Something I don't recall seeing mentioned is the PCC Wills recently released on Ancestry They are for wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, the highest court in the land, covering 1384 to 1858 when probate became a civil matter These are the same wills as released on the National Archives back in about 2002, but clearly its a great benefit to be able to view and examine as many as you wish to as paying for each one can mount up A keyword search for Bristol on Ancestry in the PCC wills gets 8,892 hits A similar search on the National Archives PCC wills database gets 10,670 Which is worth bearing in mind, mainly as the NA have indexed more keywords than Ancestry but is also more accurate For example a keyword of Mariner on Ancestry gets only 58, whereas on the NA you get over 61,000 as the NA have indexed many occupations as well as names & places So worth checking the NA to see if you get more hits then interrogate Ancestry for the will It can also be a good ploy to search a name of interest in the keyword box, as this picks up where the surname was used as a second name as well as a surname, not much use for SMITH but effective for slightly less common names :-) -- Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK)