Information about wills.....

[fmackay]

Hello there
Wondered if someone could tell me what I would find on a "comfirmation of testament dative" and if it's worth buying?
Thanks
Fiona

[DavidWW]

Fiona

The only correct answer is that you won't know until you spend the £5

The testament dative process kicked in when there was no actual testament (will) but the descendants wanted to go through the process of confirmation, - there was actually no legal requirement to do so, but particularly if they couldn't agree among themsleves on how to divide up the estate, the testament dative process then followed.

Most likely, the testamentary papers involved will have less information than if there had been a testament (the testament testementar process). At worst there may be a brief summary of the movable estate (you don't say what the date is) along with the names of those applying for the confirmation. A good indication of the likely value of the material is the number of pages involved.

David

[fmackay]

Hi David
thanks for your reply - there was a choice of 2, I accessed one of them which gave quite a bit of information (3pages I think) but there is also the confirmation of testament and I wondered if it would be worth my while accessing this one also. He died 1866 at sea. Will is lodged at Kirkwall
thanks

[Lizzie]

Hello Fiona,

I would advise you to make the purchase. Most of the time these wills are full of information of which will help in your search.
For instance, I, amd many people along the way, searched years for my gg grandfather going on information from a wedding certificate. Then one amongst us, pointed me in another direction and to cut a long story short I found he was the son of a very wealthy Aberdeen family. His illegitimate daughter was b. Edinburgh Maternity Hospital in 1853 he also gave the child his surname. I have a record of the birth showing his home address in Aberdeen which I was then able to trace the entire family through the twelve WILL's written by this family starting in 1803 in Keith, Banff.
I found my gg grandfather had died in Melbourne Australia in 1864, 3 1/2 years after he arrived there. I sent for his death certificate which states his age is 24 but he would have been a few years older.
I found he graduated from Aberdeen University in 1854 but the only census I have found him in was 1841 when he is with his family. I was dissapointed he does not show up in 1851.

If it was not for these will's I really would be no further forward.


Lizzie

[fmackay]

Hi Lizzie
Thanks for your reply - I hate not knowing what it says so I probably will!
regards
Fiona