Did your ancestor have an inheritance? Was their benefactor from Essex? Find out in the Essex wills beneficiaries index 1675-1858. You will find beneficiaries who did not share the family name of the person who made the will. This is a great way to find connections between different branches of a family, to find female ancestors who may have changed their name or even confirm family secrets like illegitimate children. There are over 150,000 names in this record set taken from over 36,000 wills in a fascinating resource that can serve as a valuable census substitute in earlier centuries.
Did your ancestor have an inheritance? Was their benefactor from Essex? Find out in the Essex wills beneficiaries index 1675-1858. You will find beneficiaries who did not share the family name of the person who made the will. This is a great way to find connections between different branches of a family, to find female ancestors who may have changed their name or even confirm family secrets like illegitimate children. There are over 150,000 names in this record set taken from over 36,000 wills in a fascinating resource that can serve as a valuable census substitute in earlier centuries.
Each record contains a transcript and an image of the index. The amount of information can vary but you can find out the following about your ancestor:
Compiled over 15 years by researcher Thora Broughton, this index has been a valuable source for genealogists for more than 25 years.
The index records all people mentioned in a will, with the exception of witnesses and those with the same name as the testator - therefore not only beneficiaries and relatives appear but also executors, trustees, occupiers of property and adjacent landowners and so on.
The wills are dated between 1505 and 1916 for the following probate courts:
It would not have been unusual for a non-Essex resident who held property or financial interests in the county to have their wills proved in any of the above courts.
A more detailed explanation of the layout and jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical courts, which handled probate and marriage licences before 1858, is available in the Useful links and resources.
A few notes on the index