Once you have exhausted searches into conventional Family History materials, such as BMD certificates or censuses and the like, then it may be worth stepping back a while and reviewing your Ancestry files. If you can detect an ancestor who appeared to enjoy a reasonable level of wealth at any point in his or her lifetime, then you should consider the possibility of researching into legal archive collections.
As per today, any transaction involving the transfer of assets would have involved the employment of a law practice to formally register the event. The most well-known of legal documents to the layman is a Will prepared in readiness for a subject’s death. If your ancestor was fortunate enough to own valuable goods or property, or had savings & investments, then it is quite possible that he/she recorded and lodged their dying wishes in some way. Countrywide legal societies had an obligation to preserve Wills for several generations as it was not uncommon for remote family members or business colleagues to challenge the apparent beneficiaries of a will many years later, maybe after returning from travels outside of the district. If a wealthy ancestor died before making a will, then a legally appointed executor would receive an inventory of the deceased’s possessions for disposal as drawn up by the local court. This latter form of document is called the testament and may well also be found in archives.
The discovery of an ancient family Will can unearth many extra facts about your ancestors and give you an insight into the lives of those mentioned. The list of ancestral possessions and their considered values can be very intriguing. If the deceased was in debt, the creditors to the estate would be referenced. There could be conditions applied under the wishes of the deceased regarding how and when a relative could inherit certain assets. Even an apparently humble tenant may have chosen to produce a will. However it must be said that many countries had no requirement by law decreeing that their inhabitants must establish a Will & Testament, so genealogy researching of legal papers is not guaranteed to be successful. If your ancestral subject was poorly educated, it is more likely that family inheritance matters were sorted out without reference to a court of law, which was entirely acceptable in many places.
Collections of ancient Wills or Testaments are now commonly in the custody of National Archives or Record Offices. As with all types of more specific ancestry records, the search to locate likely repositories can be almost as difficult as identifying a relevant legal document. Some remain in private collections and others could be retained by a region’s Law Society. Irish Ancestry Research can help enquirers to identify the best search options, or even retrieve copies of wills and their transcriptions. We can access worldwide Will Calendars to look for matching names of relevance. A good knowledge of legal jargon and the local language (maybe even Latin) is needed to fully understand Wills or Testaments.
Other historical legal documentation of genealogical interest may include Estate Records (for wealthy landowners), Administration Indices (for intestate ancestors), the Registry of Deeds and possibly general court papers recording legal cases involving family members. The information gleaned might not necessarily be a matter of family pride if an ancestor was the subject of a prosecution.
Newspaper Archives
Many densely populated cities and regions of the world founded their own newspapers as far back as the early 19th century, and some can boast journals dating back even earlier. Pressmen were particularly good at archiving old news stories which they may have had to recall later in order to update current local affairs. Many of these old newspapers or clippings can now be accessed via searchable computer databases. The bad news for ancestry researchers is that newspapers are, in the main, private commercial operations so there will inevitably be substantial fees to be paid for the privilege of an archive search or article reproduction.
Irish Ancestry Research has access to the archives of some of the grander historical publications. We always check these databases for mentions of your family whether it be an obituary, the BMD column or even an infamous court case !!
