RootsChat.Com
Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: EmilyJane on Thursday 08 April 10 01:08 BST (UK)
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I am working on a family story that an ancestor was mentioned in a will/probate and told that he would inherit land or money if he changed his surname to that of his benefactor, which he apparently did ,I assume he was this man's illegitimate heir. How do I try to trace this will , where , is there a record of people who have changed surnames ? I have reached a brick wall and it looks as if I have no connection to this alleged relative , as he is only 10 years older than my great great grandfather . Any suggestions ?
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I have a page on Wills here
<a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lankshear/fhlinks/wills.htm">WILLS</a>
Change of name - I think there is something on TNA re people who changed names by Deed Poll but most just changed their name - you can/could just change your name providing not done for fraudulent reason.
Could be your man expecting something changed his name before the will.
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Have you searched for the change of surname on http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/home.aspx?geotype=London
Some are there and others not!
Carol
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Some wills are available on line at TNA
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What dates are you talking?
For pre 1858 wills see NA as per previous post
For post 1858 see
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1226.htm
index searchable free at Probate Office in London, will then available for a fee. Or you can send off with the fee and they will search for a few years.
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Just because he was told if he changed his surname to that of the other persons, it does not necessarily mean they were related.
He could have been the son of a friend of the family who just took a liking to him and wanted to give him a helping hand, and if that person had no heirs he might have wanted his surname to carry on after him via this route.
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Requesting a surname change in an inheritance happened from time to time or for reasons of maintaining a title or family name.
In the case of titles, when a title is made, e.g. Baron Splogefeller, of Chipping Sodbury, their will be various conditions to succession such as:
- title can(not) be inherited through female line
- title can(not) be inherited through nephews and so on
The other case is when someone (who was probably wealthy) and had no children made their will, they would usually leave it to their god-child (usually a nephew). Sometimes they might request they change their name in order to inherit their estate.
I have an example of this in my family, which you can see on the Nat. Lib of Wales wills database online by doing a search for George Withers, in which he left his estate to his nephew and godson, George Edwards on the condition that he change his name to George Withers. However, George Edwards only changed his name to George Withers Edwards, but still took the estate of his uncle George Withers ontop of what he got from his father and his other uncle, Thomas Bill.
There are all sorts of other circumstances in which a name may be changed, such as this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Vennegoor_of_Hesselink#Name