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Gen 103 Wills

Wills can provide proof of (1) spouse, as well as (2) children, if your ancestor had a will and if the spouse and children are named. There are other records that can provide much of the same information. Here are a few important things to know about wills.

1.         Most wills are required to be in writing and be witnessed (generally by two or sometimes three witnesses). There are certain circumstances where an oral will might be valid.

2.         The witnesses may be related must not have an interest in the will (be a beneficiary under the will or be an heir-at-law if the will were invalidated).

3.         There are two dates that are important in a will. The first is the date of the will, i.e. the date signed by the deceased person. The second is the date the will is “proved”. That is the date the will is presented to the court and the witnesses attest to the veracity of the will. You will know that the person making the will died between those two dates. If the dates are relatively far apart, then the date of death is more likely to be close to the date the will was proved. Our early ancestors generally had a good deal of perishable property. So the wills were generally presented to the court as soon as practical after the death of the person. Courts were often presided over by circuit judges that served more than one county, so there can be short delays in proving a will until the judge was available in the county.

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