How to search for Wills ?

[Swy47]

I'm wondering how i search for a copy of wills from 1897, 1913 and 1990 (Dublin)

[Quaxer]

Sweeney 47

 Can you be far more precise in the case of each date you give ....i.e. name ,place of death etc.?

Regards     Quaxer

[Swy47]

Tks, mainly looking for copies of the following wills. All dublin area but no idea were to look for records.

Alexander Sweeney, Great Britain street, died 14 Dec 1897
Alexander Sweeney, Marlborough street, died 14 May 1913
Charlotte Sweeney, Marlborough street, died 13 Nov 1920
Elizabeth Sweeney, great britain or parnell street, died 12 Nov 1935
Elizabeth Sweeney(Lily) Dublin, died 21 June 1982 (approx age 76)
Alexander Sweeney, st john court, Donnycarney, died 30 Jan 1990

[ambyrne1]

The National Archives in Bishop Street, Dublin have a copy of all wills made...

If there are wills for these names it will be in their books there.

[Swy47]

Thanks i hope to go into the national archives in the next couple of weeks to view the 1901 census. I didnt realise they kept copies of wills also. Tks

[Quaxer]

Sweeney 47
AMByrne is not quite correct. I always tell persons that all Irish wills prior to 1902 were destroyed in the Four Courts explosion and fire in 1922. There is a mountain of exceptions to this statement which are too numerous to relate here.
The general rule was that 20 years after admission to probate the relevant courts pas to the National Archivesthe willson an annual basis.Thus all wilss from 1902 onward to 1989/90 should be available for perusal. Search the Probate Calendar firstly to see if a will was admitted or letters of administration were granted.
The Calendar should state whether an 1897 will existed. The NA have tried to fill the loss gap and have an index to this as well
Regards      Quaxer

[aghadowey]

Not sure what the situation is in Dublin but in Belfast PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) have copies of the pre-1900 Wills (for Belfast, Londonderry and Armagh) which were written into Will Books before the originals were destroyed. At PRONI you can view the copy on microfilm (note: Will only was copied- no other paperwork is on the film and if a person died intestate only details available are what's in the printed index). Hopefully someone will know if similar applies to Dublin Wills.

[Quaxer]

Aghadowey

Yes ,you are perfectly correct in your statement that District Registries transcribed wills in to volumes but all too many of these were lost in 1922. Further I did not refer to these as all the wills in question were wills from the Dublin area and again the exceptions to entire destruction prior to 1902 are so many and varied that they would now fill a small booklet.


Regards       Quaxer

[aghadowey]

But do the copies of pre-1900 Dublin Wills in the books still exist? if so, it would probably be helpful to this particular uery.