Starting today Ancestry is uploading millions of wills and probate records including a collection of Illinois wills dating from 1772-1999. An article in the Chicago Tribune describes some of the wills of prominent Chicago politicians and businessmen. Were your ancestors as stingy as the man who left his son-in-law "a rope and suggested he hang himself with it" or were they more like George Pullman who left his daughter an island in the St. Lawrence River?
Wills offer interesting insights into your ancestors' personalities and relationships. And, most importantly, they offer a lot of names to add to your family tree!
Showing posts with label Probate Records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Probate Records. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
New Illinois Data on FamilySearch
New Illinois collections have been uploaded to the FamilySearch website.
If you have Maywood ancestors, you may enjoy browsing through the Maywood Herald Obituary Card Index, 1885-2002. This is a surname card index created by the Maywood Public Library from the Maywood Herald Newspaper.
And, there is a collection of Illinois Probate Records, 1819-1970, that was created by courts in various Illinois counties, which you can also browse through
If you have Maywood ancestors, you may enjoy browsing through the Maywood Herald Obituary Card Index, 1885-2002. This is a surname card index created by the Maywood Public Library from the Maywood Herald Newspaper.
And, there is a collection of Illinois Probate Records, 1819-1970, that was created by courts in various Illinois counties, which you can also browse through
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy
Thank you to Genealogical Publishing Company Genealogy Pointers e-newsletter 11-29-11 for use of the following review:
The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy / by Val D. Greenwood. -- 3rd ed. -- Genealogical Pub. Co., c2000.
"Wills, and probate records in general, may be the most valuable of all genealogical sources. Val Greenwood's highly respected textbook, The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy goes over these in detail.
Wills are fabulous for establishing relationships, and they can help fix the time period an ancestor lived if no other records survived. They can also provide clues to an ancestor's former places of residence, help to distinguish among persons having a common name, alert the researcher to the existence of other kinds of records, establish when a death occurred, and lead the genealogist to elusive information about an ancestor in the records of the executor or sureties to the will.
If you are new to will records, confused about the legal terminology found in wills, or just don't know where to look for probate records, let Val Greenwood come to your rescue. The author of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, who is an attorney as well as a genealogist, has written two excellent chapters about wills and probate records that should answer all your questions. For example, you will learn what characterizes the various kinds of wills (conjoint, holographic, nuncupative, and unsolemn, etc.), the legal requirements of probate, the proceedings of contested wills, and much more. If you don't know a legator from a legatee or a testator from a testatrix, Greenwood's 12-page glossary of legal terminology is all you'll ever need. And, if you want to know where each of the 50 states maintains its probate records, there's a handy state-by-state table specifying which courts have custody.
Written in a style that is clear and easy to follow, filled with examples from actual records, The Researcher's Guide should be your place of first resort for understanding wills and probate.
The Glenview Public Library owns a copy of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val D. Greenwood. See it at 929.1 GRE.
The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy / by Val D. Greenwood. -- 3rd ed. -- Genealogical Pub. Co., c2000.
"Wills, and probate records in general, may be the most valuable of all genealogical sources. Val Greenwood's highly respected textbook, The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy goes over these in detail.
Wills are fabulous for establishing relationships, and they can help fix the time period an ancestor lived if no other records survived. They can also provide clues to an ancestor's former places of residence, help to distinguish among persons having a common name, alert the researcher to the existence of other kinds of records, establish when a death occurred, and lead the genealogist to elusive information about an ancestor in the records of the executor or sureties to the will.
If you are new to will records, confused about the legal terminology found in wills, or just don't know where to look for probate records, let Val Greenwood come to your rescue. The author of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, who is an attorney as well as a genealogist, has written two excellent chapters about wills and probate records that should answer all your questions. For example, you will learn what characterizes the various kinds of wills (conjoint, holographic, nuncupative, and unsolemn, etc.), the legal requirements of probate, the proceedings of contested wills, and much more. If you don't know a legator from a legatee or a testator from a testatrix, Greenwood's 12-page glossary of legal terminology is all you'll ever need. And, if you want to know where each of the 50 states maintains its probate records, there's a handy state-by-state table specifying which courts have custody.
Written in a style that is clear and easy to follow, filled with examples from actual records, The Researcher's Guide should be your place of first resort for understanding wills and probate.
The Glenview Public Library owns a copy of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val D. Greenwood. See it at 929.1 GRE.
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