Two articles can be found in the Ancestry Learning Center on “Pre-1858 Probates in England and Wales;” check the dates and you will see I wrote them early in 1999—nearly five years ago (see the links following this article). An update to the material is long overdue. This article follows the organization of its predecessors, explaining what has changed and what new resources are available.

Understanding the System
Needless to say, the ancient hierarchical organization of the courts of the Church of England remains the same. Fortunately, accessing the information that helps you figure out what courts had jurisdiction in a particular area is easier; it can be found in books, online, and on CD-ROM.

For the court jurisdictions that apply to any parish in England or Wales, the best resources (now revised) remain the “Atlas and Index of Parish Registers” (C. Humphery-Smith, Phillimore, 3rd ed., 2003) and “Probate Jurisdictions” (J.S.W. Gibson and E. Churchill, Federation of Family History Societies, 5th edition, 2002). These resources are not in a computer format, but you can find information about probate courts for many counties using the GENUKI website (www.genuki.org.uk/ ) or computer versions of the topographical dictionaries produced by Samuel Lewis in the middle of the 1800s (found online and on CD-ROM). Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of England can be found within the Ancestry.com subscriber databases.

As for background to probate records, you can refer the books by Irvine and Herber cited in the articles, and there are some explanations online (e.g., among the leaflets at the National Archives website, and at some record office sites. To locate the website of any record office consult the Archives Online (ARCHON) directory.

Where to Begin
The six points discussed five years ago remain valid today: consider the nature of the search; consider social standing; consider religion of the deceased; things were different under Cromwell 1653–60; know whether the deceased overseas; consider ease of access to finding aids. It is this last point that has really changed. The Internet is an ideal place for lists and indexes, and probate is well represented. Your search routine for records of all courts for most of England is easier because of what is now online.

Begin a thorough probate search by preparing a list of where the probate record might be; this means listing the courts of any rank that had jurisdiction over the area (see the tips above about jurisdictions). The next step is to discover which of these courts can be searched using an online database. Use the GENUKI website for information on probate records in any county; here you will find details about online resources.

For the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, visit the National Archives' documents online website. This is where all the wills of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury can be found. An index search is free and any will of whatever length can be viewed for a reasonable fee.

GENUKI does not necessarily tell you about probate records within paid databases. To complete your online survey, visit Cyndi’s List and check her links for England and for the region, the Origins website (www.englishorigins.com ), and stop by the Ancestry databases. (The quickest way to a listing of English national and county resources is via www.ancestry.co.uk ).

Cautionary Note
You cannot find all existing indexes online or on CD-ROMs. Make sure you use the Gibson and Churchill booklet, “Probate Jurisdictions,” as your checklist. When you run out of finding aids and images on the Internet, you must turn to microfilm resources of the Family History Library (fairly extensive for probate) or to the appropriate record office (personal visit or agent). Part two of my 1999 article gives an example of a search for Essex wills.

This has changed to the extent that I can now search the Ancestry databases because the Essex indexes published by the British Record Society are included. I can also search the Essex Record Office online tool, SEAX, where some wills and many related documents (deeds etc.) are listed. Other counties have more online resources, while some have less, so the procedure I described previously works and can be followed for areas where online finding aids are either incomplete or non-existent.

Those of you researching the north of England will discover that finding aids and copies of documents are not so readily available. You are more reliant on films in the Family History Library (FHL) and on the collections of the Borthwick Institute in York. A detailed description of probate courts and FHL collections for the north can be found in Researching British Probates 1354–1858, Northern England (D.H. Pratt, 1992).

Check for Administrations
An administration was granted when there was no will and assets were sufficient to require probate or when the named executor(s) could not, or would not, act.

Probate Jurisdictions includes information on survival and finding aids. When you search any index in any format, ascertain whether it is for wills only or for wills and administrations. An administration is usually less informative but it can contain clues, such as death date and the name of the administrator, which can be used in further research.

Conclusion
Online resources for probate records are making the search less complex and, for many areas, much faster. The resources are still only a part of what exists and it is as necessary as ever to carry out a methodical search across the Internet, the Family History Library Catalog, and local collections.

Links to Previous Articles
“Pre-1858 Probate in England and Wales: Tips for Distance Research,”
Part 1 and Part 2

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot), is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English and Scottish family history. She is the author of Your English Ancestry (2nd ed, 1998) and Your Scottish Ancestry (1997) and she is a regular contributor to several journals including Genealogical Computing. Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online for the family history program of Vermont College and has lectured at conferences in Canada, the United States, and Australia. She is the president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.