will was proved (hope I've got that right).

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                              Thanks, Anne. I've had a quick look on Origins, and the will I want isn't listed; in fact Wakefield doesn't seem to be included in their database.
                              Did you actually pay Origins.net, Mary? You can't see the index of wills at the Borthwick unless you do. If you give me the name I can have a look for you - I had to join for a month!

                              Have a look here - it does imply (as I thought) that the Borthwick is the place for all Yorkshire wills indexes


                              Anne

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                              • #16
                                Just to make things clear, as there seems to be a lot of confusion about Yorkshire wills (its not just me then!!)

                                Here is what the West Yorkshire Archives website says.

                                Most Yorkshire wills for the period before 1858 were proved in the Courts of the Archbishop of York. These wills are now held at the Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD. An index to the Borthwick wills 1658 to 1857 is held on microfiche at WYAS Wakefield and a growing index is available on Origins.net National Wills Index. It then goes on to list the various courts in and around Yorkshire which are exceptions to the 'most Yorkshire wills' mentioned at the start of the paragraph.
                                here is the page http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/docu...0Guide%204.pdf

                                Anne

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                                • #17
                                  That's very useful, thanks - it looks as though the West Yorkshire Archive Service will hold the will I want, as it was proved in Wakefield after 1858.
                                  Last edited by Mary from Italy; 18-11-10, 14:16.

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                                  • #18
                                    Always worth a google on the national archives site too. You MIGHT be lucky

                                    There are duplicates of 2 wills on my "Borthwick" list at the East Yorkshire record office (deposited by a local firm of solicitors having a clear out of paper docs.) National archives directed me to the ERYRO - there is a brief abstract of each on the online catalogue. I managed to vist the record office to read both of them - huge things, which covered the table when opened out. No way could you have photographed the text. I did try making a transcript, but the doc was so big, I kept on losing my place and ended up making my own abstract.
                                    I will get a copy of the filmed version should I go back to the Borthwick.

                                    Jay
                                    Janet in Yorkshire



                                    Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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