Wills and Probate Records Archives - Genealogical.com

Mayflower Increasings

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:26:00 +0000

Building on the previously published work of John Landis–the 1922 Mayflower Descendants and Their Marriages for Two Generations After the Landing–Mrs. Roser’s work provides an accurate and reliable summary of all that is presently known about the passengers of the Mayflower for the first three generations in America–names, dates, places, spouses, children, etc. Unique to the Roser work, each third generation listing includes references to records or sources that will help the researcher find fourth generation children. And new to this edition is a “Probate Appendix” which will assist the reader in identifying fourth and fifth generation children.

Sources noted within the text are given in parentheses in abbreviated form and are then fully identified in the extensive Reference List. Also included as appendices are Governor Bradford’s “List of the Mayflower Passengers” and the “1627 Cattle Division,” as both are of extreme importance in Mayflower research. The book is fully indexed and contains references to over 6,000 names or persons.

This edition of Mayflower Increasings is, in fact, a whole new book, not just a simple revision of an established text, and it contains at least three times as much information. At a minimum it fills in hundreds of blanks, resolves numerous discrepancies, and solves many long-standing problems.

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Abstracts of Bristol County, Massachusetts Probate Records, 1687-1745

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:26:00 +0000

Here is a faithful rendering of all the wills, inventories, administrators’ accounts, receipts, divisions of estates, petitions, guardianships, and other Bristol County probate records for the period in question. Researchers should note that Bristol County, Massachusetts, a magnet for colonists with Mayflower connections, contained the Rhode Island towns or areas of Bristol, Warren, Barrington, Little Compton, and Tiverton until 1747.

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Abstracts of Bristol County, Massachusetts Probate Records, 1745-1762

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:26:02 +0000

In this volume there is abstracted every item and entry, page by page, in all of the Bristol County Probate Volumes 11-17, and 124-126, covering the years 1745 to 1762. Included are wills, inventories, administrator’s accounts, receipts, divisions of estates, petitions, guardianships, and other matters relating to the probate of estates. There are references to over 7,000 persons, many mentioned several times in the records.

Not only are the probate records of present-day Bristol County abstracted, but also those of the now Rhode Island towns of Bristol, Warren, Barrington, Little Compton, and Tiverton from 1745-1747, until which time they were all situated in Bristol County, Massachusetts.

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Maine Wills, 1640-1760

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:26:00 +0000

This volume of Maine wills is regarded as one of the greatest sources for colonial genealogy ever published. It is a faithful transcript of 471 wills, and it contains data on several thousand related individuals for the years 1640-1760. Information contained in the wills includes full name of the testator, names of heirs and their relation to the testator, bequests of real and personal property, names of executors, witnesses and appraisers, and dates of recording and probate. Four separate indexes conveniently guide the reader to his objective.

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Suffolk County Wills

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:26:21 +0000

Based on a long series of will abstracts that appeared over a period of 45 years in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, this work encompasses what amounts to the first 30 years or so of the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, estate records (1640-1670). Altogether, the series refers to some 12,000 persons with regard to family relationships.

Since this series of abstracts appeared in more than 60 issues of the Register, it has remained obscure and out of reach of the customary researcher. The virtue of this volume is that it gathers up the various installments and makes them accessible via an added index of names.

Genealogists researching the period 1640 to 1670 will find this a useful and informative reference tool, especially since some of the original Suffolk County wills are no longer available.

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A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:25:00 +0000

Based on records of the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut, on records of the Particular Court, and ultimately on probate records of the Hartford County Court, these three impeccably edited volumes cover the wills, inventories, distributions of estates, and court records of the men and women who settled in that fecund district of Connecticut embracing Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. Officially established in 1666, the Hartford probate district at one time or another covered no fewer than 40 towns. Residents of those towns had their wills proved in Hartford, and this work contains not only accurate transcriptions of those wills, but transcriptions of all related documents, including administration records, inventories of estates, records of estate distributions, and associated court records. In total, some 30,000 persons are named in the wills and associated records.

At the beginning of Volume I there is an indispensable list of probate districts and towns showing the districts in which the towns are located. There is likewise a list of towns with their corresponding probate districts. Each volume has an index to estates and one to names. Nothing has been left to chance, and the scholarly care lavished on the work is apparent on every page.

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The Probate Records of Lincoln County, Maine, 1760 to 1800

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:25:56 +0000

Prior to Maine’s statehood in 1820, Massachusetts had jurisdiction over what was then the Province of Maine. In fact the entire province was organized as York County, Massachusetts. In 1760, the Massachusetts legislature formed two new counties from the eastern portion of York County, naming the easternmost segment Lincoln County, with its county seat at Pownalborough. Lincoln County’s probate records, which commence November 1760, are displayed here to the year 1800. Mr. Patterson has faithfully transcribed all wills and abstracted all administrations of estates–the latter are in the majority–found in the Lincoln County courthouse. While the wills speak for themselves, they invariably give the name of the testator and witnesses, and dates of the will’s origination and probate. The administrations have the virtue of placing any number of persons at a particular place within Lincoln County at a particular time inasmuch as they furnish the names of the deceased with his date of death, his/her heirs and their hometowns, the appointment of guardians with dates of appointment, the identities of the persons who appraised the estate, and a variety of miscellaneous information related to the handling of the estate. Preceding the records themselves are an informative Preface by John Peters describing the history of the Lincoln County probate court and an equally enlightening Introduction by Rufus K. Sewall, which traces the history of Lincoln County from its antecedents in the early 17th century. All persons named in the aforementioned probate records may be found in the 8,000-name index at the back of the volume. The name index is enhanced by a separate index to places referred to in the wills and estates. Anyone searching for Lincoln County forebears on either side of the American Revolution should start here.

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Mayflower Deeds & Probates

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:25:00 +0000

This is the last of a three-book series that includes Mayflower Marriages. It is a compilation of deeds and probate records extracted and transcribed from the renowned Bowman Files. The several thousand deed abstracts provide such information as name, occupation, and residence; date, sale, price, acreage, and location of the land; and witnesses and date of recording. The will abstracts include bequests to friends and family, descriptions of personal real estate, and names of witnesses. The probate records associated with the wills are a goldmine of genealogical information, as they name heirs and their relationship to the deceased, minor children, guardians, and debtors. Researchers will also appreciate that the wills and deeds herein pertain to a number of non-Mayflower families whose lines originate in the counties of Plymouth, Bristol, or Middlesex, Massachusetts. With an index of 25,000 entries!

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Genealogical Gleanings in England

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:22:00 +0000

Waters, opus consists largely of copies of lengthy abstracts of wills in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury which bear some relation to early American families. In addition, it contains genealogical notes and pedigrees, maps, tabular charts, illustrations, and an index of 30,000 names as well as a fifty-one page index of places, with details of where many of the early families settled. Furthermore, as John T. Hassam noted in the Introduction to the work, “These pages contain wills relating not only to New England families, but to those of Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, and the West Indies. These researches, in short, have been conducted in no narrow spirit, and they should interest everyone of English descent in every part of our country.”

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North Carolina Wills

gpcdevel — Fri, 03 May 2019 20:20:00 +0000

This is an index to more than 75,000 persons who died and left wills in North Carolina between 1665 and 1900. With the possible exception of census records, it is the single-most important finding-aid in North Carolina genealogy. In one alphabetical sequence it lists the names of the testators, the county in which their wills were proved, the date of probate, the precise location of the recorded copy of the will in each of the counties (by book and page number), and the location of the original will. Dr. Mitchell has also provided a concise history of the probate records of all 107 North Carolina counties, giving the date of the county’s formation, the territory it was formed from, the dates wills were first filed and recorded, the various record book designations, the status of the records, and the location of the original, recorded and copied wills.

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