Massachusetts Essex County Probates - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This collection includes county probate records for the years 1638 to 1880.

Record Description
Probate records were court documents and may have involved loose papers and/or bound volumes. These records were generally known as an estate file or probate packet. These files included all documents related to estate settlement, including settlement papers, inventories, receipts, wills, and other records pertaining to the estates, including accounts, administrations, appraisals, minutes, bonds, petitions, guardianships, inventories and settlements.

Record Content
Probate records include petitions, inventories, accounts, decrees, oaths of executors, forms about guardians and other court documents. Genealogical facts in entries include:


 * Name of testator or deceased
 * Names of heirs such as spouse, children, and other relatives or friends
 * Names of witnesses
 * Residence of testator
 * Lists of belongings, property, and so forth
 * Document and recording dates. (Sometimes the date of death will be given. Recording dates are also used to approximate event dates, i.e. a letter of administration was usually written shortly after the time of death.)

How to Use the Record
To begin your search you will need to know:


 * The place of residence.
 * The approximate death or probate date.
 * The name of the deceased.

Search the Collection
To search the collection: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "_____________" ⇒Select the appropriate "_____________" ⇒Select the appropriate "_____________" which takes you to the images.

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example:


 * Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives.
 * Use the document (such as the will) or the recording dates to approximate a death date.
 * Use the information in the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records since the probates exist for an earlier time period.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the residence or place of birth of the deceased to locate census, church, and land records.
 * Use the occupations listed to find employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * You may be able to use the probate record to learn about the following:


 * Adoptions or guardianship of any minor children and dependents.
 * Land transactions.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname as the deceased, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have died in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Wills are more likely to be found in rural communities than in larger cities and industrial areas.
 * The information in the records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the deceased or the testator.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after 1900.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another record.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records)

General Information About These Records
Essex County was created on May 10, 1643 and was formed as an Original County with its county seat in Salem. Probate records, including the administration of estates, probate of wills, and the appointment of guardians, have been under the jurisdiction of the courts since the 1630s. County courts and later, county judges of probate were responsible for these functions until 1783, when the probate courts were established. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the probate and family courts were given jurisdiction over adoptions, divorces, name changes, and domestic relations.

The county was divided into two districts in 1869 with the "parent" county seat, at Salem remaining as the probate office for the county.

Why this Record Was Created
Probate records are used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. The probate process transfers the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title to heirs from the deceased to an executor or executrix if the deceased had made a will, to an administrator or administratrix if the deceased had not made a will, or to a guardian or conservator if the deceased had heirs under the age of twenty-one or if heirs were incompetent due to disease or disability.

Record Reliability
The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time of the probate proceeding are quite reliable, though there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members and those who have previously received an inheritance, or the spouse mentioned may not be the parent of the children mentioned.

Related Websites
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Related Wiki Articles
Massachusetts Probate Records

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation

“Massachusetts Essex County Probate Estate Files, 1638-1880,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org); from Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts State Archives, Boston. FHL digital images, 89 packets, Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah.

Image Citation