<these are Wills which were lodged at Canterbury and as such there are many more from the IOW which were of course lodged at Winchester. I do hope the PRO get around to putting Winchester Wills online :)> Hi David and all The Prerogative Court of Canterbury actually sat in London. Because it was the least like an ecclesiastical court it was commonly used by Quakers for proving their wills. It also had a certain snob value so people would use PCC even when they had no need to (it was the highest court in the country for proving wills so most people should have used their local archdeaconry or consistory (bishop's) court). There are several books explaining what wills covered, where they should be proved and where you can find them nowadays. The Hampshire Record Office has plans, I believe, to put their wills on-line in the same way as the National Archives (ex PRO) has done the PCC ones (I discovered this when unable to find wills I knew were there while searching HRO's new online catalogue) Islanders (and others who visit) may not be aware that HRO gave the IWRO many of their old microfiche copies when they refilmed the wills. The quality is not brilliant - diabolical in some cases - but if yours is readable it saves a trip over the water. Di ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Collyer" <dcollyer@giant.net.au> To: <ISLE-OF-WIGHT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 2:06 PM Subject: [IoW] 3 More Wills Bought > Dear Friends & Cousins, > Last night I caught myself buying 3 more Wills online!!! (didn't catch > myself in time I'm afraid). They are those of:- > - Benjamin BARKHAM d. 1666 > - Benjamin BARKHAM, d. 1815 > - John NEWLAND, d. 1519 > > When I searched I put NO names at all and simply Wight in the place > section. The site then listed the 1425 Wills which come from the IOW. I > have now skimmed through the last 500 to check for those of my family - > will do a few more tonight and every night until they're done. It doesn't > take that long actually. It would seem that > David in Ballarat > > ______________________________