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Archiver > Dutch-Colonies > 2003-08 > 1061339419


From: "James Brady" <>
Subject: RE: [D-Col] comments??? on lack of probate research
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 20:31:43 -0400
In-Reply-To: <3F41C218.5070204@sampubco.com>


David,

I can't speak for others, but there are other sources for what you seem to
have. Abstracts of the early Albany wills can be found in Berthold Fernow's
Calendar of Wills on File and Recorded in the Offices of the Clerk of the
Court of Appeals, of the County Clerk at Albany, and of the Secretary of
State. If memory serves me correctly Kinship publishes a reduced-print-size
reprint for around twenty dollars. The early New York City wills were
abstracted by The New York Historical Society in a 17 volume set. Again,
working from memory, somebody has put that on CD and sells it for around 100
dollars. Ancestry.com has that on-line for sunscribers.

If it was important to my work, I would use those soucres to figure out
which microfilm I needed to look at to see the will as recorded in the Will
Libers. If was really important, I would want to see the actual Will Liber
and would be willing to make the research trip. I do remember seeing an
abstract of a will that mentioned a son Johnettortin. That stuck me as odd
as I knew there were at least two sons - John and Martin. Well the microfilm
clearly showed Johnettortin and other sons, but not John and Martin. When I
finally saw the original Will Liber I could see that Johnettortin was
John,Martin. The crosshatch of the T slashed through the twin peaks of the M
which had a curlicue at the beginning. The microfilm was just muddy enough
that that distinction was lost in that copy of the will.

While I live in the New York area, others might still find your work useful
if they live out of the area and don't want to pay the 70 dollar fee that
Surrogate's Courts charge for a will search. And don't get me started on the
Albany Court's 5 dollar per page copying fee.

Then again, there are a lot of local genealogical researchers who could use
the work. My guess is that they could find and copy a whole probate package
for less than 70 dollars.

Jim

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