What's in a Will 

Wills and their associated documents are a particularly important record for the family historian. Sometimes they are the only personal document a person has left. Wills are a complicated subject and it is suggested that the researcher before attempting to find a will, reads books on the subject or acesses the Public Record Office leaflets on the subject. 

Much of the text of a will is of no use to the researcher and so much of the document can be summarized into the family names, facts and figures and items of property.  For example, in the three page Will of John LEE of Barnby in Suffolk, England, the information can be reduced to a mere one page:- 
 

Last Will and Testament

Name: John LEE 
Abode: of Barnby in Suffolk 
Occupation: Yeoman 
Executor(s): 
Harriet Deborah LEE 
Relationship to Deceased:  Daughter 
Isaac HALLAM 
Relationship to Deceased: Grandson 

Description of Property and lands: 

Names mentioned within the description above: 
George LEE 
Relationship to Deceased:  Son 

Names mentioned within the Distribution of said property and lands: 

John LEE 
Relationship to deceased:  Eldest son. 

Harriet Deborah LEE 
Relationship to Deceased:  Daughter 

Mary Ann CUTTING 
Relationship to Deceased:  Daughter (deceased) 

Jane HALLAM 
Relationship to Deceased:  Daughter 

Date of Will: 
29th January 1859 

Signed: John LEE 

Witnesses: Sam ? RIX and Fred c Shelly RIX 

On the 7th of May 1860, the will of John LEE late of Barnby in the County of Suffolk, Yeoman, deceased, who died on the 24th day of January 1860 at Barnby aforesaid was proved in the District  of  (stamped Ipswich Registry) 

Registry attached to Her Majesty's Court of Probate at Ipswich by the oaths of Harriet Deborah LEE of Lowestoft in the said County of Suffolk, Spinster, the daughter of the deceased and Isaac HALLAM of Gillingham in the County of Norfolk, Farmer, the Grandson of the deceased. 

Extracted by Bohun & Rix Solicitors Beccles.

ONLINE WILL INDICES 

Click the links to search.

Bank of England Will Extracts Index 1717-1845  - 61,000 names 

Archdeaconry Court of London Wills Index 1700-1807 - 5,000 names
 

National Archives - Wills and Admons England and Wales.
 

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