I'm tracing my family tree, and have gone as far as I can....?

Question

with genealogy sites etc. Is there any way to look up will, probate or hospital records, pre 1940

Answer 1

Hi.  Taking a different route to the other answers - are you sure you've exhausted all other lines of research via the internet? You don't say how far you have gone but I have managed to get back to the 1500s with many of the branches of my tree using Internet resources.

People on here are very good at getting past certain 'problem' ancestors so if there's something specific you need to find you could try posting the details.

Answer 2

A very, very few wills have been posted on-line. A few more have been transcribed and you see them if you borrow microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake, or buy or borrow a book of "Will abstracts" from a county genealogical society. (An abstract just lists names and relations, not who got the second-best cow.) The rest are in dusty old ledgers in county courthouses.

Wills go back to the 1600's at least; the 1500s in some places in Europe. Men tend to leave things to their loving wife but NOT mention her maiden name. They usually don't give anything to their siblings, either. Once in a while they will mention a daughter's married name.

Answer 3

Wills and probate files are probably more extensive than many other records.. for the simple reason that LAND was the one thing, most consistently concerned with.  This goes back to land grants in the 1700s etc.   The govt did not care to keep records of births or deaths, but they darn sure kept track of property. You also can utilize land records, for example, a son sells a certain parcel of land and you can sometimes show that it was of the same parcel granted 50 yrs before to another man.. this is excellent evidence of a relationship.

This (like many other records) is where the index is only the tip of the iceberg, you need to get the full copy.. amazing comments can be in the content of the document, ie names of neighbors, so forth.

For the most part, these are records that will not be online due to the sheer volume. Indexes are, sometimes.

I'm going to politely, but emphatically, disagree with the poster, who advises to use alternate methods. Assuming you REALLY care about your genealogy.. you should be breaking down walls to find these kind of documents. 99% of the time, where I have found proof of parents (where other people have claimed "there is no record") is directly due to going off the internet, and finding what others didn't invest the time to locate. Even if someone has "found" the parents... get all the documentation within your power.

Answer 4

Are you in the UK? Try AncestryUK.com or the National Archives. You could also try the London Metropolitan Archives. Unfortunately, not many of the records you seek are online at the moment - you'll have to visit the appropriate resource, but at least the web will be able to point you at the right place.

Answer 5

In the USA, wills and probate are at the county level. Go online to the county's website for instructions on obtaining those documents and the costs.

Hospital records are not "public" documents so they are usually available only to the person they are about (or parent of the person if they are records of a minor) and that person's doctor.

Answer 6

Try your local Public Library, they can order microfilm from the Family History Library, they might have a local genealogy library where you can do more extensive research.