PROBATE RECORDS
Finding New York State Wills
Finding New York State Wills
Do you have an ancestor who died in the state of New York between 1629 and 1900? Are you interested in finding probate records for that person? In 2014, FamilySearch put over 18,000,000 unindexed New York probate files online. Browsing that many images page-by-page is an impossible task, even if the search can be narrowed down to a specific county; so—what is a poor genealogist to do? Learn how to use the SAMPUBCO website where you will find a FREE INDEX to many New York probate records!
photo: court clerk’s transcription of 1837 will of David Peck [FamilySearch: Schoharie > Wills 1829-1870 vol A-B > image 166 of 570]
Let’s use David Peck’s will (shown above) as an example. How did the QHGS Blogger find it?
First stop—SAMPUBCO:
1. I went to the SAMPUBCO website at http://www.sampubco.com/ and clicked on the “wills” link.
2. This took me to the “Will Testators List.” I clicked the “New York” link on that page.
3. That took me to the “New York Counties Will Testators Indexes” page. I knew that the Peck family had lived in Schoharie County, so I clicked that county’s link.
4. This took me down the page to the correct county where there are links to alphabetical groupings of surnames: A-E, F-L, M-S, T-Z. I clicked on the “M-S” link.
5. That took me to an alphabetical list of surnames beginning with M through S of the will testators in Schoharie County. The list is arranged by the name of the testator, followed by the place of residence of the testator, the county’s number, the volume number of the probate court record, and the page number where the will appears in that volume.
6. I scrolled down that page until I found the name of David Peck. Then I copied the information that SAMPUBCO provided: volume A2, page 370.
Next stop—FamilySearch:
1. Using the data found above, I went to the FamilySearch website at https://familysearch.org/ and clicked the “Search” button.
2. This took me to the Search page where I clicked on the map of the United States under the “Search By Location” heading. I scrolled down the little menu to “New York” and clicked on that link.
3. This opened the New York page. I knew the probate records were not indexed, so I scrolled down to the bottom part of the page where the non-indexed records are listed, and clicked on “New York, Probate Records, 1629-1971.”
4. This took me to the home page of the New York Probate Records database. Once there, I clicked the “Browse through 14,065,639 images” link.
5. I chose “Schoharie” from the list of county links that appeared, and that opened a list of all of the Schoharie County digitized probate images that FamilySearch has put online, grouped by type.
6. Since I was looking for a will, I scrolled down the page until I found “Wills 1829–1870 Vol A–B” and, keeping SAMPUBCO’s information in mind, I clicked that link and looked at volume A.
7. There was an index in the front of the volume, and I checked it to make sure I had accessed the correct book. Sure enough, image 19 showed that David Peck’s will would be found on page 370, just as the SAMPUBCO index had indicated. It was now fairly easy to find page 370 (image 166) and download the court clerk’s transcription of David Peck’s will.
RESEARCH TIP: You can use SAMPUBCO indices for other states as well. It is one of the most useful websites for genealogical research available on the internet, and we thank its creator for making the index free for everyone to use.
First stop—SAMPUBCO:
1. I went to the SAMPUBCO website at http://www.sampubco.com/ and clicked on the “wills” link.
2. This took me to the “Will Testators List.” I clicked the “New York” link on that page.
3. That took me to the “New York Counties Will Testators Indexes” page. I knew that the Peck family had lived in Schoharie County, so I clicked that county’s link.
4. This took me down the page to the correct county where there are links to alphabetical groupings of surnames: A-E, F-L, M-S, T-Z. I clicked on the “M-S” link.
5. That took me to an alphabetical list of surnames beginning with M through S of the will testators in Schoharie County. The list is arranged by the name of the testator, followed by the place of residence of the testator, the county’s number, the volume number of the probate court record, and the page number where the will appears in that volume.
6. I scrolled down that page until I found the name of David Peck. Then I copied the information that SAMPUBCO provided: volume A2, page 370.
Next stop—FamilySearch:
1. Using the data found above, I went to the FamilySearch website at https://familysearch.org/ and clicked the “Search” button.
2. This took me to the Search page where I clicked on the map of the United States under the “Search By Location” heading. I scrolled down the little menu to “New York” and clicked on that link.
3. This opened the New York page. I knew the probate records were not indexed, so I scrolled down to the bottom part of the page where the non-indexed records are listed, and clicked on “New York, Probate Records, 1629-1971.”
4. This took me to the home page of the New York Probate Records database. Once there, I clicked the “Browse through 14,065,639 images” link.
5. I chose “Schoharie” from the list of county links that appeared, and that opened a list of all of the Schoharie County digitized probate images that FamilySearch has put online, grouped by type.
6. Since I was looking for a will, I scrolled down the page until I found “Wills 1829–1870 Vol A–B” and, keeping SAMPUBCO’s information in mind, I clicked that link and looked at volume A.
7. There was an index in the front of the volume, and I checked it to make sure I had accessed the correct book. Sure enough, image 19 showed that David Peck’s will would be found on page 370, just as the SAMPUBCO index had indicated. It was now fairly easy to find page 370 (image 166) and download the court clerk’s transcription of David Peck’s will.
RESEARCH TIP: You can use SAMPUBCO indices for other states as well. It is one of the most useful websites for genealogical research available on the internet, and we thank its creator for making the index free for everyone to use.
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