Cheshire Wills at York

[david64]

Evening,

I have come across a strand in my tree that goes back to Cheshire in the personage of:

William Whittingham, b. est. 1545, d. 1596; his mother was Dorothy, d. 1586

The family came from Mooresbarrow, Middlewich, Cheshire and in the visitations I have located a likely candidate for the above William, born around the same time as the above and who has a brother, Humphrey, of Mooresbarrow. Though I would like more documentation before making a link.

So, I have been looking at the situation probate in Cheshire, and located the will which may be the will of the postulated father of the above William. However, when it comes to PCC & York wills, I am a bit of a loss. What I am reading says that Chester Diocese wills were proved at York, but there are a great many Cheshire wills in the PCC index. Can anyone shed light on this?

[odessa]

David,

Are you looking at a probate date of c.1604 or c.1617 ? These are both indexed and available through Cheshire Archives.
There are also several in 17thC indexed for Humphrey Whittingham (one stated as of Mooresbarrow).
odessa.

[david64]

I'm looking for 16th century probates. Though it sis possible some early 17th century wills may be useful.

I've searched the Cheshire site and found one will of interest, as mentioned above, but am querying the situation as to where one should look for wills in the PCC or York or both?

[odessa]

For wills in Cheshire before 1796 (introduction of death duties)  I was advised to check both Diocesan records and The Perogartive Court of York. The PCC being an unlikely option unless the testator had property or investments in the areas that the PCC covered ( south of R.Trent I think) or was living abroad.

This site has a fairly good explanation

http://www.ancestor-search.info/SRC-Wills.htm

It does say that there is an index available to the PCY 1389-1858, but the link didn't work for me tonight

odessa

[david64]

Thanks.

There is no complete index to the PCY online.