Finding wills and probate information for family history research

12 June 2018 11:17

Wills are an invaluable source of information for family history researchers. They can reveal family relationships you didn’t know about, and may disclose intimate details about a person's household and lifestyle, such as place of residence, occupation, relationships with other local people and even property and goods.

Ancestry has the national probate calendar, an index for tracking wills and probate records after 1858. It also has various probate records dating from 1269 to 1975, as well as wills from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury [PCC] from 1384. The PCC, which actually sat in London, was the senior church court, and wills proved by the PCC represent the largest collection of pre-1858 wills for England and Wales. It mainly handled probates for property owners, but there were other reasons people chose to use the PCC, for example a nonconformist might wish to avoid the attention of local clergy by opting for the higher court, or if a will was contested it might pass to the PCC too. From 1653 to 1660, the PCC was the only court to deal with wills and administrations.

FindMyPast has a selection of wills from various parts of the country. The Devon wills index for 1163-1999 includes 295,609 wills, proved across 30 courts, for people who were born or died in Devon. The Devon wills index is a search-aid for the family historian to check available probate records, their location and if they survived the Exeter Blitz of WW2.

Wills can also be located on the national archives website, and ordered or downloaded for a small sum. Wills were proved by a number of courts, and the only probate court records held by the national archives are those of the PCC up to 1858.

Susan Francia, Family History Research Services

01822 820855

fhistoryresearch@gmail.com