IWRO Index Explanations for <Ward 993 1] "Lay Subsidy" -a tax paid or subsidy received? ; 2] "Newport Terrier" - a newspaper? ; 3] "Win Wills Archdeaconry" ? 4] " Win wills Consistory" ? 5] "P.C.C. Wills" ? 6] "Win Act Book" ? 7] "WIN / SCH " ? 8] "Win Wills Cons" ? 8] "Win Admons" ? 8] "Win Cause Papers"> This part of IWRO card index (after the CMBs, i.e. the name index proper) contains references to documents in its own collections and also to a number of records held elsewhere but for which the RO had printed indexes in its Library (mainly the Win ones). So it contains abstracts of title deeds to property in the RO's own estate collections which is what the first is (the Ward family held much land in Northwood, Cowes and Freshwater and a little elsewhere - the first of the family here, George Ward, came to the Island in the 1790's). Such abstracts usually include any personal names and a description of sorts of the property, but the amount of detail varies enormously according to the policy/staffing of the office at the time the deeds were listed. For some purposes (e.g establishing someone was alive or living in a particular parish) the index card will be enough but otherwise they are like any index, a pointer to whether or not you need to look at the original document. If WARD 993 is a deed of sale then the parties of the first part would be selling - as they look related it may be that someone has died leaving a property to be shared between them. Without looking at the actual deed it would not be possible to deduce who the parties of the second part are - perhaps executors of a will so linked with the Woodfords, or trustees e.g. parish officials if buying on behalf of say the local school, or trustees for W G Ward (though his trustees would more likely have been solicitors). If it was a mortgage on the other hand they might be conveying the property to George Ward in return for a loan. As regards the other references - see a dictionary of genealogy, local history, basic family tree tracing book e.g. Ancestral Trails for explanations of the types of records. Basically:- Lay (ie. people who were not clergy) subsidy - a tax on movables (as opposed to land) introduced at the end of the 13th century. Original documents in class E179 at the National Archives, Kew. Terrier - a written description of a landed property, often found in manorial / estate records or borough collections (as this for Newport is so it covers the land owned by the Borough Corporation). A Glebe Terrier deals with land belonging to an incumbent's benefice so often found in parish records. The Newport Terrier is in the IWRO. Win = Winchester, the diocese in which the Isle of Wight lay before the new diocese of Portsmouth was created just over 75 years ago. Indexes to many Probate and other church jurisdiction records for the diocese were published many years ago. Court papers and Act books are the record of court cases often involving probate matters but other things as well. Wills and Letters of Administration (abbr. Admon) are probate records. Archdeaconry (abbr. Arch sometimes) and Consistory (abbr Cons) are the Archdeacon's and Bishop's courts in which wills were proved and Letters of Administration granted. PCC = Prerogative Court of Canterbury which is the Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London (PCY is the same for York if you have ancestors in northern England). The basic rule of thumb (there were always exceptions) of where a will was proved if testator had property in one archdeaconry then the executors went to the archdeacon's court (this may possibly have been done locally) if testator had property in two archdeaconries then they went to the consistory court at Winchester if testator had property in two dioceses then they went to the PCC (PCY if in north of England but if the testator had property in two archdioceses they went to the PCC which was the superior court) However, PCC was attractive to people like Quakers as it was more like a civil court that an ecclesiastical one. It was also used by people who wanted to pretend they were better than they were - or who just fancied a trip to London! You did not have to be rich to have your will proved at the PCC. PCC also took wills for people who died overseas (abbr. to Pts for Foreign Parts). You would have to check with the IWRO to discover what years of the printed PCC indexes have been included. WIN SCH = the person's name is on the published list of scholars at Winchester School Hope this helps Di I have to pass on fundi and conpri :-)) ----- Original Message ----- From: "T Woodford" <derence@telkomsa.net> To: <ISLE-OF-WIGHT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 7:48 PM Subject: [IoW] CONPRI