thanks for this information Patricia, Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: chris To: ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 7:50 AM Subject: Re: [PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT] Finding a Will Funny you should ask that ! I've just been looking up where to find wills. It depends whether you're looking for wills before or after 1858. From 1858 proving a will was for the Court of Probate; and the wills are held at the Principal Registry of the Family Division Probate Search room where they can be read for a small fee (Address - First Avenue House 42 -49 High Holborn London WC1V 6NP; web address - www.courtservice.gov.uk/fand/prob_guidance.htm ) Copies of wills, probate and administration grants are available by post - for fee- from York Probate Sub-registry. You need to know the date of death. The National Probate Calendar is the index to these will and can be seen at the PRO (National Archives - Kew) the FRC, the Guildhall London, and the Society of Genealogists. You could try PROCAT - it's the online catalogue for the National Archives (website - pro.gov.uk) Before 1858, wills were proved in church courts - and records of these are usually held at county record offices The exception is the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, which is at the National Archives. (For these wills the court used for proving the will depended where the estate of the testator was located. There were three "levels"; archdeaconry, bishopric, archbishopric. If you only had property in one archdeaconry, the will was proved by the archdeaconry court; if the property was in two archdeaconries and one bishopric the will was proved in the bishop's court; if the estate was in more than one bishopric the archbishop's court - either York or Canterbury - proved the will.) All the above information is from "Tracing your Ancestors in the Public Record Office", Amanda Bevan,6th Ed., published by Public Record Office, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU. I've condensed and paraphrased. Hope this helps a bit - although I don't think you'll find the wills on line yet. In message <00ce01c5a2e1$e3cf92a0$3f555eca@hayward>, Patricia <pb123h@hypermax.net.au> writes >Hi, >I'm new to researching in Hampshire. Can anyone tell me if there is a >website to locate wills of people from Portsea? >thank you >Patricia, Australia > > > > >==== ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT Mailing List ==== >practice safe text - tell the Listowners about virus worries - DON'T >SPREAD IT ON THE LIST! > >============================== >Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. >Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: >http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > -- chris ==== ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT Mailing List ==== Visit the knightroots website at www.knightroots.co.uk for newbies info,photos of local areas & for free look ups on the PRs we have at home. ============================== Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx