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Old wills/reading between the lines.

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  • Old wills/reading between the lines.

    Hi
    My earliest ancestors lived in Hargrave in Suffolk. Unfortunately there are no surviving parish registers pre about 1700 so I have tried to piece the families together from Wills & Bishop' transcripts and a lot of the BTs are missing. There is a 20 year gap 1640-1660 which includes the inter regnum years. There were 2 couples, the men possibly brothers, producing children in the 1570s & 1580s. Only found 2 baptisms per couple but from the wills of the 2 males & the wife of one of them in the 1600s there were a lot more children.
    My question is, in their wills would they have named their children in the order they were born?
    Also if a son was named as an executor would he have been at least 21 years old?
    I also haven't found any wills in the inter regnum years for sons of these couples which I would have expected given that they appeared quite well off.
    Moggie

  • #2
    Forgive me if you already know this. In the interregnum years wills had to be proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury rather than in local Diocesan or Archdeaconry courts so, if you haven't already done so, it would be worth looking in the PCC index on the National Archives site.
    Judith passed away in October 2018

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    • #3
      Hi Judith
      I didn't know about wills for that time being proved at the PCC but there are none for my family at Hargrave.My surname is quite rare & there are only 6 PCC wills for my name & I do have copies of all of them.
      Thanks Moggie

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      • #4
        Using my trusty copy of 'Wills and Probate Records' by Karen Grannum and Nigel Taylor

        During the period May 1643 to November 1644 wills were not proved in London but in Oxford. In 1644 all grants of probate made in Oxford were declared invalid but wills could be proved or admons granted for a second time by a parliamentary court in London. In 1646 records for the two courts were amalgamated.

        The Oxford court did not keep registered copies of wills so unless a will had been proved and registered again in London it is necessary to look for an original will at the NA in Prob10/639-642

        A small timeframe but another possible avenue for research? If you haven't already looked there of course.

        Good luck
        Chris
        Avatar....My darling mum, Irene June Robinson nee Pearson 1931-2019.

        'Take nothing on its looks, take everything on evidence. There is no better rule' Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

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