Olive Tree Genealogy Blog: Wills

Showing posts with label Wills. Show all posts

May 11, 2020

Don't Miss Free Downloads on UK National Archives

I've been enjoying searching Discovery on the UK National Archives and enjoying the free downloads. In case you missed the announcement, while KEW is closed, signed in users can download digitized records for free.

Registered users will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. Normally these records must be purchased so this is a wonderful thing that the Archives is doing!

So far I have found 18 wills of ancestors and have happily downloaded them all. Of course I still have to try to transcribe them but since it looks like lockdown in Ontario Canada will be going on for some time, I have the time.

I've made a list of what I have found so that I don't get confused. My mother's lines go back in Kent UK for hundreds of years so I have many ancestors to hunt for. There are more than wills available for download such as:

First and Second World War records, including medal index cards
Military records, including unit war diaries
Royal and Merchant Navy records, including Royal Marine service records
Wills from the jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Migration records, including aliens’ registration cards and naturalisation case papers
20th century Cabinet Papers and Security Service files
Domesday Book

My focus has been exclusively on wills such as the ones I already found for:

1657 George Longe
1752 Roger Hooper
1816 Philip Hubbard (see my book The Hubbard Family of Kent England )
1619 John Person/Peerson
1534 Richard Best
1666 Dorothy Ferrall
1659 John Virill aka Ferrall
1593 Richard Saxby
1778 Jane Hooper
1799 Isaac Hubbard (see my book The Hubbard Family of Kent England )
1733 William Laming (See my book The Laming Family of Kent England)
1810 William Laming (See my book The Laming Family of Kent England)

plus three for my youngest son's father's ancestors in Yorkshire, two for my daughter-in-law's ancestors in Norfolk and one for my husband's ancestor in Cornwall.

I have my work cut out for me! If you have English ancestors, you may want to jump over to The National Archives UK and have some fun.

May 8, 2020

Learning to Read Old Handwriting

Sometimes we are lucky enough to find a very old document concerning an ancestor. I don't know about you but I'm so excited when I do find an old will or inventory from the 17th or even 16th century!

So I have studied hard over the many years I've been researching family, and can read very basic Dutch or English documents from those early years. In fact I created a few tutorials and wrote a few articles to help others with some of those early letter formations.

Reading 16th Century English Records

How to Read 16th & 17th Century Handwriting

Tricks to Deciphering Old Handwriting

Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500 - 1800 A practical online tutorial

Help Reading 17th Century Dutch Church Records

But still I struggle with these old documents and find myself floundering, unsure as to what I am reading. That's why, when I found out this booklet on Reading Tudor and Stuart handwriting existed but was out of print, I went on a hunt for it.

Just before the Pandemic began I received 17 wills of ancestors ranging from the earliest will of my 13th great-grandfather Alexander Cullmer dated 1551 to the 1748 will of my 8th great-grandfather Thomas Hinds. I haven't had much time to go through them carefully but I've skimmed them. Now I'm anxious to use my new book and start going through them very slowly.

Some are inventories, not wills, and those are the most fun as I feel like I am walking through their homes as I read about the belongings in each room.

I hope you are finding time to work on your genealogy during this Stay At Home era.

November 13, 2019

Free Probate Records for Texas

Recently The Ancestor Hunt tweeted that "An often neglected source of terrific genealogical information are Wills and Probate Records. They often provide more information than obituaries. For Texas, there are a total of 114 Free Probate Records and Wills Collections to research."

This was intriguing so I went to the blog to have a look. He has done a lot of work compiling the list and links for Texas! If you have Texas ancestors, follow the links to the free Probate records online on The Ancestor Hunt Blog

November 6, 2019

Help Needed 1577 Inventory of my 12th Great Grandpa

I have many English ancestors. My mother was a first generation Canadian with both her parents born in Kent so you can imagine my huge British ancestry.
I only recently discovered that I could order wills and inventories for my British ancestors from the Kent History & Library Centre in England. After a few hours searching I found and ordered 17 (yes 17!!) for my direct ancestors.

This is page 2 of the 1577 Inventory of my 12th great-grandfather Sylvester Spencer.

This is one of the earliest that I received and I am slowly struggling through it.

Take a look at the enlarged portion below with the bits that I've managed to figure out (I haven't done the cash amounts for each item):

Item: His wearing apparrel

Item: three featherbeds that belong to (Thomas smyth?)

Item: ????

Item: One tablecloth and two rowels [rolls] and fower [four] pillowcotes [ancient word for pillowcases] and fower [four] table napkins

Feel free to drop your suggestions here! This is tough. It's a 2 1/2 page inventory and his will which I have not yet looked at is one page.

November 1, 2019

Index to Berkshire Wills 1480-1857

Berkshire Record Office announced that their index to Berkshire wills for the period 1480 to 1857 is now available online on their website.

I wish I had Berkshire ancestry but I don't.

Here is an example of what the index looks like.

You can also search this index of over 38,000 entries to see what Archdeaconry of Berkshire wills, administrations and inventories we have for the period 1480 to 1857.

The index is listed by surname, but also provides details of place name and occupation as well the document reference of the record and what microfilm/fiche (MF) copies are available at BRO.

To use the Name Search simply enter the name as surname, first name. For example: Blackmore, Dennis. You can also search by surname only or first name only.

For place names or occupations please use the Keyword Search.

If you would like to look at or order copies of any of the records listed, please Contact Berkshire Record Office.

August 30, 2019

Find Your New Netherland (NY) Ancestors

If you have ancestors who settled in New Netherland (present day New York) in the 17th Century you will want to have a look on Olive Tree Genealogy's New Netherland Section:

April 26, 2019

FInding Nancy Longstreet Part 5 (The End)

The online family tree I was using for clues to further research had John Longstreet's death as 14 September 1868 in Erin, Wellington County Ontario. There were no sources provided to support this and since this date is before mandatory registration of deaths, there was no death registration to be found.

My next decision then was see if I could find some proof of his death. For that I could search church records, burial records, cemeteries, and wills.

Agricultural Census

I also thought I'd take a look in the Agricultural census for 1851 and 1861 for John Longstreet in Caledon. John wasn't found but his son Henry was found living on Concession 6, Lot 10 in Caledon Township in 1861. So I could also have a hunt in the online Land Records for Ontario and see if John was there and when he first bought land.

Fields: Name, Concession, Lot #, Total Acres, Acres cultivated, Acres with crops

Land Records

I would need more time to find the Abstract Indexes to Deeds for Lot 10, Concession 6 in Caledon on the online Ontario Land Record site, so I headed out in another direction. It was beginning to feel like I was floundering around so I decided to just do some Googling, see what turned up when searching under John or Nancy's name. I'd mull over what I'd found so far and where to turn next while doing some simple searches online.

An exhaustive internet search turned up a little tidbit of information on a message board where an individual said that Abigail Longstreet Snyder was named in her father John's will. No other details were given. No sources, nothing. But.... a possible will!!?? My spidey senses tingled. I decided to drop everything and go on a hunt for this will if it existed.

I didn't think that the family tree notation of John dying in Erin, Wellington County made sense, so I went to the Archives of Ontario website to look at what was available for wills in Peel County. It made more sense to me that since some of John's children stated they were born in Caledon, and John was last found in 1861 in Caledon, Peel County, he may have still been there in 1868.

Surrogate Court Records

From Archives of Ontario website I learned that if John had a will it is probably found on the following film: GS1, Reel 563. That covers Estate Files 1-80, years 1867-1868. Archives of Ontario Peel County Surrogate Court Records also suggests it is wise to look up the application in the Docket Books on microfilm GS 2, Reel 146. The estate file number will be listed at the top of the application.

These films are not online and since I cannot access the Archives myself I hired my friend Sue de Groot at researchbysue@sympatico.cato look for me and copy a will if she found one.

Bingo!

John's will was found. The microfilmed Docket Book shows us that John's will is #67 on GS1 Reel 563

"10 October 1868. John Longstreet, late of the Township of Caledon in the County of Peel, farmer, died 14th day of Sept. 1868"

Executors were Noah Herring, farmer, and Francis Longstreet, labourer

John's will was quite long and rather than transcribe it, I have extracted names and bequests as follows:

To Francis Longstreet, my son, the 5 acres I now occupy, with house and all personal property on 5th Concession W.H.S. Township of Caledon. Westerly corner of the Southerly Quarter Lot 10. Also 5 acres of land on the 6th Concession between the lot I deeded to Wm. Long and that hereafter willed to my son Henry Longstreet.

To my son Henry Longstreet, 25 acres of land on 6th Concession of Caledon, W.H.S. being part of the Southerly quarter of Lot 10 on condition that within 5 years of my death he pays to my son Francis Longstreet $200.00

To my daughters Matilda Smith and Mary Long each $5.00. To my sons Samuel, Richard, and John each $1.00. To the remainder of my daughters Nancy Ann Fisher, Betsy Ann Lawrence, and Abigail Snyder each $1.00

6. My son Francis to take good care of, and maintain, my beloved wife during her life and also pay her funeral expenses at her death.

John signs with an X for his name

Inventory

There are several other legal papers and documents with John's will. All in all a total of 12 pages of documents is in the file.

Conclusion

Nancy Fisher's father has been found. She is named as the daughter of John Longstreet in his will dated 1868. It is possible that her mother was John Longstreet's second wife whose name is thought to be Mary aka Phoebe Bear. But finding proof of the second wife is another research project for descendants to tackle.

Now let's look at the summary of theorized children of John Longstreet which I prepared for Part 4 Finding Nancy Longstreet. We need to see which children are now proven by John's will.

Samuel Longstreet IN THE WILL
Born ca 1814 USA (some records indicate he was born 27 Feb. 1814)

Richard Longstreet IN THE WILL
born ca 1816 USA (New York?)

Sarah Catherine Longstreet NOT IN THE WILL
We must not assume she is not a daughter just because she is not in the will. She may have died before 1868. She may have been disowned. More research would be required by her descendants.

Henry Longstreet IN THE WILL
born ca 1823 (29 March 1823?)

Nancy Ann/Elizabeth Longstreet IN THE WILL
born ca 1823
married George Fisher

Betsy (Elizabeth) Ann Longstreet IN THE WILL
born ca 1825
married William Lawrence

Abigail Longstreet IN THE WILL
born ca 1835
married Calvin Murray Snyder

John Longstreet s/o John & Mary (Phoebe?) IN THE WILL
born ca 1836 (25 October 1835?)

Mary Longstreet d/o John & Sarah IN THE WILL
born 1839
Married William Long

Matilda Longstreet probably d/o John & Sarah IN THE WILL
born 11 May 1843
married Jacob Smith

Francis Longstreet s/o John & Sarah IN THE WILL
born 22 May 1845

I hope my readers have enjoyed following along with me on my quest to find Nancy Longstreet Fisher. If you found my research or the process I used helpful, please consider a donation to support my continuing to bring free genealogy online for all.

Here are the links to all 5 parts of this series

https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-1.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-2.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-3.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-4.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-5-end.html

September 2, 2015

FREE 170 Million Wills & Probate Records on Ancestry!

Wow! Ancestry.com just published over 100 million wills written in the United States in the last 300 years for genealogists to search. More than 170 million pages from the largest collection of wills and probate records in the United States is now available online exclusively on Ancestry.

With searchable records included from all 50 states spread over 337 years (1668-2005), this unprecedented collection launches a new category of records for family history research never before available online at this scale the United States.

Until now, these records have only been available offline. Ancestry spent more than two years bringing this collection online, working with hundreds of different archives from individual state and local courts across the country and making a $10M investment to license and digitize the records. The documents cover well over 100 million people, including the deceased as well as their family, friends and others involved in the probate process. Ancestry expects to continue to grow the collection, with additional records available over the next several years.

To celebrate the launch of the new U.S. Wills and Probates collection on Ancestry,, the collection along with all U.S. birth, marriage and death records, will be available to explore for FREE, September 2 (12pm MT) through September 7 (10pm MT).

Here are the records available as of today:

October 28, 2014

Gregorius Wildbore: Now That's a Name!

Gregorius Wildbore. It has a certain strength when you say it out loud. I imagine the man who had this name bestowed on him - strong, tall, a brave warrior...... but in all likelihood he was short, thin and stoop-shouldered from years of toil.

Gregorius was my 11th Great-grandfather on my maternal side, and he was born ca 1550 in Kent England, probably in Thanet. I suspect he was a farmer, struggling to grow a few crops in the tiny parish town of St. Mary Minster, for that is where he married, raised his 7 known children, and died in 1606.

1571 Marriage Georgig (Gregorius) Wildbore & Alice Pamphlett (bottom line)

1606 Burial of Gregorius Wildbore (bottom line)

I am lucky to have found a copy of Gregorius' will but it is not easy reading. In the will he is named as George Wildbore which is a bit of a letdown from the romantic notion of a strong and regal Gregorius. But reality is reality and I know that Gregorius was just the Latin rendition of his very ordinary name.

1606 Will of George Wildbore

Larger PDF file is available for anyone wanting to give reading his will a try. The bottom section of the will is here

In his will, which I have struggled with for many years, I have only been able so far to read "Alice my wife and Edward Wildbore my son" (Edward, who was baptised in 1580, is my 10th great-grandfather) and "Joan [Colly?] the wife of Thomas [Colly?]" and "Jerome Wildbore my son".

Perhaps one day I will be able see the original again instead of the print I made from the original microfilm where I first found the will.

I spent time last week searching online church and parish records for Thanet Kent and have had fun and success (a good combination!) with my mother's British roots. Her family lineage goes back to 1500s Ramsgate Kent area for the most part and I have not done a lot of research on them before. It's a good feeling to organize my notes from years past and acquire copies of original cerificates to add to a book I am putting together for my children.

It is fascinating to me to learn that Minster in Thanet originally started as a monastic settlement in 670AD. The parish church of St. Mary-the-Virgin was built during Norman times. It is quite possible that my ancestors go back to this time. I have literally dozens of surnames of ancestors who lived and died in this small area from at least the early 1500s to mid 1800s.

Not much housework or mundane chores are getting done this week in our household as I am treating myself to a week of genealogy research right here at home! If you have not done this I urge you to set aside a few days or a week and devote yourself to organizing your previous research and looking for new items to add to your tree.