Introduction

Originally this post was going to be called Probate, then Probate and Wills, before I finally decided to call it just Wills. The reason is that Probate, or the Grant of Probate, it is the official proving of a Will by the Probate Office or Court. This allows the Executor to formally manage the estate of the deceased.

Finding a will left by an ancestor can be one of the most useful tools available to the family researcher they can contain an absolute gold mine of information, which can be used in your research

The very word probate can conjure up all sorts of thoughts and ideas in some peoples mind, often for some reason, it is one of fear. The thought of having a Court decide if your relations will is in fact legal. You do not know if Cousin Jack will contest it, and so it goes on. The fact is that if there is a will, then very often there is not a problem, the same can be said of dying without a will, or intestate, again, often not problem.

However, this post is about using Wills to help us trace our ancestors, whilst learning more about them.

Locating A Will

Before we dive into what use a will can be in helping to trace our ancestors, let us first look at where we are able to find them, should they exist.

The first and most obvious place to look, is was a copy of one, or better still, the original, left amongst any papers or documents which you have been able to find?

If so then read it, who was left what?

Do you know all the persons who are named?

If so where do they fit in as regards being Family members?

If not are they Family Members?

Apart from naming who is to get what, does it shed any light on property or wealth?

I have a number of Wills in my files, most of them, certainly the older ones make very interesting reading.

I mentioned in a previous post of my Great, Great Uncle Tom inheriting some property from his Father, also buying some of the estate.

In his Will Great, Great Grandfather left a total of Thirty Eight houses in Kingston-on-Thames.

These were bequeathed like this:

Four to his widow.

Three to each of his two sons Thomas and John, and

One to his daughter, my Great Grandmother,

The remainder the two sons, were able to purchase the remainder for a total of One Thousand Pounds, such purchase to be made within twelve months of his death. If not bought by the two sons, then they would pass to the Widow. If sold the thousand pounds would go to the widow.

Reading the Will over twenty years ago, I had those twenty-seven houses valued, they were worth some Twenty Million Pounds plus the odd Million. Not bad considering that they worked out at Forty Pounds Each. Two stories come to mind here.

The first one which makes me smile, is that his own Father left him One English Shilling, due to his behavior. How did he make his fortune? He was an Undertaker! As was his son Thomas.

The second one, concerns his two daughters, they were left nothing, why? Being the daughters of a very wealthy man in Victorian times, they had married, to put it mildly, very well, tracing their Husbands line has been, to put it mildly, very interesting.

As a young child being in London for the Wedding of the Queen, we visited one of the daughters’ descendants, I recall this very large old house, very austere, to me it seemed to be all brown and very dark. Whilst the adults talked, I was shown into the servants quarters, and given fresh orange juice, do remember that this was two years after the end of the war, fresh orange juice, it was wonderful. The garden was very large, a fishpond in what had been the well, at the bottom of the garden, were hutches containing Angora Rabbits, I had seen the spinning wheel in the servant’s quarters.

There is a sequel to this story, the house which was left to his daughter (My Great Grandmother), was sold over twelve years ago for just under Two Million Pounds. No the present Family did not inherit anything, it was sold over a hundred years ago.

My sister was interested what had happened to the money. Me, I am just proud to be a member of a Family with such a rich history, or background. To me finding out such interesting facts, is what researching your Family is about.