Historical Probate records - what a challenge! I'd like to add some things I've learned along the way too. As Sande and Jim point out, not all people have probate records, and those that do, may not have had a Will made (have you?). Focusing on St. Clair's probate records, here are very broad generalizations for which any number of extenuating circumstances may alter the outcome. You must know the laws in force at the time the case was probated to understand how/why an estate was handled a certain way. (Caveats - I am not a lawyer and am not an expert on this subject, but I believe some lawyers and others with more experience are on this List - feel free to chime in.): 1. if a Will was made, the wishes in the Will are to be followed by *the executor* named in the Will. Current law stipulates all 'original Wills' filed for probate must be retained indefinitely by the court. St. Clair's seem to be fairly intact. IRAD has our original probated wills in paper form (unless stolen or some other fate). If the original paper Will no longer exists, check the microfilmed probated Wills. I think these were filmed in the 1960s, so only those still at the courthouse at that time then they will be on the film. a - at death the Will is filed for probate - people who witnessed the signing of the Will verify its authenticity befor the court. The executor can ask someone else be appointed in his place with court approval. b - the Will is then recorded verbatim in the probated Will Record book. The original Will is kept by the court--if it did not survive for whatever reason, look for the probated Will Record. [I know of at least one instance where an heir's name was omitted from the Will Record - 1814]. You can tell the difference between a Will recorded before or after death by the presence/absence of the paragraph that follows the transcribed Will stating the witnesses verified it in court. If you have no other date of death for an ancestor, you know he died sometime after the Will was written and before the date filed for probate. I've seen wills probated anywhere from a couple weeks to months after the death. Laws were passed through the years specifying the minimum (or maximum) time allowed before the Will had to be presented in court. Some Wills that are filed for record before death are recorded in the Recorder of Deeds books (I've not seen too many instances of this but there are some). In fact, ancestors sometimes made a Will in his home county just prior to his travels or move 'out West'. 2. if NO Will was made, *and* the estate of the deceased is over the limit designated by law, or he owned land, or there were claims against the estate, the case is Intestate (no Will), and must go through the probate process. The court then appoints *an administrator* to take care of paying claims filed with the court, sees that minor children are taken care of (a guardian gets appointed by the court), figures out who the heirs are and files these with the court, arranges for appraisers, files all receipts for things paid out of the estate including the Sale Bill, and, for long, drawn-out cases, files interim accounts. The law at the time of death governs how the money/land is distributed to heirs, which heirs have a right to inherit and when, and how the widow is to be taken care of. Some things I've noticed over the years: a - the closer a case is to 1900, the more likely you will find all of the papers associated with the case. Probate Case Files (are supposed to have) all the papers associated with a case - but if there was a Will filed, get a copy of that in the Probate Wills b - guardianship papers per se were not filed with intestate files until about the 1870s c - if there is no case file and you expect one, check the court record books kept at different stages of the probate process - these duplicate certain papers filed at court (Admin and Exec Bonds, Inventory, Sale Bill, Admin Accounts, Final Distribution). I have run across a couple cases in the 1855-1860 period where the estate was not in the index by any spelling (yes there are typos), yet the various record books prove the case was probated and provide an transcription of whatever the book is to record. It may not be the entire picture, but it is better than nothing. d - at this time IRAD provides the best copies from film e - if you want to see the types of probate related records IRAD has for a particular county, here is the link to the IRAD database. The first bullet takes you to the search page. Type the word probate in the blank and limit the search by the county of interest. The link: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/irad/iradholdings.html Last but not least, PLEASE do not forward this to other Maillists - instead, provide a link to ours so any corrections/additions subsequently posted will also be available to those interested. Simply instruct anyone to enter the letters ilstclai in the box at the Archiver http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ and then browse the posts for January 23 2005 Thanks so much, Diane PS for further reading on probate records: The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Szucs and Luebking (revised edition) The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val Greenwood [GPC sells this http://genealogical.com/contact.asp?afid=]