Genealogy Chat

someone told me today that there is somewhere in York where you can write to request copies of Wills as long as you know name, address of place of death and date of person. Send a fiver and you get a type-written copy of the will. 1) Anyone know this address to write to?? 2) Or is this some money-making scam?? I would value your views.

No its absolutely above board! If the will is before 1858 you can actually go to the documents online site of National Archives and pay £3.50 and download it immediately. If its after 1858 you can go to London and do a search yourself or write off to York with your details and a fiver and get a copy of the will. If you trawl back there are more threads on it. Or go to National Archives website and it will tell you exactly what to do. I sent off to York Register for a will and got it back in two weeks. I just had a quick check on the National Archives site - as I said if after 1858 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. You can email them first if you want or look up their website for exact details.

Postal Searches & Copies Dept., Probate Registry Castle Chambers YORK YO1 9RG Tel: 01904666770 www.courtservice.gov.uk Regards Helen K

Thanks Heather for your valuable information.

Thanks also to you Helen.

I am looking in the National Archives site, which I usually get totally lost in......but I actually found the wills section. I am now wondering what this means...... Will of Elizabeth Walford, Wife of Wateringbury , Kent Does that mean her husbands name was Wateringbury !?!?

Karen, I think Wateringbury Kent is where she is from. Christine

Both sources of wills are invaluable, though for old wills you do have to be aware that you will have to read 19th-century handwriting! If you're lucky you may get names of all your ancestor's children who were still living at the time and any grandchildren, maybe nieces, nephews, sisters, etc. and details of property they owned. Also, on the English Origins website you can order "Bank of England Will Extracts" which do cost £10 but may be worth it if you can't find the actual will on Documents Online (sometimes the details of the person on Documents Online may not be what you were expecting and the ones on English Origins will help to identify them). If you can find a place near you that has copies of the National Probate Calendar you can look up all your ancestors on it and find out if they left wills or not so that you only bother sending the £5 to York if you know they left one, but if they did it is definitely worth the £5. I can't praise the National Probate Calendar too highly as it has helped solve a family mystery which I had been working on for 6 months till I found you could search the NPC at the Nottinghamshire Archives. I'll just say that if someone died abroad or in Ireland their estate may still have been settled in this country so they would be on there but maybe not in the BMD Deaths Index. I found a pre-1858 will on Documents Online which matched my great-great-grandfather's middle name and his mother's birthplace, and found out all about his grandfather and nine uncles and aunts and loads of cousins, all for £3.50!

nudge