Reading wills and inventories

To continue from my previous post (How to Search for Wills and Probate in England)…

Once you have received the will you ordered you will be eager to get on and read it and see if it contains information about other ancestors, or whether it gives you the link between families that you are looking for.  But don’t rush at this.  There is an art to reading wills and inventories, and quite often, especially if the will was written before 1800, you will need to learn some paleography skills too.

Inventories

If you are lucky, a will sometimes has an inventory attached, which is basically a list of assets and possessions and what they are worth, added up to give the total estate’s worth.  These can be really fascinating, giving you a real insight into an ancestor’s lifestyle and giving you a solid picture of the furniture, clothing and general bits and pieces that make up a person’s life.  They can include such items as beds, chairs, furnishings, foodstuffs, livestock and crops – and you will also get an idea of the type of property they lived in as each room is itemised for its contents.

The Will

Onto the will itself – if it’s easy to read, then all you need is a basic understanding of the way wills have been generally formatted so you can differentiate between the clerk’s standardised text and your ancestor’s “voice”.

As in most legal documents, don’t expect there to be much punctuation!

The Preamble

A very usual beginning will be:  In the name of God Amen following by the testator’s name, parish and occupation.  Very often this will be followed by a statement explaining that although sick of body is of full and perfect memory to prove that he knew what he was doing (i.e. he was mentally able to write a valid will).  This will usually be followed by some standard text committing his body to Almighty God and his body to burial in the parish churchyard etc.  If the testator was Catholic, or of a very profound religious turn of mind (or perhaps hedging his bets), there may be a lengthy religious preamble where the testator expresses penitence, or asks for forgiveness etc.  Whilst a lengthy preamble like this can suggest strong religious beliefs on behalf of the testator, one should not rule out an enthusiastic clerk using conventional formula!

Payment of debts and funeral expenses will be the next thing to follow, along with the wish to annul any previous will.

The Bequests

Now you are into the juicy part of the will, where the testator shares out his property, monies and/or possessions to his family and friends.  Each bequest usually begins with the word “Itemfollowed by I leave to or I bequeath to then the name of the beneficiary.   To be sure that the bequest goes to the right person, wills usually describe the legatees very well, giving the relationship to the testator, where they live and (for a married woman) the name of their spouse.

If there are any child beneficiaries, their legacies are very often held in trust until they reach the age of 21.  This can help you to confirm approximate ages for children or grandchildren.

Sometimes, property & monies that are to be held in trust, shared out, or paid at intervals, would be wrapped up in extremely lengthy and complicated legal jargon covering every last detail and eventuality (such as the legatee dying before receiving their share).  This can make for rather tedious reading (especially as there is very little punctuation!), and while it is worth going through it to make sure there are no significant details about the family that you need to know, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything.  It is just worth knowing that your ancestor was keen to make sure every T was crossed and every I dotted!

Sometimes, the character, beliefs or attitudes of your ancestor will break through all the formal language giving you a glimpse of the real human being.  I recently transcribed a will for a client whose ancestor insisted that if his wife should marry again, then his son should “slam the door in her face”.  This kind of emotive language can raise a few questions about the relationships between husband and wife, father and son etc, and is delightfully intriguing!  (By the way, I did check, but as far as I could find out, the wife never did marry again…)

The Executor

All wills name an executor (or female executrix) – sometimes two – who were appointed to supervise the administration of the will.  These were very often trusted close friends or relations (mostly the wife or eldest son).

The End Bits

The last few words of a will are often something like: In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 15th day of July in the year One thousand seven hundred and eighty-two

The testator will then sign, and the witness statement will be underneath as follows:  Signed sealed published and declared by the said [testator’s name] as for his last Will & Testament in the presence of followed by the signatures of the witnesses.

Probate

Either on the bottom, the back, or on an attached piece of paper, the probate will state the date that probate was granted along with the names of the executors.  The amount of the estate is sometimes stated.

Paleography

If the will was written before 1800, and particularly if it is a 16th or 17th century will, you might find it extremely difficult to read, and can sometimes look as though it’s written in a different language.  The earliest wills were written in Latin, and in this case you will need to find a Latin transcriber.

However, if it is English, the clerk’s hand can be very difficult to decipher, as well as the fact that many words were spelled completely differently, some are out of use completely, and many letters look almost unrecogniseable to the way we would write them today.

If the will you have ordered is like this – don’t panic!  Paleography (or palaeography if you want to be absolutely correct) is not a difficult skill to learn, and the more you practise reading old handwriting, the easier you will find it.  The National Archives have an excellent online tutorial in reading handwriting from 1500 to 1800 and you can start this tutorial here.

If you don’t have the time to do this yourself (and even when you’ve learned a bit of paleography, it can still be a lengthy process if the will is a long one), most professional genealogists will transcribe a will for you for a fee.

Nuncupative wills

If a person’s final illness was very short and they did not have time to make a will, often an oral statement (often known as “deathbed wills”) would be made and accepted by the church courts.   These wills were only valid up until 1837 (with the exception of those in the armed forces who died in action).

Administrations

Administrations (often abbreviated to  “admons” in record office indexes) can often be found where a person died intestate (without leaving a will).  They are letters of administration granted by the court to those it considered legitimate administrators – usually the widow, or eldest son.

A few more notes to remember.  Don’t be too worried if you have the will of an ancestor, but he does not mention all his children, or only leaves a small sum of money to them.  This does not necessarily mean that they have been “cut out” of the will.  It may be that they have already been provided for, and if they are only left a small amount, the testator may have wanted to mention them to confirm them as their son, but in the knowledge that they had no need for any great legacy.

Also, remember that the word “cousin” can refer to a wide range of kin, and that other relations, such as father, brother, son etc can also refer to in-laws.

This has been a very brief guide to wills, but if you would like to learn more, I have a course at Udemy which will take you through the whole process of searching for, ordering and reading wills.  Have a look HERE.

(Picture supplied by Staffordshire Record Office)

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13 Responses to Reading wills and inventories

  1. Mary Vasa says:

    In the MAURY County TN Loose Records Project / Names Abstracted From Will form uses terms in the Function blank I can not find definitions. EX: dau/leg, Lo-Sell, Jur(t)… I ask and appreciate your help, Mary Vasa

    https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/114268768/person/140133726210/media/8550662f-aed2-4d72-b193-1d24f5289742?_phsrc=LNP1711&_phstart=successSource

  2. rosbot says:

    Hi May
    My expertise is in UK genealogy, so I am unfamiliar with this American format. However, I would suggest that ‘EX’ is Executor, ‘dau’ is daughter and ‘leg’ is legacy. I really don’t know what ‘Lo-Sell’ is, or ‘Jur(t)’. Sorry I can’t be of any more help!
    Ros

  3. David Gregory says:

    I have found a number of my Farming ancestors Wills from the 18th century. None of them make clear who inherits the freehold farmland. Is this because the land always went to the eldest son, providing there was one?

  4. rosbot says:

    Hi David

    Good question. The land would go to the eldest son if there was no will, and presumably if it’s not mentioned in the will. However, not all property gets passed on in a will, and I’m thinking that it may well have been gifted beforehand. I would suggest that you have a search on the National Archives to see if there are any deeds or settlements. It could be that the land had been transferred previously via marriage settlement or divided up in a land deed. Some people preferred to do this to save any disputes after his decease. Not all deeds have survived, or are held in local record offices – some are still with the current owners of properties, or their lawyers, so don’t rule this out if you don’t find anything!

    I hope this helps 🙂
    Ros

  5. Roy Clogstoun says:

    Hi Do you know anyone who could decipher a will for me. I have two wills from ancestors that lived in Antigua and Trinidad. They are available electronically in the National Archives.

  6. I am transcribing some of my ancestor’s wills and inventory from the 1700s. Before each inventory item there is the abbreviation “To” or “Do” (example: To womans saddle and pillion….12.0.0., To one bead and furniture…..130.0.0.) What does “To” or “Do” mean?

  7. Ros says:

    Hi Nina

    It’s difficult to say for certain without seeing the actual inventory – but the abbreviation ‘Do’ often means ‘ditto’. Usually inventory items begin with the word ‘Item’ to differentiate each separate thing – so I’m guessing this is ditto the word Item, which may be against the first item?

    Let me know if this makes sense!
    Ros

  8. Tammie Barber says:

    I have been going over an ancestors last will and testament. I am somewhat confused and hope you can clear this up for me. In the will he states that “I give and bequeath my daughter Rachel One english shilling.” “I give and bequeath my son Moses One english shilling” ” I give and bequeath my son John my plantation with all my land…..”etc.
    I’m curious if that was to indicated bad blood/disregard, or if that could indicate they had already been given what he wanted them to have. What was the purpose in the 1700’s to bequeath One shilling or dollar?

    Thank you
    Tammie

  9. Ros says:

    Hi Tammie
    This is a really good question. This kind of thing often comes up in wills, and leaves you wondering if there was any bad blood. In fact, it was usually the case that the person had already been provided for and the mention in the will with a very small amount was just a way of pointing out that the person had not been forgotten. If there was any bad blood, very often it would be referred to in the will, so I think in your case it is very likely that they were already provided for.

    In the case of his daughter, it might be worth searching to see if there was a marriage settlement (if she was already married) – or any deeds for land being transferred to his son. You can search for these kinds of records at the National Archives or the relevant record office online catalogues.

    I hope this helps!
    Ros

  10. Tammie Barber says:

    Hello Ros
    Thank you so much for your response. I will definitely do that research on the daughter. Side note here… my direct ancestor was Moses who received one English shilling. lol I also appreciate your answers to previous questions made by others as they answered a few other questions I had such as the “do” versus “ditto”.
    There is another question I do have; I am not sure you can answer or maybe at least point me in a direction. I have some records of when the family first landed in North Carolina from England. (They originally came from Switzerland, immigrated to Germany, then immigrated to England, then immigrated to America. (this is from family rumors/tales and information from the records I have; though some family died along the way.) I didn’t know if there might be a record of when they came to England and then moved on to America. Where might I look for that information?

  11. Ros says:

    Hi Tammie – you are very welcome. Always glad to be of help!

    Immigration records can be a bit patchy, but generally they are more likely to be available in the country of arrival. If you have a world-wide subscription to Ancestry, then you should be able to search both English and American immigration records – e.g. passenger lists – but much depends on the dates and which records have survived. Also, if they were in England long enough to be in the census records (from 1841 and every ten years after), you might find out if they were in England for those dates to give you an idea of when they left.

    Let me know if you have any further questions.
    Ros

  12. Grace says:

    Hi Ros,
    Thanks for this guide, it’s very interesting. Do you know how common it would be for a minor to have a will and what circumstances that might occur? I have an inventory for a potential ancestor and it’s mainly money owed or in possession of other people. He’s recorded as being a minor but I’m not sure if this is accurate.
    It seems to have the phrase “in minority” which I think is where the recording comes from.
    Any insight would be much appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Grace

  13. Ros says:

    Hi Grace
    That’s a very interesting question. Up until 1970 the age of minority was 21, when it was reduced to 18. In the past (I can’t remember the exact dates), boys between the age of 14 and 21, and girls from 12 to 21, could make a will – if they had their own property. For this reason, I think it must be very rare, as property (particularly for females) would normally belong to the parents or guardians, and if married, to the husband.

    As your ancestor is male, then it’s probably more common than a female minor – and if he was already married, then he probably did have his own property to leave.

    I hope this clarifies things for you! Let me know if you have any further questions.

    Ros

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