Historic probate records are a key source for family history research. They can provide details on close family members, as well as wider kin, businesses, as well as property both real and personal. Individual bequests can be made in a monetary or landed form, but also individual items can be left in a will. It might be that a watch or special item of jewellery (mourning rings are often given for example) or a significant household object - Shakespeare is famous for having left his wife their second best bed for example. For families in agricultural areas, farming implements, stock and crops are often specified.
But every now and again a more unusual entry emerges from a will. This week an 18th century will from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury yielded a particularly interesting detail:
'...also I give until my said son the Carpets
he used when [at] the university....'
Here is a mother giving carpets to her son, which in turn we learn he had taken to university with him. Not unlike today, she clearly helped out with furnishing his living accommodation when he left home, and subsequently chose to give him these upon her death. Household items like carpets and beds were costly during this period, and their significance is reflected in documents such as wills, beyond their everyday practical use.
To find out whether your ancestors left wills, or for help deciphering any probate records you have found within your own family history research, contact our team of professionals today.
