When searching ancestry in the UK, the first records you will deal with are the civil registration, census and parish register records. Once you’ve got what you can out of those, you will no doubt want to dig deeper. On the other hand, you might have hit a brick wall, and you are searching for other records that might help to establish the correct links to take you back further.
Some of the most interesting types of record you can use to help with both of the above are the wills and probate records. Wills can provide you with fascinating insights into your ancestors’ lives, including their property, wealth, status, relationships and character. And, if you are lucky, they can give detailed family history details that can verify the links you have been looking for to take your ancestry further. The inventories that often are attached to wills can also provide you with details of your ancestor’s occupation, living environment and lifestyle.
Sadly, not everyone will be able to find ancestors who have left wills. On the whole, they tend to be confined to property owners, solvent tradesmen and professionals. However, wills have sometimes been made by the working classes, so it is always worth searching for a will.
The problem is, searching for wills and probate records can sometimes be a complicated business. They are not all available to view online, do not always turn up on online indexes, and even when they do, can sometimes be confusing to know where a will might be held. Furthermore, even when you find a will, it can be extremely difficult to read, especially if it was written before the 18th century.
In order to make the process a little less complicated, I have created a course to take you through all the steps you need to take to find out whether any of your ancestors left a will, and how to find it and read it if they did.
Up until April 8th 2020, you can get my Researching Wills and Probate course on Udemy for the discount price of £9.99, by following THIS LINK.
After that, it will be at the normal price of £149.99 – but Udemy often run their own discounts, so you can always check back to see if you can get it cheaper.
This course is for anyone who has already had some experience of searching ancestors, and would like to dig deeper and see if any of them left a will.
If you have little or no experience of researching ancestry, then I suggest you start with my Beginners’ Course OR my free Introduction to Genealogy.
