How to access Irish wills in National Archives?

[hallmark]

Not uncommon, often if wife survived husband then conditions in a Will that she was to be provided for until she died meant that it wasn't fully probated until after her death and that all conditions in the Will were met!

[brianoleary85]

Not uncommon, often if wife survived husband then conditions in a Will that she was to be provided for until she died meant that it wasn't fully probated until after her death and that all conditions in the Will were met!

Interesting, I hadn't thought of this as a reason. That particular case was a man who died in 1852 and everything was left to his three surviving daughters in March 1873. I don't have the deceased's wife's firstname, but if I take a look at GRO registers for females of that surname who died in the district the 12 or 24 months prior to proving the will, it may reap some reward. Thanks!

EDIT: looking at gender and age, there's only one possible candidate for this woman in the relevant district, might pop into the BMD while in Dublin to pick up the cert to see if one of my individual's daughter's married names appears as the informant

[hallmark]

I remember coming across Court cases where mother had to take a son to Court to make him comply with the Will.. one case was the mother was left the use of kitchen, livingroom and upstairs bedroom but the son took access to stairs away, the Will didn't mention the stairs,  she had to go to Court to get the use of stairs which is why one often sees "use of stairs" in Wills....

[hallmark]

Irish records are free this w/end on www.ancestry.co.uk

[hallmark]

RE: ... there's only one possible candidate for this woman in the relevant district, might pop into the BMD while in Dublin to pick up the cert to see if one of my individual's daughter's married names appears as the informant ..


Did you know you can now just go to your local office and get Death Certs etc for anywhere in Ireland as they now have them on computer?

[brianoleary85]

Did you know you can now just go to your local office and get Death Certs etc for anywhere in Ireland as they now have them on computer?

Didn't know this, but to be honest it is just as easy for me to go into Dublin as it is to go to the town in my county where to BMD office is. Usually do it all by post, but might just pop in while I'm in Dublin this time to get my hands on it quicker. Thanks for the heads up!

[hallmark]

It's actually handy if you have 2 or 3 possibles as you can talk to the person and say "the father should be Michael" or whatever, often they will tell you which is the correct one you need!

[brianoleary85]

Everything is a matter of luck! The Will for one of mine was burnt, no copy exists BUT I went to the Registry of Wills and Deeds in Blackhall Place where the inheritors registered themselves as the inheritors of the estate, detailed who got what etc... so basically it was the result of what was in the Will.

I was following up on this recommendation and discovered that all wills lodged with the Registry of Deeds between 1708 and 1832 were published in abstract form by the Irish Manuscript Commission - and thankfully, these volumes are now available for free online! The three volumes of Registry of Deeds abstracts are available here, and offer some great information:
http://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/servlet/Controller?action=digitisation_backlist

[hallmark]

Yes they have been on line quite a while... if you take

http://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/digital/Registry%20Of%20Deeds%20Abstracts%20Of%20Wills%20Vol%201%201708-45/pageflip.html

for example and just look at the 1st entry of John Forward.... that is only a synopsis, the Full entry in the Ledger is 4 pages long... and the pages are big!!

LDS has them microfilmed and there are over 550 films, that shows how vast they are.

Those 3 books hardly even touch on what is there!