How to Trace a Pedigree

Having proceeded thus far, the great subject of Wills, which form one of the strongest features in pedigree-hunting, should be now approached.

The searcher will presumably now have new ancestors to note; so, before he starts will-hunting, he should have some idea as to how to record them on a family “tree.”

And, as a help towards this, he cannot do better than provide himself with a work by William Whitmore, entitled Ancestral Tablets.[1] These are a collection of Diagrams and Pedigrees, so arranged that eight generations of ancestors can be recorded in a manner which is plain, simple, and easily understood. It is difficult to explain this ingenious system on paper, but a glance at it is almost sufficient to show its method of working.

The merest tyros in genealogy, or those more advanced in the study, will find these tablets invaluable, as they do away with the difficulty of having to draw up a family tree for themselves.

But, whatever kind of “tree” is adopted or worked out, the study of wills should be productive of new ancestors with which to embellish it.

If working in London, Somerset House will be the happy hunting-ground of the will-searcher, and in various parts of England there are District Registries at which old wills are also kept.

Perhaps, in a sense, the searcher in Ireland has most need of all to be grateful to the powers that be with regard to this aspect of his pedigree work, for, practically speaking, all Irish wills can be found in Dublin. The later ones are in the Probate Office, and the earlier, with which searchers will be mainly interested, in the Dublin Record Office, both these offices being situated in the “Four Courts.”

But, wherever he is working, the wills will naturally divide themselves into those proved in the Prerogative and Diocesan Courts.

In England, up to 1858, wills were proved in the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York, or were to be found in the various Diocesan Courts. There were also a large number (nearly four hundred) of “peculiar courts,” which were depositories of such documents. Later wills are all kept at Somerset House, and a great number of earlier ones, in ponderously bound volumes of copies, can also be consulted there.

Suitable indexes are everywhere provided, and the searcher should study the contents of these, under the name for which he is looking.

Let us suppose he has traced the ancestry of a family of the name of Grey down to a certain Thomas Grey of Larchfield, Blankshire, who died in 1790.

His next step is to find Thomas Grey’s father, and afterwards he will trace his line farther back.

To do this, he will look through any Prerogative or Diocesan Indexes connected with Blankshire, and then go through all wills of Greys of Larchfield before 1790; and, if he is not acquainted with the names of Thomas’ brothers and sisters (which might probably be needed to fully identify Thomas himself), and he has not full details of his later family history, he will also consult those of succeeding dates. In fact, under any circumstances, he should certainly, at one time or another, look through every will connected with the family in that district.

If he discovers wills of Greys of Larchfield of the required date, one of them will probably reveal Thomas’ parentage. Should he not find such wills, or should they not reveal what he is looking for, he might search for other wills of the name in the County of Blankshire, and afterwards for wills in other countries, for in pedigree-hunting no will which is possibly connected with the family should be ignored.

When all such wills proved in the Prerogative and Diocesan Courts have been looked up, some degree of new information—probably a large amount—will almost certainly have been acquired by the expenditure of more or less time and trouble, as the case may be.

Here again, if the family name is an uncommon one, it would probably take less time to trace the ancestry than if the name was Jones or Smith, and here again the variations in the old spelling should be remembered.

Also, it must not be forgotten that an individual sometimes adopts an entirely different surname. This may not very frequently occur, but the possible contingency should not be ignored.

An old Statute, 4 Edward IV., enacted that all Irishmen who lived within the English pale (Dublin, Kildare, etc.) should adopt an English surname, to be derived from the name of an office, trade, place, or colour.

It may also be noted that a very uncommon Christian name is often a great help to the searcher, as, if he comes across this uncommon name in connection with the required surname, the chances are that he is on the right track, and has discovered a new twig emanating from the family tree.

Having searched through wills of the required surname (unless he has been most singularly unfortunate), the pedigree-hunter, besides having discovered new ancestors, will have come across many relations of the family bearing other surnames. The wills of the most likely of these should be consulted in the same way, as they may reveal much.