Wills
3 Overlooked Clues in Genealogical Documents
You want to take your research farther, but seem to be stuck at a brick wall on the line you’re working on. It’s a frustrating fact of genealogy that nearly any genealogist will encounter at some point, and probably more than once. When you get to the point where you don’t know where else to look for clues, you may be tempted to give up on that line, but don’t do it just yet. There are likely clues in the research you’ve already done that will point the way to additional information. These are three commonly overlooked clues in genealogical documents that can help you break through that brick wall.
The Difference Between Wills and Probate Documents
When you are doing genealogy, you will most likely eventually go into court records and look for the wills of your ancestors. Wills can have a huge amount of previously unknown genealogical information in them. You can confirm relationships with them, learn new relationships, and get an idea of the lifestyle of your ancestor by looking at the money they’re giving away and the belongings they are assigning to various relatives. People have been making wills for centuries, so it’s not a new thing. You will even find wills dating from the early middle ages, and sometimes even earlier. The will of Cecily Neville in 1495 in England, for example, includes one of the earliest mentions of her then four-year-old great-grandson, the future King Henry VIII.
