<<If anyone can help point me in the right direction for tracking down a particular will, I would be EXTREMEly grateful, since I'm stuck. I think I'm probably overlooking some very obvious something here. If a will isn't held by the (seemingly) logical county records office, is there some other entity that might hold it?>> Hello Sandy, probate jurisdictions were hierarchical, and reflected the organisation of the church. If the dead person resided in the Archdeaconry of Buckingham (which was the same area as the county of Bucks) and owned no property outside the archdeaconry then his will was proved at the court of the Archdeacon of Buckingham. If the dead person owned property outside the archdeaconry of Buckingham, but within the diocese of Lincoln (which was a very large one, at this date including the counties of Lincoln, Leicester, Northampton, Huntingdon, Buckingham, Oxford, Bedford and part of Hertfordshire - which is why the will mentions the mother church of Lincoln, a very common provision at this period), then the will would be proved at the consistory court of Lincoln. (In practice few Bucks wills were proved there). If the dead person owned property outside the diocese of Lincon then the will would be proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, a court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Quite a few Bucks will have been proved there, and it wouldn't be at all surprising for the will of a member of the gentry like Nicholas Woodliffe to be proved there There were also parishes or areas - called peculiars - whose residents' wills (if they owned no property outside the peculiar) were proved at the peculiar court - usually run by some other person or body, usually an ecclesiastical dignitary or corporation of some sort. I don't think either Peterley, Prestwood or Great Missenden was a peculiar. If property outside the jurisdiction was worth less than £5 then it didn't count and the will could be proved at the lower court - though the limit did vary and often was just ignored. The Archdeaconry wills are kept at the Bucks County Record Office, the diocesan wills at the Lincoln County Record Office and the PCC wills at the PRO. The PCC can now be accessed over the internet, I believe, and I think there is also an on-line catalogue. I'm not sure whether there are on-line calendars of the other two categories of will (there are certainly printed calendars of both), but I'm fairly sure neither is accessible on-line, however. Regards, Matt

On Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 01:11 PM, Tompkins, M.L. wrote: > The Archdeaconry wills are kept at the Bucks County Record Office, the > diocesan wills at the Lincoln County Record Office and the PCC wills at > the PRO. The PCC can now be accessed over the internet, I believe, and > I think there is also an on-line catalogue. I'm not sure whether there > are on-line calendars of the other two categories of will (there are > certainly printed calendars of both), but I'm fairly sure neither is > accessible on-line, however. Many thanks (again), Matt. The PRO online catalog does not list the will of Nicholas Woodliffe among those it holds, so it appears it was not proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Since the Lincoln County Records Office previously told me the will was not there (although granted, I did not specify it might be a diocesan will), my next guess is that it may have been an archdeaconry will, hence kept at Bucks Record Office. So, a plea to the list..... if anyone has a listing of the archdeaconry of Buckingham wills, would you please (pretty please?) check it for me for Nicholas Woodliffe ca 1510 (or thereabouts). Meanwhile, thank you again, Matt, Sandy >

Where are you? The local library here in Reading has this book - "Buckinghamshire Probate Records 1483-1660 & Peculiars 1420-1660" Pub. The British Record Society, London, 2001. ISBN 0 901 505 42 0 If you're in Bucks or a neighbouring county, the local library might have it. A very useful book, as are the similar volumes for other counties. I only wish they'd do a post-1660 one for Bucks, as they have done for Oxfordshire. One day . . Paul Sandy wrote: > On Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 01:11 PM, Tompkins, M.L. wrote: > >> The Archdeaconry wills are kept at the Bucks County Record Office, >> the diocesan wills at the Lincoln County Record Office and the PCC >> wills at the PRO. The PCC can now be accessed over the internet, I >> believe, and I think there is also an on-line catalogue. I'm not >> sure whether there are on-line calendars of the other two categories >> of will (there are certainly printed calendars of both), but I'm >> fairly sure neither is accessible on-line, however. > > > Many thanks (again), Matt. > > The PRO online catalog does not list the will of Nicholas Woodliffe > among those it holds, so it appears it was not proved at the > Prerogative Court of Canterbury. > > Since the Lincoln County Records Office previously told me the will > was not there (although granted, I did not specify it might be a > diocesan will), my next guess is that it may have been an archdeaconry > will, hence kept at Bucks Record Office. > > So, a plea to the list..... > if anyone has a listing of the archdeaconry of Buckingham wills, would > you please (pretty please?) check it for me for Nicholas Woodliffe ca > 1510 (or thereabouts). > > Meanwhile, thank you again, Matt, > > Sandy > > > > > ==== BUCKS Mailing List ==== > As of 30 December 2004: 386 list subscribers > 175 digest subscribers > 561 total subscribers > > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.0 - Release Date: 20/04/05

The U.S. And while I'm in a fairly good-sized city, I've checked the online catalogues and neither my city nor any of the university libraries seems to have it. So if anyone on the list happens to be in a library which has it, and if it isn't too much trouble to check on Nicholas Woodliffe for me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, Sandy On Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 04:43 PM, Paul Irving wrote: > Where are you? The local library here in Reading has this book - > > "Buckinghamshire Probate Records 1483-1660 & Peculiars 1420-1660" > Pub. The British Record Society, London, 2001. ISBN 0 901 505 42 0 > > If you're in Bucks or a neighbouring county, the local library might > have it. A very useful book, as are the similar volumes for other > counties. I only wish they'd do a post-1660 one for Bucks, as they have > done for Oxfordshire. One day . . > > Paul > > Sandy wrote: > >> On Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 01:11 PM, Tompkins, M.L. wrote: >> >>> The Archdeaconry wills are kept at the Bucks County Record Office, >>> the diocesan wills at the Lincoln County Record Office and the PCC >>> wills at the PRO. The PCC can now be accessed over the internet, I >>> believe, and I think there is also an on-line catalogue. I'm not >>> sure whether there are on-line calendars of the other two categories >>> of will (there are certainly printed calendars of both), but I'm >>> fairly sure neither is accessible on-line, however. >> >> >> Many thanks (again), Matt. >> >> The PRO online catalog does not list the will of Nicholas Woodliffe >> among those it holds, so it appears it was not proved at the >> Prerogative Court of Canterbury. >> >> Since the Lincoln County Records Office previously told me the will >> was not there (although granted, I did not specify it might be a >> diocesan will), my next guess is that it may have been an archdeaconry >> will, hence kept at Bucks Record Office. >> >> So, a plea to the list..... >> if anyone has a listing of the archdeaconry of Buckingham wills, would >> you please (pretty please?) check it for me for Nicholas Woodliffe ca >> 1510 (or thereabouts). >> >> Meanwhile, thank you again, Matt, >> >> Sandy >> > >> >> >> ==== BUCKS Mailing List ==== >> As of 30 December 2004: 386 list subscribers >> 175 digest subscribers >> 561 total subscribers >> >> >> > > > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.0 - Release Date: 20/04/05 > > > ==== BUCKS Mailing List ==== > Advertising for financial gain is not permitted on this List, although > subscribers may include a link to their website in their signature. >