Genealogy Chat

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I have just received some wills from York Probate Office. One of them contained details of a legacy left to child. In the will it states 'to my adopted....' Then it goes on to say to my ....... I leave nothing and intend that ... should not benefit in any way from this will'. I never knew the person in question was adopted, and that adds a whole new dimension to that particular line. What a bunch of skeletons there! But it goes on to give full addresses, names of grandchildren and great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins. An absolute goldmine. So - don't underestimate the value of wills. Fantastic source of information. Ian

I have a will with 36 rellies mentioned by name and relationship!! I'm afraid yours sounds a bit harsh....... :o(( ..................but you're right....a fantastic source of info!! I have one where the eldest son (his name is not mentioned!) is left one penny....all the other children (named) get a good stash.....!! Merry

May I ask what dates your will are from. I ordered one from 1916 and one from 1933. They only confirmed the close family names I knew already. Nicky

I've only got one Will in my family history, but it gave me lots of names of people and led me to discover that the person whose Will it was, had been married, at the ripe old age of 69, and his wife had predeceased him. It listed a lot of properties which were clues to where people went to live. BUT just as there are errors in all documents, so too with Wills. It lists a person surname Hocking, when it was Hawkins! nell

My one penny one is about 1810 and the one with the mass of beneficiaries (and 36 is just the rellies!!) is 1893. It's just luck what might be in them....I have plenty without much info too!! Merry

The wills date from 1880 to 1966. Each of them contain a lot of information that I wasn't aware of and confirmed other things. I can't think of any other way I would have found a lot of these things out. I've had a lot of wills previously, and I have to say that each one was extremely helpful and useful, but none to the degree of this batch. Ian

Merry - I quite agree! I have one (Scottish) one which lists 100 legacies, though I can't remember how many are her relatives, and how many acquaintances. It seems that she was one of those people who always said to anybody who did her a good turn, 'I'll remember you in my will' - and did! - and she was always revising it - there are two codicils although she only died a year or two after the will was written. And another (English) one which I was hoping would tell me something appears to be a standard will with no names or details of anything he was leaving (just says something along the lines of, 'any of my children who may be alive'.... 'any grandchildren who may be alive'). You really can't tell how useful it will be without getting the will, but they are pretty cheap, after all, cheaper than a death certificate for instance. You can actually get quite a bit of useful information just from the probate index entry, which you don't have to pay anything for if you look through the microfiches. And they also include 'admons', i.e. there was no will but there was an estate which required administration. Actually, the most interesting information I ever got in researching my family tree was from a letter of administration, which costs £5 same as a will (post-1858), but usually these won't tell you much more than the index entry does. Pre-1858 you can get a will from Documents Online for £3.50, but you do have to be good at reading old handwriting. Anyway, there are lots of branches of my tree which would have got nowhere without wills. Definitely worth getting. Oh, I should add for those pre-1858 ones, if you find one on Documents Online and you aren't sure if it's one of your rellies, buy some credits on 'The National Archivist' website (their databases and credits will soon be transferred to 1837 online, by the way) and look it up in the Death Duties Index as that will give you the name and address of the executor which should help. Kate.

On the subject of wills, does anyone have a sensible explanation for why they always seem to have no punctuation whatsoever???? I have one where there is a list of beneficiaries something like, ''my nieces and nephews William Henry Woodhead Mary Elizabeth Lavinia Sarah George Lucy and Ann Hazel''......I spent an age looking for the Hazel family....only to discover they were called Buck!! Hazel just happened to be the middle name of the last person mentioned and the other names were sometimes one per person, sometimes two per person and sometimes three!! Woodhead was some lucky souls first name!! Depending on where you breathe when reading these wills it seems to me you can dish the money out in different ways!??? Merry

Many years ago (!) I worked for a firm of Solicitors and Barristers in Lincolns Inn, London (we had lots of well known people as Clients) One of my jobs as an 18 year old was typing out Wills. Now people, these were TYPED not word processed so you were not allowed to make any mistakes at all - you could not use rubbers or the new fangled correcting fluid. My understanding was that any punctuation could cause the meaning to be construed wrongly so it was all left out! (which is really hard to do actually, as it comes naturally to you as you type). As you say, can be taken either way without any punctuation but perhaps the lawyers were fearful that their punctuation may cause problems.

Merry, I think I know why no punctuation in wills. It is because they are legal documents and if punctuation was allowed, it would be too easy to change the meaning by putting in a crafty comma or full stop. The same applies to property deeds. Cheers, Roger PS have just read Heather's post. I was thinking of the days when they were written by hand. Must be very easy for a good typist to forget and put in punctuation, but probably they use word processors these days?

Thanks for the info about the punctuation....or lack of it! Heather........My mum worked in Grays Inn for 12 years until 1958.....could she have ever seen you??????? merry

Hi Zara Pre 1858 there are wills down loadable from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/ After 1858 if you have the date of death, you can buy copies of wills and administration grants by post. Write to the Court Service, York Probate Sub-Registry, First Floor, Castle Chambers, Clifford Street, York, YO1 9RG. A handling charge is payable in addition to the copying charge. I think the charge is £5.00. There's a web site but I can't find the address a the moment Does anyone know how long wills are taking to arrive from York? I sent for one just after Christmas. Thanks Heather

Merry, I am thankful to say, that had your mum seen me in 1958 Id been in infant school uniform.

Zara, if you go to the homepage of this site, you can see a link to info about buying Wills.

Hi Heather I sent for 5 wills on the 30th November and they arrived on Saturday. Ian

Thanks Ian I'll wait a bit longer then! Heather

Mine took 3 weeks to come.

Heather!!! LOL - that is sooooooo funny!! Bet you had two plaits and freckles???? Merry

No, that was my older sister (whose birthday it is today - shes looking forward to her pension in a couple of years).