Dear Yvonne, This may explain your predicament. When one looks at the IGI often a Will reference and a date are shown.....this does not mean that the person against whom these details are shown was the person who made the Will. I fell into that trap myself a few times when I first started researching. In the old Welsh Wills the Will maker often listed his debtors and/or creditors ...every name which appeared in that list was shown with the same Will reference in the IGI......the name of the person who wrote the actual Will might therefore be only one of many people shown against the same date. If you manage to track down the original Will writer and his Will, you at least know that a person of the name you seek lived at that time. Sometimes the Will writer gives the parish where the debtor/creditor actually lived. In the St. David's Probate Index there are no Wills for Henry Oliver of St. Dogmaels 1698 or William James of Castlebythe proved 1720, so it would seem no actual Wills existed and I'm not surprised they are not at NLW. If they were folks of importance, they may have had Wills proved at Canterbury. My list does not show administrations, but I actually have a printout of the James names in the St. David's Probate Will index 1700-1749 and there are no James of Castlebythe listed. Somewhere in the back of my head is a nagging thought that one of the James family was working at Longhook, Castlebythe...but I can't remember whose Will abstract that fact appears on, or the timeframe .....if it is indeed fact and not my imagination at work. If you can give me some idea of where William James fits and what you already have, it might refresh my memory. Bettye Kirkwood, Australia. ----- Original Message ----- From: "yvonne evans" <a.y.evans@homecall.co.uk> To: <DYFED@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 9:08 PM Subject: [Dyfed] Wills not in NLW > Hello Listers. > I took details of the Will of Henry Oliver of St Dogmaels Pembs made in > March 1698. I took the details from IGI. However I visited NLW and the > Will was not there. Likewise I took details from IGI of Will of William > James Castlebythe Pembs from IGI (made in 1720) and could not be found On > NLW Wills on-line. Does anyone have any ideas on this? > Best wishes > Yvonne Evans > > ================================ > Dyfed list http://home.clara.net/daibevan/DyfedML.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DYFED-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi Bettye and Listers, <Many thanks for your reply. I have had previously people who were beneficiaries in Wills listed as the people who made the Will. This was in an I G I record.> Therefore your reply today clarifies this.. Regarding James Longhook Castlebythe. The person you have noticed was probably Rebecca James a farm servant at Longhook approx mid 1830's onwards. She was my g.g. grandfather's sister whose parents were James and Jane James Park Hwlwm Castlebythe. Many thanks Yvonne