Lancashire Will Search Help

Back to Lancashire Will Search

I found this nice document, Wills and Probates guide at the Lancashire Archives which has some nice information specific to Lancashire. 
While the focus is for research at the Lancashire Archives it does have some nice examples and explanations.

How do I use the search page?

The easiest way is to type in a surname and click on the Search button. The results that come back are sorted by surname, first name and then the details field.

Once the results page is displayed click on the will type in the left-most column to find out which microfilm the will may reside. You do this by matching the year and surname with the appropriate film. Then you view the film at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah or at your nearby LDS Family History Center. To locate a Family History Center near you go to the LDS Family Search FHC page.

You can narrow down your search by providing additional information such as first name and/or year the will is thought to have been proved, which is usually the same year as the death or possibly the following year.

Flexibility is built into the search page in that you can search by partial names. For example, if you specified De in the surname field that would match on on Dean, Dee, Dewey, Dewhurst, etc. You need to provide at least two letters of the surname and the search will seek for surnames that begin with those two letters.

First names may also be partially matched by providing one or more letters of the the name. For example if you put in Jo as the first name that would match on Joseph, John, Josiah and so on.

For the Year you can specify an exact year by putting in just the year and specifying Exact Year in the Year Range, but suppose you are not sure on the death date and want to search a range of years. If you specify the year 1700 with a Year Range of + or - 10 years all records from 1690 to 1710 are searched. If that does not provide a match you can expand the years to say + or - 20 years in the Year Range field and that would search years from 1680 to 1720. You could also specify + or - 5 years or just + or - 1 year.

Are searches case sensitive?

No. You can search on the surname Nelson or NELSON or NeLson or nelson and they will all return the same list of rows as the search will match regardless of case. The same is also true for the First name.

I found an entry on the web page but cannot find it on a microfilm of the wills?
Is something wrong?

No. An entry in the index does not always guarantee that the will exists or has
survived long enough to be microfilmed. Many a tale of rising damp, destruction, and
general neglect have caused many wills to be lost forever.

How do I place the results into Excel?

1. Start Excel
2. Click on  Data/New Web Query
3. Put in the URL    http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/lws.htm   in the Address bar
4. Enter your query and once the results have been displayed click on the Import button on the bottom.
5. Click on the OK button to place the text into a worksheet

If using the Firefox browser

1. click on Edit/Select All
2. Right Click/Copy
3. Open Excel and click on Edit/Paste

Many references on this web page mention microfilm numbers found at the LDS Family History Library.
Can these be viewed online?

The library is undergoing a digital conversion to covert the microfilms to a digital format available through a web browser,
but often they are only available for viewing at the main library in Salt Lake City, Utah or one of the branch centers.

Find a branch center near you to view online images of the microfilms.

I cannot easily visit an LDS family history center or the main Library in Salt Lake City to view the film with the
will on it.  Is there any other way to get the information?

Yes.

You can fill in the contact form for the Lancashire Archives here or you can ask a question
and they will send you a quotation, payment form and copyright declaration form.
They charge £5 for a will.

Thanks to "Cloggie"  for this great tip.
See http://www.familytreeforum.com/showthread.php/66516-Lancashire-wills

Is there another source of information if I cannot find a will?

Luckily there is.  Act Books exist for the Supra and Infra Wills, however
not all years are covered. Act Books are short summaries of the actual
will and they are most often recorded in chronological order.   They
may contain some or all of the following information.

•       The parish and/or place of residence
  

•       The previous place of residence

•       Marital Status

•       Trade, profession or status

•       Details of the appointed executor(s)

•       Details of appointed administrators

•       Details of second or further grants

•       Details of tuitions, curations and guardianships

•       Details of caveats and other testamentary business

Yes, but only for the period of 1650-1660.   To search PCC wills outside
of this period you need to search the PCC online.  If a will is found online
you can order a copy of the will from that page.

Can I link to this web page?

Please do! The more the word gets out the better.

Is the information on the web site available for sale, for lease or for loan?

No. Come to this web page to obtain the information.

I would like to offer my web page/site as a possible link site.

If you have a great site that deals specifically with English probate and in particular wills within Lancashire I will consider that, but anything outside that scope does not fit in with the objectives of the web page. I would suggest submitting your URL to Cyndi's List

What are the meaning of the output columns on the results screen?

The first column is the Will Type, which is a link to a web page that lists microfilms done by the LDS for related records and are sorted by surname/year. The first column may contain one of the following values:

The second column is the surname, which is the actual surname or possible aliases. Aliases may also appear in the First or Details columns.

The third column contains the first and possibly middle names.

The fourth and final column contains the details about the person which usually contain place of death, profession and year the will was proved. Some records may have multiple years as heirs or technicalities cause the will to be subsequently proved.

What time periods are covered in the index?

In general terms wills from 1545-1838 proved at Chester are included with
special allowances for wills proved in London for 1651-1660 at the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Some earlier ones are indexed, but
it is often difficult if not impossible to find them.

For parishes that fell in the jurisdiction of the Archdeaconary of Richmond the deaneries of Amounderness, Furness, Lonsdale, and Kendal the range of dates vary upon deanery, but the range is from the late fifteenth century up to the mid 1800s. These records are woefully incomplete due to a sad fact of history.

In November 1748 the Bishop of Chester ordered the removal of all records at Lancaster back to Richmond. This was done forthwith, in midwinter in open carts as we are told, and at least one cart is said to have overturned in Wensleydale or Wharfedale. Thousands of documents, including almost all those for Amounderness, were lost.

Wills and their Whereabouts p. 60

A Adminstration Bond
a/c Accounts of Executors or Administrators
A: Administration Bond.
A: Amounderness Deanery
Acct: means Account given by Executors or Administrators
Ad.: Administration bond
Admon:  means an Administration Bond, without a will
Alleg.:  Allegations
AW: Administration and will
ba.: bachelor
co.: County of
Cod.   Codicil
Curon: Tuition bond
d. died.
d.: died
da.: daughter of
Dep.:  Depositions
Doc.: Document
esq.: esquire.
F: Furness Deanery
gent. gentleman.
husb.: husbandman
I. Inventory
inf.: infant
Infra: Infra wills (under £40 personalty)
Inter.:  Interrogatroies
Inv.:  Inventory
jun.: junior
K: Kendal Deanery
L: Lonsdale Deanery
labr.: labourer
mo.: months
Nun. W.: Nuncupative Will
Nun.:  Nuncupative Will
nunc.: nuncupative will
p.: parish
par.: parish
rev.: reverend
s.: son of
Sent:   Sentence of Form of Judgement
sp.: spinster
Supra:  Supra wills (over £40 personalty)
T: Tuition Bond.
Tuit : Tuition Bond
Tuon: Tuition bond
W   Will
w.: wife of
W: Will.
wid.: widow
widr.: widower
y.,yrs.: years
yeo.: yeoman


Some addtional probate terms of interest are described below


Administrator / Administratrix: A person appointed to administer an estate. In the case of an intestate, usually (but not
always) the next-of-kin. (I've seen plenty of Admons in which Administration is granted to a creditor.) An Administratrix
was a woman.

Admon.: See Administration, Letters of.

'Bona Notabilia': A latin term meaning considerable goods, technically £5 or more. When the deceased had 'bona notabilia'
in more than one jurisdiction, a will should have been proved in a superior court.

Borough English: The ancient Anglo-Saxon custom wherein the youngest son inherited the land.

Calendar: An index, chronological within initial letter of surname, normally but not always contemporary with the records
being indexed.

Caveat: A warning notice that a will is to be disputed.

Citation: A summons to appear before a court.

Codicil: a postscript to a will containing later additions or modifications.

Curation: Guardianship over minors - under 21 but over 14 (boys) or 12 (girls). Typically abbreviated as Curon. See also
Tuition.

Dean and Chapter: The Chapter is the administrative body of a Cathedral. The Dean is their presiding officer. The Dean &
Chapter held peculiar jurisdiction over parishes in the patronage of that cathedral and had jurisdiction during the vacancy of
the higher court.

Devise: Disposition of real property.

Diocese: The ecclesiastic district over which a bishop has authority.

Exchequer: This term is unique to Yorkshire and refers to probate jurisdiction for the Diocese of York. Exchequer probates
were normally handled by Rural Deaneries.

Executor / Executrix (often abbreviated to Exor): A person appointed by the testator to carry out the provisions of a will.
Male = Executor, female =Executrix.

Folio: a group of pages - more than two and less than sixteen. Probate indexes typically refer to folio numbers as opposed to
page numbers. These folio numbers typically appear on every other page.



Grant: Approval of the submission of the executor or administrator, denoting probate or letters of administration.

Guardianship: See Curation and Tuition.

Heir: Originally the person(s) (typically the eldest son) legally entitled to inherit the real property of the deceased. Other
next of kin could only inherit personal property.

Honour: See Manor

Inhibition: The period during the visitation of a Bishop to an Archdeaconry, when the Archdeacon's court would be closed
and probate business conducted in the Consistory Court. In theory the visitation of an Archbishop to a Diocese would have
the same effect on a Consistory Court, but in post-medieval times this was likely to be 'pro forma' only. Some peculiars were
entirely exempt from visitation and inhibition, others were subject to visitation by a Dean or a Dean and Chapter. Visitations
would normally last several months at intervals of several years.

Infra: Wills that had a personalty of less than  40 £

Intestate: A person who died without making a will.

Inventory: A list of personal and household goods left by the deceased, with their appraised value. Occupation was usually
given, or can be inferred from tools of trade. They were common in the later 16th and 17th centuries, but became much less
detailed and less common in the 18th century.

Legacy: Technically the disposition of personal property, but the term eventually came to be used for both real and personal
property.


Manor: Occasionally manorial courts had peculiar or exempt jurisdiction over a parish or part of a parish.


Nuncupative will: A will made orally, normally by a testator on his deathbed, written down and sworn to by witnesses, but
not signed by the deceased.

Overseers: Those assigned by the testator to oversee the administration of the estate.

Peculiar: A parish or group of parishes, not necessarily adjacent or even in the same district or county, which were usually
exempt from the testamentary jurisdiction of the Archdeaconry and often the Consistory Court. Ecclesiastical peculiars were
often subject to a Dean or Dean and Chapter, though they might be administered by a locally appointed official; a Bishop's
peculiar might be administered by the Consistory Court; a number were royal or Archbishop's peculiars, usually locally
administered; and there were some lay, manorial or collegiate peculiars.

Personalty: Personal property (goods, chattels, credits, etc.) as opposed to real property. Originally, only personalty
(moveable property) could be bequeathed, and such a document is technically known as a testament.

Prebend: A Prebend or Prebendary is a priest on the staff of a Cathedral. If he presides over a Peculiar, the court is referred
to as a Prebendal Court.

Prerogative Court: The Provincial Court. See Province.

Primogeniture: The practice of conferring land on the eldest son without subdivision, thereby leaving an estate intact for
centuries. The Normans brought this practice with them when they conquered England.

Probate: From the Latin probare (to approve or prove). An official act of a court declaring the will to be legally binding and
granting the Executor(s) the right to carry out its terms.

Probate Act: The record of probate, entered into the Act Book.

Proved: A will has been proved when probate has been granted.

Province: The Dioceses over which an Archbishop has authority, ie, before 1858, in England and Wales, the provinces of
Canterbury and York, and in Ireland, the province of Aimagh. The Prerogative Courts of the Archbishops had superior
jurisdiction to all others, and Canterbury was superior to York.

Realty, Real Property, Real Estate: Property or interests in land, as opposed to personalty. Originally, most realty (heritable
property) could not be divided, or there were limitations on its bequest, therefore the disposition of real property does not
usually appear in early probate documents.

Registers and Registered Wills: Volumes of copy wills, made at the time of probate. It is these the searcher will normally
see, though sometimes only original wills are available. At times only the registered copies survive. These are not to be
confused with archbishops' and bishops' registers, which record their provincial and diocesan activities, but also include
occasional wills, particularly in medieval times.

Renunciation: When an executor declines to apply for probate.

rpt: unique to Yorkshire probate records, this abbreviation indicates there was no Inventory filed with the will

See: Often used as a synonym for diocese, though technically the seat of the bishop or the diocesan centre.

'See Vacancy' or 'Sede Vacante': Vacancy of the See.

Sentences: The final judgment on a disputed will, often entered in an act book.

Supra: A will with a Personalty greater than  40 £

Testament: Normally a synonym for a will, but technically a document which excludes realty (heritable property).

Testator: A man who has made a will. A testatrix is a woman.

Tuition: Guardianship over minors - under 15 (boys) or 13 (girls). Typically abbreviated as Tuon. See also Curation.

Vacancy: A break in the official business of the court on the death or translation of the bishop or other chief official. The
court might be closed and business carried on in another court, but often this was 'pro forma' only, as the same actual
officials carried on, powers from the alternative court being delegated to them.

Will: A written document by which a person declares his or her intent for the disposition of property and rights after his or
her death, normally signed and witnessed. Originally a will was used to dispose of only real property, and a testament was
used to dispose of personal property. Eventually the two documents were combined, hence the phrase "last will and
testament." Eventually the two terms came to be synonymous.

Probate indexes published by the Lancashire & Cheshire Record Society