Can someone confirm these dates please?

[Merry]

I'm looking at the will of Bernard Keat on ancestry (Dorset, England, Wills and Probates, 1565-1858) and trying to establish the date it was signed and when it was proved.

Ancestry's transcription says 1708 for the 'residence date' which I take to be the year probate was granted.

The will seems to have suffered some damage, so there are a few bits missing!!

The first image that comes up seems to have '2?th January 1704 Mr B....... Keals (sic) Will' and also has 1708 written on the right edge.

The fifth line on the second image says 'thousand seven hundred and four'.
To the left of the seal is written 1708.

So, can I deduce from this the will was written in the second half of Jan 1704 and was proved some time in 1708? He left most of his estate to his sister (my ancestor) and she was buried 13 Jan 1708 (old style) so it would have been nice to have known the exact date Bernard's will was proved if it was the same year as her death.

If anyone can see anything else about Bernard Keat(t) I would be very grateful. Ancestry offered me a baptism in 1676, but it looks like a burial to me. There's no burial between 1704 and 1708 but Bernard might have died at sea as the will says he was a mariner.

I don't have a baptism for Elizabeth Keat(t). She married in 1691, and had nine children in about 16 years, so I would imagine she married in her 20s or younger.

[kiterunner]

The "UK Extracted Probate Records" index on ancestry lists it as 1708, but doesn't give an exact date.

Yes, it looks to have been written in Jan 1704 and proved in 1708.

[Merry]

Thanks Kate.

Family Search says the PRs begin in 1610, but all other places I've looked at say 1676. Might explain where this family are hiding!

[Phoenix]

It's the last surviving will from 1708, and looks as if probate was 1708/9. Perhaps he had died some time earlier and it was her executors who proved it?

[Phoenix]

If the wills are arranged in chronological order, previous one was proved Feb 1708/9

[Merry]

Would that mean someone would have to be appointed to execute Bernard's will as Elizabeth didn't write a will herself?

[kiterunner]

If you can access the book that the "UK Extracted Probate Records" entry was taken from, it might give you more information.
Details of title etc on here, though obviously not completely correct as it says the book is "Burialls" rather than probate:
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?new=1&gsfn=b*n*d&gsln=keat&rank=1&gss=angs-g&sbo=0&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=828134&recoff=3+4&db=UKprobate&indiv=1&ml_rpos=6

[Merry]

lol! OK, I'll look into that. Thanks.

[Merry]

This looks hopeful:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/calendar-of-wills-and-administrations-relating-to-the-county-of-dorset-proved-in-the-consistory-court-dorsetshire-division-of-the-late-diocese-of-bristol-1681-1792-and-in-the-archdeaconry-court-of-dorset-1568-1792-and-in-the-several-peculiars-1660-1799-all-now-preserved-at-the-probate-registry-blandford/oclc/3989566

[Phoenix]

If that BRS volume is what I think it is, you won't get any more information than is in Ancestry. It is a very long time since I looked for Dorset wills, but I suspect it is ordered by year and initial letter of surname.

What you need to know is whether the calendaring was done contemporaneously.

And whether a member of staff at Dorset RO would handle the crumbling fragments for you, as the date had been very clearly written. Pity there isn't a will register for comparison.

[Merry]

Thanks Phoenix. This seems to be another version of the calendar. Also with little info:

http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Calendars-of-Wills-and-Administrations-Dorset-1660-1799/935212/89

I agree re Dorset RO having a look at those fragments! It's quite frustrating not being able to read all of the will. There s a reference to a son of Thomas Bishop (Elizabeth Keatt's husband) but I can't read which son it is.

I got excited finding this doc as I'd hoped it would help me with Elizabeth's parents, but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. :o