Oxfordshire Wills images - Origins

[ElizabethHerts]

Further to my thread yesterday, and just now my conversation with a member of staff at the Oxfordshire History Centre, will for Oxfordshire are now available to search and download on Origins.

http://www.origins.net/NationalWills/Search/Oxfordshire/SearchOXFWills.aspx

The member of staff with whom I spoke wasn't quite sure where that leaves them at the History Centre - whether I can still buy wills through them or at what cost. She is going to enquire for me.

You can still go into the Centre and photograph wills or print them if they are on microfilm.

I have identified so many of interest that I shall have to go in person and buy a camera permit for a day or print them off the microfilm. It would cost far too much on Origins.

[ElizabethHerts]

I've just had an e-mail:

"If you are able to access the Origins website through someone with a subscription, the entries in the Act books for the bonds (rather the original bonds themselves) are free to view until the end of the month.

I was hoping to speak to my line manager about our future intentions re the pricing of will copies but I'm afraid he is in a meeting all afternoon. I think it is fairly certain we will continue to charge per page until the original wills become available on Origins later this year but after that I'm afraid I do not know. I am sorry not to be able to give you a definite answer at this stage."

[Asa]

Thank you Elizabeth - really good news for me if not for my wallet!

[Asa]

Elizabeth, do you know if all the wills are going to be available on British Origins? There are three in particular I need to get but there's no image available yet. If I go to the Oxfordshire history centre I can't seem to find anything relevant to order them through there either - I think I might be missing obvious stuff but....

[kiterunner]

Elizabeth, do you know if all the wills are going to be available on British Origins? There are three in particular I need to get but there's no image available yet. If I go to the Oxfordshire history centre I can't seem to find anything relevant to order them through there either - I think I might be missing obvious stuff but....

It says the following on the Origins site:

About Oxfordshire Wills Index 1516-1857
This dataset indexes all the surviving probate records of the bishop and archdeacon of Oxford, covering the period 1516 to 1857, and of the Oxfordshire Peculiars, covering the period 1547-1856. Plus images of the original documents.
Purchasing and viewing original documents online
All the records indexed here are now housed in Oxfordshire Record Office -

Digitisation of these documents is now completed, and these images can be purchased with Pay per View credits and viewed directly from the index records.

So this doesn't sound as though there are any more images due to be uploaded. It might be worth contacting Origins to ask them about missing images?

[JayG]

Elizabeth, do you know if all the wills are going to be available on British Origins? There are three in particular I need to get but there's no image available yet. If I go to the Oxfordshire history centre I can't seem to find anything relevant to order them through there either - I think I might be missing obvious stuff but....

I don't have any family in this area but from a quick look at the surname Smith it looks like images for registered copies of wills are available but not original wills or admons.

[Asa]

Thank you both - I've also found this now on Origins -

Where do I go from here?
When you find an entry in the index the first step is to obtain the document (see www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshirehistory).

So I can email them and ask.