PCC Will Images - ancestry

[kiterunner]

I don't know whether this has just been added, or if I have just not noticed it before? Anyone know, please? I would hate to think I have been wasting money buying these from TNA!

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5111&enc=1

I'm sure I have a couple in my basket on TNA site right now that I was waiting to get when I had the money... now I should be able to look at them right away!

[Merry]

Trust you to be organised and put stuff in your basket waiting to pay for them! If I did that I would know what I should look at first on Ancestry - at the moment I'm going round in circles like a headless chicken!!

I'm pretty certain this database only appeared this side of Christmas. I wonder why they didn't announce it?

[Shona]

Yesterday, I was searching for the Trash/Mollony families to help Di and clicked on a PCC will hit and was surprised to find actual images of the will in question.

[ElizabethHerts]

Funnily I have found this today whilst researching my Stilwell family.
All the wills I paid £3.36 for to the National Archives website I could have saved!

[ElizabethHerts]

I don't know whether this has just been added, or if I have just not noticed it before? Anyone know, please? I would hate to think I have been wasting money buying these from TNA!

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5111&enc=1

I'm sure I have a couple in my basket on TNA site right now that I was waiting to get when I had the money... now I should be able to look at them right away!

My basket always empties itself if I go away and come back later, so I've got nothing in it.

[Phoenix]

There was me thinking it must have been around for ages and I hadn't noticed.

I wonder if they wanted to wait till the workers amongst us were back, so the servers didn't get overwhelmed?

[kiterunner]

My basket always empties itself if I go away and come back later, so I've got nothing in it.
Yes, mine seems to be empty, but luckily I can remember what the wills were anyway. Sir William Hodges baronet and his son Joseph.

[kiterunner]

Well, I'm glad I didn't have to pay £3.36 for each of those two wills as they didn't help, lol.

[ElizabethHerts]

I could have saved myself a tidy sum last year if this had been available then. I have found at least 10 Parrott wills I could have downloaded.

[kiterunner]

I have looked at a certain UK family history blog quite a few times in the last few days looking for a mention of the addition of the GRO BMD indexes to FamilySearch and saw no mention of the PCC wills on there although quite a few news items had been added in the last day or two (no mention of the BMD indexes yet either.)

[ElizabethHerts]

I found this:

England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858
Published on Ancestry02/01/2014
Updated09/08/2012
Prior to 12 January 1858, wills in England and Wales were proved in ecclesiastical courts. The largest one was the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1384–1858.


It says "NEW" against Activity.

[Mary from Italy]

Ooh, excellent - except that I've already bought all the ones I really needed...

[tenterfieldjulie]

ooh I wish I could remember who I needed!!!!

[ElizabethHerts]

I'm busy mopping up the wills of siblings etc of my main lines. It's very satisfying. It's hard to justify spending money on the wills of people who are not my direct family, so access to these records is very welcome. Also, I have found deaths/burials for people after finding their wills. :D

[Mary from Italy]

Yes, I've been having a look at one or two that I wouldn't have bought.

[Nell]

I'm just going to have a look....I may be some time! I generally only looked at Wills online when visiting Kew as it cost nothing there and was a way to fill in time while waiting for documents to be delivered.

[kiterunner]

Ancestry are now showing this in the "new databases" and they have an advert for it on their home page.

[kiterunner]

This is helping no end with my Dry family! Loads of wills to read in that line. I could do without Benjamin Dry's will of 1719 mentioning "my son Benjamin Dry by my first wife Mary" and "my son Benjamin Dry by my now wife Elizabeth". And those were his only two surviving sons, so it's not as though he had so many sons he had run out of names to use!

[kiterunner]

Do you think there could be a connection between the fact that ancestry have announced this database and the site going extremely slow this afternoon? Glad we found it before today!

[Shona]

Slow? Ancestry refuses to find anything for me this evening. Can put in the terms to search for, but after I hit the search button, it spools endlessly.

[ElizabethHerts]

Same for me, but I am on my tablet.

[Merry]

I've lost count of how many wills I've read through, but of the last six or seven not one gave the first name of the widow or any names for the children and didn't leave anything to anyone else. Witnesses etc meant nothing either. *sigh* Very frustrating!

[kiterunner]

At least you didn't pay £3 for each of them, Merry!

[Merry]

No, I'd be miffed if I had!

[kiterunner]

But how exciting it is when you find one of those wills which leaves mourning rings to a whole load of people - and I've just found a couple which list people to be invited to the funeral!

[kiterunner]

I have started a thread on Research Queries for people to add to if they want help deciphering bits of the wills.

[Merry]

I don't have any wills mentioning mourning rings, but I do have my 4xg-grandmother's mourning ring from 1790s!

[ElizabethHerts]

The search facility is very useful as you don't need to put a name at all. You can just enter a place name and see what comes up!

[kiterunner]

The search facility is very useful as you don't need to put a name at all. You can just enter a place name and see what comes up!

Yes, plus you can use wildcards in the name (or indeed place name).

[Mary from Italy]

It's certainly easier to search than the TNA site, but I wish you could search by date.

[Merry]

It's certainly easier to search than the TNA site, but I wish you could search by date.

Why can't you?

[kiterunner]

It's certainly easier to search than the TNA site, but I wish you could search by date.
Why can't you?

If you're using the "old search" then you can put a year in the keyword box, but not a year range. But using the "new search", you can put in a year range (and lots more!).
Not sure whether this link will take you to new search if you have not already selected "go to new search".
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5111

[Mary from Italy]

Oh, I hadn't actually tried putting a date in the keyword box, although a year range is obviously more useful. I've been avoiding the new search so far, but it sounds like it'll be worth trying for PCC will and similar searches where the old search doesn't allow a date range to be searched. Thanks for the tip!

[Merry]

It's so long since I've used the old search I'd forgotten about the various restrictions. Not that the new search (with the general settings set to exact match) is particularly better, just vastly better in some areas and significantly worse in others!! (IMHO)