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Wills and inventories - Scotland

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  • Wills and inventories - Scotland

    As they are £5.00 apiece, I have the choice of downloading a 12 page inventory or a 3 page will from Scotlandspeople. It is the deceased's missing wife in whom I am interested.

    The information pages would seem to suggest that an inventory only itemises the property of the deceased and that I would therefore need the will to see the names of beneficiaries.

    Can someone please tell me if I have understood this correctly?
    Gillian
    User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

  • #2
    Hi there

    I believe you have that correct.....the will would be the place to start to try and determine living family members. An inventory is only a listing of what the deceased owned at the time of their death.

    Best wishes
    Jean

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    • #3
      JG

      However, if you win the lottery, get the inventory as well - they are fascinating pieces of social history and most satisfying to any nosey parker like me!

      Someone on here kindly sent me a a copy of an inventory for an ancestor who died on the IOM, late 1700s, early 1800s. It listed EVERYTHING - right down to "two small broken pots". To see what abject poverty these people lived in was an eye opener, their lives must have been so unbelievably hard.

      OC

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      • #4
        Thanks Jean! I didn't want to opt for the wrong one and waste £5.00!

        OC - I am tempted but, as the chap was a wine merchant, I suspect I may just get an insight into the popular wines of the day. However, I won't make a final decision until I see what the will itself contains.

        Whilst I waited for replies to my query, I continued looking for my missing woman and was startled to come across a husband with the forename Freak. Ancestry's Scottish transcriptions are an endless source of amusement!
        Gillian
        User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

        Comment


        • #5
          All the Scottish inventories I have looked at have included details of the person who drew them up, which would very likely be the widow in this case, so either the will or the inventory would give you her name. Some of the inventories tell you everything in the person's house etc but some are just lists of debts owed and owing. Also there are supplementary inventories which just detail something which was missed off the original inventory. As for wills, sometimes you download something which looks as if it is supposed to be a will but it turns out to be something else, similar to an admon. This is probably my fault for not finding out what all the Scottish terminology means! You often find out that a lot of the pages of a will are full of legal stuff and telling you what page of the register the will was copied out into and stuff like that. Still, hopefully there will be some useful info in there. You never know until you look!
          KiteRunner

          Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
          (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

          Comment


          • #6
            Kate - I was too impatient to wait (postponing cooking supper yet again!) and have downloaded the will now. However, I've saved your post above for future reference. Thank you.

            And I'm no further forward - the deceased split his estate between his mother, 2 brothers and his housekeeper "my beloved friend Barbara Archibald ..... to whom I am greatly indebted for my present comfortable position" So, what happened to his wife, who disappeared just after 1871, I still have no idea!
            Gillian
            User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

            Comment


            • #7
              If you ever come across an inventory and there is no will, get the inventory anyway. Even if it has been drawn up by a solicitor it generally names the spouse.

              Comment


              • #8
                I bet you end up getting the inventory just in case there is something in there...!
                KiteRunner

                Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                Comment


                • #9
                  I only have three or four Inventories but I reckon they are good value for money because you get a unique insight into their possessions - far more personal than "I leave my grandson Peter the sum of £5".

                  OC

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                  • #10
                    Thanks Keptin. That's good to know for future searches.

                    Kate - I suspect you're right! The wife in question, Margaret, is one of a complete set of siblings who go awol after 1851. She makes a brief appearance at her marriage in 1868, and on the 1871 census, but Barbara Archibald, above, had, according to his will, been seeing to the "comfortable position" of the deceased for 12 years by the time of his 1883 death. As Margaret doesn't seem to have died, I'm curious about why she would have disappeared only 3 years into her marriage.
                    Gillian
                    User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I just can't resist gloating - I've just downloaded a 4 page "testament dative and inventory" for a William Wright of Liberton in the hope that it would help me figure out whether he was the father of Catharine Wright who married David Ferrier, and the first page lists all his surviving daughters and the names and occupations of all their husbands! Including David Ferrier husband of Catharine. So, it can certainly be worth paying for the inventory.
                      KiteRunner

                      Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                      (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Brilliant Kate! I bet you were over the moon when you opened that image!

                        I haven't had a chance to think any more about the Boswell one. A new contact, via Ancestry, on a maternal Scottish line is cracking on at such a rate that I can barely keep up with his daily updates! He also, lucky so and so, seems to have an unlimited budget and is downloading loads of SP BMD images which are filling gaps for me in my sibling lists.
                        Gillian
                        User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I don't know about unlimited budget, JG, there is something compulsive about downloading on SP.

                          I think "no more" and then I find just one more I need, which means I have to put more credits on and well, it would be a shame to waste them, wouldn't it.

                          The GRO and the government should really get their fingers out and do the same with English certs - their revenue would treble overnight!

                          OC

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            OC - I literally dare not total my SP expenditure! And isn't it amazing how often one has exactly 4 credits left just when one discovers a vital cert?
                            Of course, it's impossible to ignore the leftover 29 fat, juicy credits - they almost beg to be used - and I've lost count of the number of evenings I have gone off to bed cursing my extravagance!

                            But this contact is downloading some very, very distant BMDs - the kind I would normally settle for narrowing down with a bit of patience on the free searches just to give me a year. I only wish I had the nerve to ask him for copies of the images rather than just the transcript of the bits he considers relevant!

                            Of course, the fact that the IGI coverage of Scotland is so good only adds to the temptation to overspend.
                            Gillian
                            User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              JG

                              LOL, yes, those last four credits...how does that happen???

                              Shame your contact won't send you the images, I've just sent a load off to a contact who doesn't have any at all, not quite sure why? (She is in OZ).

                              I have also bought for siblings to check a query on the mother's maiden name etc.

                              It is a very crafty marketing ploy when you think about it - £6 is next to nothing in genealogical spend and doesn't engender guilt feelings when you are whacking on another £6 (having forgotton the other five lots of £6 you've put on this week, pmsl)

                              OC

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                It's a shame they don't cut the price on larger credit buy's, say 90 credits for £15.00 instead of £18.00.
                                So compulsive though, I always end up kicking myself and thinking it would have been cheaper to go to Edinburgh for the day!

                                Second thought's maybe not, I always pop ouy for a sandwich and overspend on princess street.

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  I understand you can purchase SP credits at a discount if you are a member of the SGS.....not sure if this was a limited time offer but I read about it on another forum a month or so ago........hope this isn't breaking any FTF rules by posting the link!!

                                  scotlands people vouchers Family History Local History

                                  Best wishes
                                  Jean

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    Keptin - A discount for larger credit purchases would be a good idea. Edinburgh return would be at least £120 for me, plus another £16 for the ferry and then b&b on top so I don't think I'll be able to do that any time in the near future unfortunately.

                                    Jean - thanks for that link. I'll look into whether it is a long-term offer because it wouldn't take long for the savings to cover the SGS membership fee.
                                    Gillian
                                    User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      Just a thought, I'm sure I'm right. If you were to go to Edinburgh it would be the Archives (free to visit) not New Register House for the wills.

                                      Have you tried phoning the Archives and asking if wife is mentioned on the documents. I've always found them very helpful they have even phoned me back, and I live a short train journey from Edinburgh.

                                      Jan

                                      Comment


                                      • #20
                                        Thanks Jan - I had just assumed New Register House.

                                        (btw - I've just tried your suggestion of using Daphne's tip re middle name on FreeBMD on Ancestry. It's brought up some really good results - especially for my Scots. Thank you.)
                                        Gillian
                                        User page: http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...ustGillian-117

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