Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858

Records at the National Archives of Ireland

Irish Records Index Vol. 1

Eneclann

•Sherry Irvine, Ancestry Daily News,16 November 200

Probate in Ireland Part 2 up to 1857

Among recent e-mails arising from "Probate in Ireland, Part 1" was a request for more information. One reader reported that she had searched the microfilm Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland 1536-1810 and found surnames of interest, but that no one had been able to tell her how to proceed further.

The short response is to first check the CD Index to Irish Wills 1484-1858 (Vol. 1 is in the Irish Records Index to Records at the National Archives of Ireland, Eneclann, 1999) and the films of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Wills Card Index. The long answer, which constitutes the article that follows, will help this reader understand what she is working with, what else she needs to do, and what she can expect to find.

About the Records
Before 1858, probate was the responsibility of the Church of Ireland (for post-1858 Irish probate, see Part 1 of this article from 4 October 2000 at the URL above). Each diocese of the established church had a consistorial or diocesan court, and in Dublin, superior to these, was the Prerogative Court of Armagh. When property of the deceased was located on two or more dioceses and was, in each of these, of a value greater than five pounds, then probate had to be dealt with at the Prerogative Court. Prior to 1816, this court did not have a permanent home. Records were scattered, which explains, at least in part, why significant gaps were found when the Public Record Office of Ireland began to transcribe and index these probate documents.

When the system changed, all the probated records of the church courts—that is, the consistorial courts throughout the country and the Prerogative Court in Dublin—were sent into the newly created Public Record Office of Ireland. There, staff set to work transcribing and creating a series of will and grant books. Indexes were made to wills and letters of administration (issued in instances of intestacy).

In addition, many volumes of will abstracts were prepared. The most valuable of these, then and now, is the Genealogical Abstracts of Records of the Prerogative Court of Armagh, by Sir William Betham. His work was supplemented by Sir Bernard Burke. These abstracts, as the title suggests, summarize family relationship information. Now that the wills are gone, it is easy to see why the abstracts are so important.

Pre-1858 probate records suffered extreme losses in the 1922 fire at the Four Courts. The original documents and nearly all the will and grant books were lost. For the most part, with some damage, the indexes survived, as did the Betham abstracts and a number of other indexes, abstracts, and extracts. Over the years, considerable effort, both in Ireland and in Northern Ireland, has been directed toward making up for these losses as much as possible. For example, documents have been gathered from solicitors' offices, and any relevant details deposited with other records have been collected. The latter details include material gathered from marriage licenses, the Registry of Deeds, land records, records of the Inland Revenue Department in London relating to legacy duties, and charitable bequests. Both the National Archives in Dublin and PRONI in Belfast have created finding aids to their probate holdings.

Back to the Problem

It is time to return to the problem in the opening paragraph. What the reader has looked at is Sir Arthur Vicar's Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland 1536-1810, originally published in 1897 and recently reprinted (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967, 1989). This is an index to wills only, probated in Dublin at the Prerogative Court of Armagh. People using this court tended to be from the upper- class elements of society. The index does not include letters of administration at the Prerogative Court or wills or administrations handled at the diocesan level. Since it was published in 1897, Vicars' index offers no details about which wills can still be found today. This is where the Index of Irish Wills CD is useful. Quoting from the introductory remarks, "This volume is only concerned with those records that survive in more than index form." Take note that the Betham abstracts and the Groves papers (another significant collection) will be the subject of later volumes in the Eneclann CD series.

A search for pre-1858 probate records would start with some geography. In which diocese did the deceased reside? [Names and boundaries of dioceses are not the same as those for the counties.] Then, indexes should be checked for the appropriate consistorial court—beginning with the most accessible finding aids (see Indexes to Irish Wills, 5 vols, by W. Phillimore and G. Thrift, originally published 1909-20, reprinted by GPC 1970)—and for the Prerogative Court of Armagh. The Phillimore/Thrift index and the Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810 are part of the collection of resources found on the CD Irish Source Records, 1500s-1800s (Family Archive CD #275, by Broderbund, in cooperation with Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000).

Published indexes tend to be for wills, so it is worth checking for finding aids to letters of administration. In addition, there are other indexes, made by archives and by individuals. Early on in your research, a careful browse through the LDS Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) will reveal the details of this extensive collection of Irish probate materials (it includes the PRONI Wills Cards Index, the partially alphabetical administration indexes for the Prerogative Court, and the few surviving will books).

Looking at both published will indexes and the Eneclann CD allows for comparisons of what wills existed there before the 1922 fire and what names now have something more than an index entry associated with them. The Eneclann CD provides the following information:

* Family name and forename
* Status or occupation (not in every case)
* Address (not in every case)
* Document type
* Document status (e.g., transcript, original)
* Year of will, grant, etc.
* Where proved/granted (may mention court, diocese, or another place, and may mention executor)
* National Archives reference
* Notes (not in every case)
* Document ID

Regardless of what is found on the CD, look at other indexes, determined in part by region and time period. It can be helpful to find a name and a date, and to have some idea of place; and remember, for those who died intestate, you should check indexes to administrations, too. If there is something at the National Archives, the CD gives the reference and facilitates a direct Internet link to Eneclann to order a copy (for a fee)—or you can return to the FHLC and order the appropriate film to a Family History Center. As pointed out above, some collections, like the Betham abstracts, must be searched separately.

Final Advice
If it seems like the suggestions here are only the beginning, that's true. In fact, there is a better beginning. Go back to a methodology book to get further insight into this complex subject (e.g., Irish Records: Sources for Family and Local History, by James G. Ryan, Ph.D., Ancestry, 1997; Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, by John Grenham, GPC, 1999; or Ireland: A Genealogical Guide, by Kyle Betit and Dwight Radford, Irish at Home & Abroad, 1998). Spend enough time studying the FHLC: reading the entries adds to your knowledge and helps in planning how you intend to obtain the necessary indexes and records. And check out the Web sites, particularly those of major repositories, including:

* National Archives of Ireland
* Public Records Office of Northern Ireland

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