User:Skelsey

English probate records are very useful in determing correct family relationships. Locating the place to search for records depends upon where the person lived and/or owned property.

The probate courts were under the control of the Church of England prior to 1858. The major general probate court covering the entire country was the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

Probates within this court were usually for persons of means or for those who may have owned property in two or more lower courts thus making it a conflict for those two lower courts to handle. Wills and administrations for this court are completely indexed and available on microfilm at the FHL in Salt Lake City; however these are tedious and time-consuming to search. The British Index Library published a series of printed volumes with indicies to various periods which are also available there. Much easier now the

indicies to the wills are now available online at

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/wills.asp.

Actual copies of the wills are also available from this site for a fee. The actual wills and administrations are also available on microfilm at the FHL in Salt Lake City. Searching the complete collection for 1384 to 1858 is now simple using this site. This is actually quite a small portion of the actual probate records available.

A series of probate maps showing court jurisdiction for each county is available {are these online or where can one get them besides the FHL}. After searching the PCC(Prerogative Court of Canterbury) for the will, then search the lower courts. These courts range from the PCY(Prerogative Court of York), to Bishop's Courts, Courts of the Deanery, and Peculiar Courts. The PCY handled probates for a large general area of the Northern Counties of England much like the PCC; however when the PCY could not handle it the PCC took over.

The court records are in various formats. Act books are records which consist of the daiily activities of the court and list the probates and administrations usually in the order they were completed. The act books usually have an index at the beginning(some are also at the end) of the associated microfilms. Some courts have also been indexed and published such as the one for the County of Worcester which is in 3 volumes in the FHL and available on loan on microfilm at local FHC's. The British Index Library has also indexed records for various courts. Many courts also have wills and administrations which are available prior to the beginning of the Act Books. An example of this is the Hereford Bishop's(Diocesian) Court.

The actual early wills and administrations prior to when the act books start in 1662 are available on a large series of films. These were partially indexed by S.J.Kelsey some years ago and that index is available at the FHL and on microfilm. It consists of a listing of the wills in the order they appear on the films.

When searching for a will or administration, the act books should be searched first and the wills and admons of interested listed. Some of the courts have registered wills(these are hand copies of the original wills--the originals usually discarded after copying) and others have the actual papers. The courts with registered wills usually have an index at the beginning or end making it quite easy to find the wills. Other courts with the actual papers usually have no index and a number of wills and administrations must be searched through to find them. An example of this would be the Hereford Diocese Wills which are all registered and quite easy to find in the registers whereas the Worcester Diocese Wills are all non-registered and sometimes an entire film must be searched to find the correct paper as they may be out of order(usualy ordered by date).

A few(very few) will abstracts may be found in various online sources; for instance the genuki (www.genuki.com) site has a few abstracts of various Herefordshire wills. It is hoped that in the future the actual wills will be available to search on the internet.

Not only the people but also the property involved is important to note. This can help to determine further relationship.

Remember that probates are an often overlooked source which is usually the most valuable

that can be found.