Buying Scottish Wills

[tarnee]

l have just found what seems to be my 3xggrandfather's will on Scotlandspeople.gov.uk. l have never paid and downloaded before so have a couple of questions before doing so.

1/ Would the will likely to be all in scottish its dated 1847.

2/ Has anyone downloaded from them and how easy is it to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jean

 

[Arranroots]

I have Jean - all too easy I am afraid, could easily have spent lots downloading more!! 

Not sure what you mean about "all in Scottish" lol!  I didn't find mine hard to understand, but if you get stuck just post the words you're having trouble with.

Kind regards, Arranroots 

[tarnee]

Hi Arranroots,

Thank you for your quick reply. Whilst reading on their site about  downloading and viewers it got for me a bit complicated then said about resizing, not being real good with computers l thought l would ask. Did you view it there or downloaded to your computer.

kind regards

Jean

[MonicaL]

Hi Jean

It always makes sense to save the image on to your computer. That way you can file it with other corresponding documents on your family history rather than trying to find it again on the site. It also means that you can view and print it easier.

The scanned images are normally two pages at a time (left and right) which is why it can help to blow the image up so the writing is larger (and easier to read  ).

Undoubtedly there will be wording that is both legal (and Scottish  ) but in the main, they are fairly readable.  As Arranroots says, if you get stuck there are a number of sites that can help with Scottish legal terms or old handwriting (including RootsChat  ).

Monica

[tarnee]

Hi Monica,

Many thanks for your reply much appreciated. l think l was just a bit worried it was all in scottish and l would not understand it

Jean

[Little Nell]

While I don't have any from that decade, the ones I do have (1869 onwards) are very legible and well worth the money spent on them.  Definitely save to your computer to print later.  I always trancribe them as well.  The ones I have are written in copper-plate handwriting rather than the more difficult secretary-type hand still found in some places in England right into the 19th century.

Nell

[tarnee]

Hi Nell,

Have just bought credits but it won't let me use them for buying the will, so not a very happy girl l have emailed them but of course its the weekend so will have to wait their reply.

l will save it to the computer, they had a comment that if you save to computer you won't be able to zoom in and out.

Jean

[JAP]

Hello Jean,

I have lots of Wills which I downloaded quite some time back before SP took over the Wills.

And I'm a long-term user of SP for OPR entries, for BDM transcripts and for censuses (as my credit card records clearly show  )

But, as it happens, yesterday was the very first time that I downloaded a Will from SP (I'd done lots of free searches for Wills on SP but not previously downloaded one from SP).  I had credits remaining but, like you, found - to my great surprise - that there didn't seem to be any way to use them for purchase of a Will.  So I just went ahead and paid up my 5 pounds by credit card.

I've just checked out the SP site and it does actually refer to this.  But I had to search around quite a bit in order to find the relevant information.

In the 'Help & Other Resources', go to 'Customer Information', then to 'Payment Process'.  It reads:
Please note: Two separate methods of payment are employed on this site: Access to statutory, old parish register and census records is based on a system of credits, purchased through a card transaction or a Voucher, but payment for images of wills & testaments is done directly through a card transaction. Access to the wills & testaments index is free.

The point of my post is that SP really does need to highlight the two different payment methods.

I've found that SP is pretty reasonable so I hope they'll refund those credits (if you wish) and then you can just go ahead and use your card to purchase the Will.

Regards,

JAP
PS: I use Direct Download and have never had any problems zooming in and out of downloaded Wills.  (To find what method you are using, login to SP and click on 'My Details' in the line of small print near the top of the screen.  On the screen which comes up, scroll down to 'Image Viewer' and there is a drop-down menu with three choices - Direct Download, ActiveX Control, and Java Applet.)
PPS: Scottish Wills in the 1800s are usually easy to read, and don't often include words which are specific to Scotland.  



 

[tarnee]

Hi JAP,

Many thanks for your reply,  when l went to purchase the will l thought l could just pay for that, then it said no credits so l click credts gave me an amount of 11.00pounds l did not want this so cancelled, then started again thinking l buy 6.00 pounds have 1 pound left to use on search etc. I agree it is not clear and emailed them stating that l believed l was buying credits for the will. l just wanted to pay 5 pounds and be done with it but could not move futher on.

l suppose l am put out to the fact l had hum and hah over doing this and went ahead and l still don't have the will Which l was looking forward to as this was going to be my first Will)

As to downloading l have Java Applet which l think was the same one Finding my Past (aka 1837 online)uses. l found that under (My Details).

Anyway l will wait for their reply, according to their message 24hrs but it is a weekend so hopefully Tues.or Wed.

Thanks also for letting me know thats its probably in english.

Jean