Index to Irish Wills 1484-1858: Where to find the wills?

[Gilby]

Hi All,

I sometimes use Eneclann’s “Index to Irish Wills 1484-1858” on Find My Past.  My understanding is that this is an index to extracts or copies of wills which have survived and are still extant today.  Firstly, is that correct?

When I do find a will I am interested in, I usually find the reference number isn’t very helpful, and I’m not sure where to go to find the will.

For example, the one I’m looking at now is:

Name = Robert Stevenson
Address = Ardkill, L’Derry
Grant = Prerogative Court, 1839
Document status = Transcript
Ref. no. = Prerogative Grant Book/F/218b

The year 1839 doesn’t fit in with any of the surviving Prerogative Court books, so I’m not sure where I should be looking to find the will transcript. 

The PRONI name search does have Robert Stevenson indexed, but no known copy of the will.  There is a will/probate record for a Robert Stevenson of Ardkill dated 1847-1898 (D1046/374), but I think that must refer to a later generation.  I’ve tried searching the NAI catalogue, but didn’t find anything.

Where should I be looking?

Thanks,
Gilby

[Gilby]

Here’s another example:

Name = Edward Stevenson
Grant = Prerogative Court, 1831
Document status = Transcript
Volume = 4/236/19
Ref. no. = IWR/1831/F/399

Where do I find this one?

[Sinann]

This explains
http://census.nationalarchives.ie/search/dw/home.jsp

[Gilby]

Hi Sinann,

Since both wills I’m looking for don’t fall into the dates for surviving Prerogative Court books (1664-1684, 1706-1708, 1726-1728, 1728-1729, 1777, 1813 and 1834) that would imply a copy does not survive?

So why is it listed in the surviving will index?

Gilby

[Wexflyer]

Hi All,

I sometimes use Eneclann’s “Index to Irish Wills 1484-1858” on Find My Past.  My understanding is that this is an index to extracts or copies of wills which have survived and are still extant today.  Firstly, is that correct?

When I do find a will I am interested in, I usually find the reference number isn’t very helpful, and I’m not sure where to go to find the will.

For example, the one I’m looking at now is:

Name = Robert Stevenson
Address = Ardkill, L’Derry
Grant = Prerogative Court, 1839
Document status = Transcript
Ref. no. = Prerogative Grant Book/F/218b

The year 1839 doesn’t fit in with any of the surviving Prerogative Court books, so I’m not sure where I should be looking to find the will transcript. 

The PRONI name search does have Robert Stevenson indexed, but no known copy of the will.  There is a will/probate record for a Robert Stevenson of Ardkill dated 1847-1898 (D1046/374), but I think that must refer to a later generation.  I’ve tried searching the NAI catalogue, but didn’t find anything.

Where should I be looking?

Thanks,
Gilby

At the National Archives!

My understanding is that the Eneclann CD **only** relates to surviving wills/will extracts at the National Archives.

The surviving material is much broader than just surviving will registers.

[Sinann]

Sorry I've no idea what the surviving will index is.

[Gilby]

I suppose my question is maybe more about how to search for material held by the National Archives.  I’m familiar with the PRONI ecatalogue where you can access and search a list of everything they’ve catalogued, but the NAI catalogue here seems more limited:

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/search-the-online-catalogue/simple/#!/

It does say that not all of the older records are on the catalogue, so that could explain why I can’t find any evidence of the wills I’m looking for.  So basically the answer is that I need to be there in person to search through their hard copy indexes?

[Sinann]

The end of the NAI link says
The will books for Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry are in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

[Gilby]

The will books held by PRONI for Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry are for 1858-1921 and are digitised here:

https://apps.proni.gov.uk/WillsCalendar_IE/WillsSearch.aspx

The index I’m talking about is for pre-1858 wills.

If the wills are held at PRONI they should appear in the PRONI “Name Search” (though I accept a small number of wills have slipped through the net):

https://apps.proni.gov.uk/ProniNames_IE/SearchPage.aspx

Also the two reference numbers I mentioned above don’t look like PRONI references.