Alaska, Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Alaska

What Is in the Collection?
This collection consists of digital images of probate records including wills from the collections at the Alaska State Archives for the years 1900 to 1959. It may also include miscellaneous court records including civil cases, criminal cases, warrants, bonds, and insanity records from 1908-1940; census records from 1875-1910; and naturalization and citizenship records from 1900-1922.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Probate records include petitions, inventories, accounts, decrees, oaths of executors, forms about guardians and other court documents. Information in entries includes:


 * 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 Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. To begin your search, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the individual
 * The date of the event or the name of a spouse or child

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select County
 * 2) Select Record Type, Date Range and Volume

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Cite the record just in case you need to find it later. See below for help citing this collection.
 * Use a Probate record to identify adoptions, guardians, heirs and relatives.
 * Use a will to approximate a death date, then find a death certificate.
 * For earlier years, use the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find church and vital records such as birth, baptism and marriage records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find immigration and land records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. You could get a copy of the original record from the Alaska State Archives, Juneau, Alaska.
 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county.
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Check the info box above for additional FamilySearch websites and related websites that may assist you in finding similar records.

Citations For This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

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