Friday, August 17, 2018

FOLLOW UP FRIDAY ~ HOW I LOCATED THE PROBATE RECORD FOR GEORGE F. HALL–Civil War Veteran, died 1896

In my blog post on 30 Jul 2018 I wrote about the Civil War Pension of Sgt. George F. Hall, my husband’s great granduncle. You can read that post here.

From there I thought I would try to find a probate record for George, if one existed.  I went to familysearch.org and located New York Probate Records, 1629-1971 for St. Lawrence County, New York. This record set contains 14,045,639 images.  By narrowing it down to ONLY St. Lawrence County and then to the specific years, you get a smaller set of records to browse.  Thank goodness for that.

Here were my steps for finding this probate record:

  • Go to FamilySearch.org
  • Click on >search>records>research by location>click on the area (United States)>select New York from the drop down list>scroll down to Image-Only Historical Records>scroll to Probate and Court and select New York Probate Records 1629-1971
  • Now click on “Browse through 14,045,639 images
  • Select St. Lawrence
  • Now find the Wills and the year you’re specifically interested in – in this case I selected Wills 1895-1897 vol 29 (because George died 14 May 1896).  NOTE:  Wills are sometimes probated many months or even years later, but you have to start somewhere, and I usually choose the year of death.

HALL_St Lawrence Co wills list

  • Selecting the record set indicated above will open up the images.  Once you have that first page on your screen, click over to the left side of the screen on the little set of boxes. 

HALL_Geo_Probate record set  page 1

I, personally, make a note of the record set, volume number, dates and then record this microfilm number and any other pertinent information contained in the first few images.  Doing that allowed me to return to this set two weeks after I’d found it, and immediately find it again.  You could also create a link to the record set in Legacy (that’s for another discussion).

Here’s what you will see after you’ve clicked on the area indicated by the red arrow above.

HALL_Geo_will screenshot of all images

  • Knowing that this record set is NOT indexed I checked for a table of contents and didn’t find one.  Now it’s up to me to figure out how these records are arranged.
  • I have selected page 7 of 436 images in this record set.  To view that page I will double click on it.  I want to view several of the first few pages to determine how this set of records is recorded.  Is it in alphabetical or date order?  Or something else? 
  • I determined that these records are in date order.  Not specific date order, but close enough that I will be able to find the records for 1896 and hope that George had a will and that it was recorded.

After about 30 minutes, I was able to locate George’s last will & testament on images 213 and 214 of 436 images. The probate took place in Sep 1896, and was recorded on pages 400 & 402 in the will book. Page 401 was blank.

HALL_George F_will_Jul 1896_pg 1 and 2

Who would I find named in George’s will?  His wife, Sarah had died in 1892.  They had no known children together. Stay tuned and I’ll transcribe the will and share it with you.

I actually enjoy browsing images.  Having them indexed is easy and I’m glad so many are, but I like the challenge of having to work to find what I am looking for. Reminds me of scrolling through microfilm, which I still enjoy.

I don’t think we will have a time when every single record is indexed, so having this skill set is necessary for our research.

Have you browsed images on familysearch.org or some other website?  Do you usually find what you’re looking for?  I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2018   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

18 comments:

  1. I have found what I was looking for but also things that I wasn't looking for. Browse a small towns birth, death and marriage records. Pay attention to witnesses and sponsors. It's exciting to find lots of names you recognize.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent suggestion. I haven't done that yet, but certainly will in the future. I know just from scrolling through record pages on Ancestry I've located people I wasn't focusing on, but needed to find.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  2. Excellent tip, Diane. The part about saving the information from the front of a collection is also very important. Many of the browse-only collections being added have "No citation is available." on the Information tab at the bottom of the image. The link can be saved and FS says their links do not change but better safe than sorry.
    Many browse-only collections on FamilySearch are not in the search by location. It pays to go to the catalog and search by location and then open up the record type (court, vital, etc.) to find a particular collection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for that tip about the catalog. I didn't know that. We are always learning aren't we?

      Delete
  3. I always thought my grandfather’s older brother came a few years after him through New York. For many years I could not find him. I knew he came to the US because he is buried about 10 miles from where I live. Finally, Ancestry published his naturalization index card and it showed he came in through Baltimore! I found the Baltimore manifest images but they weren’t indexed yet. I finally found him but wish I had had your system to help at that time! Now I know what to do! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you found that record for your grandfather's brother. And, I'm happy that my tips can be of assistance to you in the future.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  4. What a great reminder about doing a little digging when it doesn't just 'pop up' on a search!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's for sure Debby. I always think it's more rewarding when we've had to dig a bit for it :)

      Delete
  5. I found a probate record for BC, but I also have some ancestors that died in NY and other states.. I'll have to check this out. Thanks Diane!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice example of how you can slough through even unindexed records. You may have inspired me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We all need inspiration from time to time Laura. Glad to be of help :) :)

      Delete
  7. Great post and easy to see your step by step process to locating the probate record. Definitely a great feeling when you locate something that you had to really dig for! I agree that this is a skill we still need.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sue. I think some of the newer genealogists coming along need to learn these skills. I hope I can help both the new people and anyone who is rusty in their browsing skills.
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  8. I've also found some amazing documents by browsing particular collections! It's a good reminder that not everything that is available online is indexed and searchable! (And just a small portion is available online! Go to your local library, archive, or historical society, too!) I still browse through microfilm as well...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It boggles my mind how many records are out there waiting to be found - not online. Visiting libraries, courthouses and historical societies would be my full time job, if I could afford it. LOL!
      Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.