The Group’s aim is to find more ways to enhance your family history research and to help each other with their research.

Janet has a wide knowledge of family history and can advise on the various sites available to search for information on ancestors. Some sites are free and others have a fee to access information. Advice is also given, if required, on the advantages and disadvantages of various DNA testing sites. "Homework" is sometimes given, to put new found knowledge into practice and to help find the way around, sometimes complex sites. At the monthly meeting, any problems met during your personal research, can be raised and Janet will guide the group through various ways to overcome any brick walls! During these meetings, although the query may not be relevant to your own individual research, it can be very useful as information discussed during a session, will often be useful in the future. We also share any of our successes.

May 2025

This month we looked at using wills in our family history research. They are a resource which tends to get overlooked as we think our ancestors weren’t wealthy enough to leave a will. You may be surprised! Give it a try.

Copies of wills of people who died after 1857 are held by the Probate Office of the Government. A digital copy can be purchased for £1.50 each by using their website www.gov.uk/search-will-probate.

You need to know the year of death, but probate may be granted the following year or even later. It may be wise to first use Find My Past or Ancestry (free to use in the library) to see if probate exists. That information alone is useful giving the date and place of death and names of the Executor(s); see example below. The monetary amount of ‘Effects’ refers to a person’s personal belongings and movable property such as furniture, jewellery, clothing and not real estate, bank accounts, investments etc.

If you are lucky to find an ancestor did leave a will you need to order it from the Government website as mentioned above. After clicking on the ‘Start Now’ button fill out the details on the following page. I suggest that you skip the ‘Advanced Search’ page. The Results page may at times state ‘0 result’ but scroll down the page you will see ‘1 document page returned’ click on the link or the image which will then open up in another window. Use the Zoom+ button to enlarge. On the right hand side you can order a copy of the will you want and put it in your basket. On checkout you will need to create an account.

You do not receive the digital copy immediately after payment. Your order will be processed and usually within two weeks you will receive an email to say your order is ready to view and download if you wish to. I recommend downloading it as it is only available for about 30 days. Go to the website, sign in and click on ‘My Orders’ enter the reference and you will see your ancestors will.