✨Wiki Wednesday✨ - Using Probate records as a source of information

LGPreston

Probate records are court records dealing with the distribution of a person's estate after their death. Information recorded may include the death date, names of heirs, family members, and guardians, relationships, residences, inventories of the estate (including trade and household goods), and names of witnesses.

Probate records are very useful for family historians because:

• They are often the only record for the time period before census records where all members of a family might be listed
• They can give vital information such as localities that the individual is associated with
• They were recorded much earlier than birth, marriage, and death registration.

Although not everyone will have a probate record created, around one in four of the population either left a will or is mentioned in one. You never know who or what you might find!

Take a look at our Wiki page for all the resources available 😊.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/England_Probate_Records

Shannon Potter Wilcox

@LGPreston Thanks! Great site 😊