Genealogy Chat

What part of the country are you interested in? Post 1858, everything is in one index. The books are held at High Holborn, but there are various microform copies in other places. Pre 1858: If your people had money, or there was a problem with the will, you may find your people in the Documents Online website. "Ordinary" people had their will proved in the smaller courts. There are masses of them. Wiltshire is doing a project to get all the wills for all the courts in their county online. For Norfolk there are at least 5 courts that spring to mind. They are usually held in the County Record Office, which is the first place to ask, but not always. There also Administrations: allowing someone to deal with the estate where there isn't a will, and Inventories, which list the goods and chattels left in a will. These are both likely to be listed separately. Lots of books have been published, listing Wills and Admins for various courts. There are several at the Family Record Centre in London. It may be hard work to find a will, but it's really worth it if you succeed! Good luck Brenda

Your local record office may well hold the probate calendars on fiches. These are indexes to all wills after 1858, and there is one for each year. They take persistence to search but are worthwhile. If you find one you want, you can then order a copy from the York Probate office. Wendy

Hi I have found my wills on documents on line(the public records office)£3 to down load can be difficult to read but very interesting Jan

Willls pre 1850 ish are at the High Holborn address in London First Avenue House 42-49 High Holborn London WC1V 6NP Tel: 020 7947 7000 Also try: http://www.lawontheweb(.)co(.)uk(/)basics(/)probateoffices(.)htm (remove brackets) This gives you other places in country where wills are to be found. They are also available from all County Record Offices for the county of interest ie I have interests in Northants and have found many wills of interest to me at the Northants Record office. There are also many wills on line at: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk You have to pay £3 for these and they can be difficult to read but I have found a couple here as well. Estate Duty records sometimes contain some information of relevance and these are to be found at the NA so try the online catalogue for that. Then there is also the Courts of Canterbury which you will also need to Google Search. Janet

Mandy My Will was given to me in a lot of family papers, and it was quite modern (1937). If you want to find a Will after 1858, there is a useful fact page on this site - go to homepage, scroll down and you will find it listed under Genealogy Resources. For Wills before 1858, I am sure someone will info about this will ad a posting. My Will was useful because it gave names and addresses and helps sort out family relationships - ie "To my Sister Kate Chapman" confirmed that Kate had married a Mr Chapman etc. as well as clues liked ""Millie Chapman and Annie Chapman (both of Fleet)" nell

Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I've just seen a thread where people have found lots of information in family members' wills. Where can I find copies of wills? I'm assuming that they're kept somewhere 'official'? Many thanks, Mandy :)