Some of the most valuable genealogical records can be found in Probate Courts. Among these are wills, estate administrations and reports, appointments of guardians for minor children, adoptions and legal name changes.
Of all these the most sought-after are wills because they name heirs, relationships, and firmly establish the link among generations. Wills can also disprove family legends. In my own family, a great-aunt’s will established that she did leave money for my mother’s education but the other amount my mother thought was due her was left instead to my grandmother.
Finding wills and estate administration reports is easy. The old-fashioned and still reliable method is to visit the courthouse in the county where your ancestor or relative died. Courthouses are in the county seat or “shiretown”. All Maine Probate offices maintain indexes that list the names of the deceased, and can usually view the actual document, transcribe it or make a photocopy for a small charge.
Some early probate records have been transcribed, mainly from counties in Massachusetts and Picton Press published Ruth Gray’s Penobscot County abstracts. These books are usually found in larger libraries such as the Maine State library. Sometimes they are brief summaries of the documents, in other cases they are transcripts of the entire record itself and the next best thing to a visit.
But now more and more probate documents are surfacing online. The LDS Church has a wonderful collection of probate records on microfilm and microfiche and many are now popping up on their website, www.familysearch.org. I tend to go to Ancestry.com, mainly because my research time is limited and Ancestry.com offers a great many databases to search on one site, but there are certainly many genealogical sites online, some free, some fee-based. You can also try a search engine such as Google to locate courthouses and any online records. These sites will tell you how to make contact if you’re unable to visit in person. Since Ancestry.com U.S. version, is also free to use at most libraries in Maine, I recommend you search there for possible probate records.
I recently found a copy of the estate administration of Alonzo Parsons for the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society who had an inquiry from out of state. Parsons died in 1865 in Dover. He left no will but the administration of his estate records runs over 14 pages and gives information on Alonzo’s widow, her remarriage, the names of his two sons, list of assets, appointment of legal guardian for the sons, and an accounting of the money spent on the boys and other necessary expenses. The document dates from 1867 and while it wouldn’t have been difficult to dash to the county courthouse 2 miles from my home, finding this online was a pleasant and time-saving surprise.
Not all probate documents are online now, so a visit to a county courthouse may be in order. If you find probate records you will be glad of the time you invest since the genealogical rewards can be wonderful as you research your family.
Nancy Battick is a Dover-Foxcroft native who has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds a MA in History from UM and lives in DF with her husband, Jack, another avid genealogist. You can contact Nancy at nbattick@roadrunner.com.
