RootsChat.Com
Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: fallingonabruise on Tuesday 10 August 10 19:34 BST (UK)
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from thier twitter page,
'Get ready – our biggest launch of the year goes online tomorrow.
This major new collection will give you a thrilling insight into the lives your ancestors led. Plus, it will point you towards unexplored branches of your family tree.
Cancel any plans for the next 48 hours – you don’t want to miss this!'
theres 3 comments saying its already online, anyone know what they are ?
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Wills / probate stuff up to 1941 will be one .....
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Here? :)
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1904
(Hurrah! Just found one for my lot 8))
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That's great, I'm surprised at what I've found so far, very exciting ;D
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i have found loads of mine in just 10min's great stuff :o
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I had planned for an early night.......absolutely no chance of that now! ;)
Thanks for the "heads up" and link ;D
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Me too heitch ;D
Kerry
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Fantastic, this is confirming lots of speculative stuff - marriages and deaths I'd pencilled in without benefit of certs! ;)
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Ive found nothing so far lol Seems my no one in my family lines had Wills. However there are too many to look for on my welsh side.
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Found loads and amazingly my great great grandfather was worth a lot more than I would ever have imagined. Now where's my share then!
Kerry
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Is it me? (very probably)
I just went to my Ancestry home page and there's nothing new showing at all.
What am I missing?
p.s. Tati's direct hyperlink worked perfectly (thank Tati) and am stunned at the amount my great grandfather left in 1926, but still not clear where on Ancestry it is, or why it's not flagged on the home page
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at the bottom of the home page there is the section : "What's Happening at Ancestry.co.uk" For some reason new records dont always show straight away. But if you click the little link at the bottom of the box that says "View all new records " - it gives the records in date order of when they where uploaded. :)
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Topic also being discussed on this earlier thread:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,442132.15.html
Nigel
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Thanks Hodgkiss, much appreciated!
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What a fantastic resource, That'll keep me out of trouble for a while :P
Thanks for the link :D
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this can't be the big important thing tho, can it? there must be something else coming ?
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I think Wills are very important. Just found something for my 2 x g.grandfather. I guess he didn't make a will as it states "Administration of the effects......" The date is 3.5 months after his death, but what is interesting is that his wife already appeared to have moved to Manchester. I knew she was there in 1881 and died there but hadn't thought she would have moved within 3 months of her husband's death and burial.
I was hoping there would be a will, as I wanted to see his signature. There is an entry on FindMyPast on the Chelsea Pensioners (which is not only Chelsea Pensioners ::)) which could be my 2 x g.grandfather apart from the fact his occupation was given as labourer whereas a few years later when he married he was a spinner. However, he signed the army papers and I was hoping to compare that signature with one on a will to see if they were the same person.
Lizzie
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Well I have found one bless them and they left effects under £600. so I cant complain.... I knew we were rich.....xin
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I can see what I'll be doing tomorrow - already found another 3 x g.grandfather. Odd that the wives don't seem to leave wills. I assume if the husband's will states everything to his wife and then on her death everything to be split between children, that means there is no need for the wife to make a will.
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Are the scans available for all the wills? If so I might just have to renew my expired subscrciption a bit sooner than planned . . . there seem to be quite a few relating to my family.
Mike.
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Are the scans available for all the wills? If so I might just have to renew my expired subscrciption a bit sooner than planned . . . there seem to be quite a few relating to my family.
Mike.
It's only the calendars (index) of wills for 1861 - 1941 that are scanned - not the actual wills.
Nigel
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Are the scans available for all the wills? If so I might just have to renew my expired subscrciption a bit sooner than planned . . . there seem to be quite a few relating to my family.
Mike.
No Mike-it's just the indexes- but at least if you find someone you can now send off your fiver to York safe in the knowledge that there IS a will.
This 'big important thing that's due soon' is being discussed on Ancestry message board pages and some people reckon it'll be the enumerators pages to the 1911...which they've promised us for ages.
Carol
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Thanks. I thought it was too much to expect the actual wills to be there. Maybe I'll leave the subscription til the nights get longer.
Mike
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I found my grandfather's and grandmother's wills in the index.
Crafty, they were. I know they were worth a lot more than went to probate ;D
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It's a bit more than "just an index" though :) Many of the entries are packed with information. Date and place of death, occupation, address; plus if it's another relative who was granted probate, there can be useful details there too.
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Interestingly, my g.aunt's husband died in 1910 but there is no mention of a will or administration, which is odd as he was a retired businessman (wealthy enough to retire in his mid 30s). I wonder if as my g.aunt was his 2nd wife he had already passed everything over to his children (his first wife died) as on the 1911 census, my g.aunt and her daughter (an adult too) were living in 3 rooms which included the kitchen. Strange too, is the fact that I visited these two ladies when I was about 9 or 10 and my recollection is of them living in a large house in Roundhay Road, Leeds.
Lizzie
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Interestingly, my g.aunt's husband died in 1910 but there is no mention of a will or administration, which is odd as he was a retired businessman (wealthy enough to retire in his mid 30s). I wonder if as my g.aunt was his 2nd wife he had already passed everything over to his children (his first wife died) as on the 1911 census, my g.aunt and her daughter (an adult too) were living in 3 rooms which included the kitchen. Strange too, is the fact that I visited these two ladies when I was about 9 or 10 and my recollection is of them living in a large house in Roundhay Road, Leeds.
Lizzie
Some years on Ancestry are missing, 1910 is one of them.
Missing volumes:
Our collection covers 80 years from 1861 to 1941. We currently do not have the books for the years 1858-1860 and there are some gaps for the years 1863, 1868, 1873, 1876, 1877, 1883, 1888, 1899-1903 and 1910-1911. However, we hope to add records for these years as soon as possible.
Andy
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What a great new release from Ancestry, should have had my lunch about an hour ago but got started on this .....! Date and place of death are very useful in most cases, also occupations. Love the fact it is recorded down to the last penny in some cases, though others state Under £100 etc.
What's the betting that the Probate offices are suddenly swamped with requests for copy Wills and that their prices are "reviewed" ie increased in the next 6 months??
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Have just needed to find out what £5,613 11s 6d from 1884 means in today's values and found The National Archives currency converter - might be useful to some of you.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/default0.asp#mid
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Would someone mind letting this "thickie" ::) ;) know if I find a will in the calendar that I would like a copy of, how do I go about getting it??
Kerry
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From the National Archives site:
Wills proved from 12 January 1858 to the present day are held only by the Court of Probate. You can access them and buy copies at the Probate Search Room, First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP (tel: 0207 947 6000). You can also order copies by post. The address for requests by post is York Probate Sub-Registry, First Floor, Castle Chambers, Clifford Street, York, YO1 7EA. The same applies to letters of administration, which are granted if no valid will was made or found.
I can't remember what the charge is, but I think when I last bought one it was fairly cheap. Of course, if you want wills pre 1858 there is a different set up.
Lizzie
Modified - Found more info from HMCourts website:
If you make your own search and order copies at the counter: £5 (this includes a copy of the will, if any) additional copies of the same document costs £1 per copy.
If you make your own search and order copies by post: £5 for each estate: this fee includes a copy of the Will [if any], regardless of the number of pages, and a copy of the grant.
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Wonderful thank you, I think a copy of my gr gr grandfather's 1919 will could be worth seeing. By today's standards he left his wife £26,000 which is quite a lot in terms of my ancestors!!!!!
Kerry
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:) Ancestry provide a link to the Probate Service's own form
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/probate#records
:( Unfortunately you still have to print it out and send it by snail-mail, enclosing your payment by crossed cheque or postal order (£ Sterling of course). How quaint.
Mean_genie
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Even better, it may need to be printed out but at least I can auto fill ::) ;D
Kerry
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Weird or what?? I was on Ancestry earlier and managed to find about 20 relevant Administrations or Wills proved. Got all the details and viewed the relevant pages OK. Went away to have my tea, came back and now find my Essentials Membership sub won't allow me to view all the details and see the image! Is it a glitch, has it happened to anyone else?
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Tillypeg
According to Ancestry's National Probate Calendar page, these records are available to Premium and Worldwide subscribers, so it might be an accident that you were able to view them with an Essentials sub, and they have just corrected their mistake. On the other hand, it might be a Cunning Plan to tempt you to upgrade to Premium...just a thought.
Mean_genie
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Hi tillypeg
Same thing happened to me. I noted that the service was available to Premium and Worldwide subscribers so thought I had better do a mammoth search before someone noticed. You were lucky as I only looked for a few.
My mistake was obviously to log off whilst I did some housework, as I cannot access the records now. I'm not amused :'( :'( :'(
Tofgem
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I didn't notice about having to have the dearer membership, so wondered why I couldn't get back in.
Very annoying, especially as I've been correcting several of their census transcriptions. Some are ridiculous.
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Just had the same thing happened to me >:( >:( >:(
They keep adding the new records to the premium membership. We pay enough as it is ::) ::)
I know it cost money to scan and index but the upgrade is not worth my while as I have few relatives in London to justify adding the extra cost to my family history subscriptions.
Its about time the ordinary members got a lookin
Regards panda
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And there was me thinking you all had premium membership when I clicked on the link just now!
Whilst I'm glad of access to the census records, surely we've all more than paid for them by now? They should let us now have access to other "essentials". (Personally, when I first signed up, it was for all British and Irish records - they didn't tell me it would eventually mean I only have access to a select few collections ie the censuses.)
I find a lot of excellent records for my main area, Cheshire & Lancashire, and others too, at archive.org for free and which can be far more wide ranging. eg wills that are not A2A and when I asked at Lancs Record Office, there they were!
Fiona
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FAB Fiona,
Do you have a link to that site please?
Thanks
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it might be a Cunning Plan to tempt you to upgrade to Premium
Of course! I knew they must have a reason for getting Baldrick on the team ;)
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www.archive.org
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Am very lucky that my local library has Ancestry.com Library Version so I've just been down to get my free half hour for today, following yesterday's upset. Managed to find another 15 relevant Wills/Administrations. Have filled in quite a few gaps in my research re death dates & places. Am now sorely tempted to send off for the documents just to find out who got what!
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You are lucky Tillypeg.
There are only four libraries in my county which have Ancestry and they are nowhere near me.
I'm just going to pretend that I do not know anything about the database and then I won't be disappointed.
Tofgem
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I find a lot of excellent records for my main area, Cheshire & Lancashire, and others too, at archive.org for free and which can be far more wide ranging. eg wills that are not A2A and when I asked at Lancs Record Office, there they were!
Fiona
My turn to be the thickie (again). Fiona, I've clicked on the link and I'm sure I've seen this site before but thought it was all music. Where on it did you find Lancashire and Cheshire wills, or what did you put into the search to find them?
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I have the premium membership so I can see the new records but I don't have a single ancestor in England or Wales who had enough possessions to be in the list! I have some wealthier ones in Scotland but that's not included.
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I emailed Ancestry regarding the availability of the Wills & Probate records on Tuesday-Wednesday and then the sudden unavailability and have received a quick response from them:-
"We appreciate your message. While we were in the process of adding the new probate records to our site we made them available to all of our members as a courtesy. Now that the collection is finished it is available through the Premium and Worldwide memberships as all of our parish and probate records are. We apologise for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this has caused you."
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A problem I have found with the new records is that the letter G has often been incorrectly transcribed as a C. As a result, a name such as Thorogood has regularly been transcribed as Thorocood.
Nigel
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Maggie1895
Sorry... didn't get the usual email on topic replies etc. Anyway, I have to confess that my main source of wills in Lancashire from late 1500s to at leasst 1840s is:
http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/lws.htm
They have wills that are not catalogued on A2A or Lancs RO office, but are in fact there.
Now www.archive.org has a miscellaneous collection of all sorts, courtesy of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society (might be t'other way round, Cheshire and Lancashire!) in their most active years at the beginning of the 20th century.
Their printed works have been scanned in, but yes you do have to search. And you can search other counties and find all sorts of historical transcripts by their Antiquarian Societies etc. Unfortunately it was all sorts of bits in different volumes for different periods in time so you have to look at all the volumes to find the useful things. There are many transcribed parish records too.
One of my most important finds was a transcription of the Freemen Rolls of Chester in two volumes! All sorts of stuff for local history too!
Hope that helps
Fiona
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Thanks Fiona, really appreciate your taking the time to explain it all - obviously a whole new (or old) world out there to get to grips with..
Maggie1895
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from thier twitter page,
'Get ready – our biggest launch of the year goes online tomorrow.
This major new collection will give you a thrilling insight into the lives your ancestors led. Plus, it will point you towards unexplored branches of your family tree.
Cancel any plans for the next 48 hours – you don’t want to miss this!'
theres 3 comments saying its already online, anyone know what they are ?
Anyone wanting to know what's coming up on Ancestry (and who is a member) might like to consider becoming a volunteer transcriber. Not only do you get to see a full list of what is currently being transcribed (with a progress indicator), it also puts you into a very good bargaining position when your subs are due for renewal. As long as you do a reasonable number of transcriptions, of course.
Upcoming attractions (still currently being transscribed) include the 1891 and 1901 NSW Australia censuses, British Post Office Employment Records (Appointment Books), Pennsylvania US Naturalization Records, and French historical postcards. Those which have finished transcription and are awaiting release include the Andrews newspaper indexes, UK Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books 1802-1849, Fife Scotland, Voters Lists 1832-1894, and naturalization indexes of several US states.
Anyone wanting to volunteer to transcribe can do so by finding the World Archives Project in the Ancestry Community section. Transcribing involves downloading a small program to your PC, which guides you through the transcription process, and all downloading and uploading of records is automatic, once the program is installed. You can choose from a list which records you want to transcribe, with varying levels of difficulty. All records are transcribed by at least two people, and the transcriptions are then checked by an adjudicator. All this is anonymous - you don't know who the other transcribers and adjudicators are.
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How much time a week or a month do you spend transcribing? Trying to find out the time commitment to see if it is feasible?
Regards panda
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Sometimes it might be as much as 10 hours, sometimes I can go a couple of months without doing any. When you download a document to subscribe, you have a few days to complete it, because otherwise you will hold up the adjudication process, but other than that, there is no pressure on you at all.