On September 1, 2015 Ancestry.com added millions of pages of probate records from 50 U.S. states onto its database. Many of these documents were already on the free site at Familysearch.org, having been microfilmed from county courthouses years ago. The two companies have since partnered. Ancestry.com has added and WILL CONTINUE TO ADD (beautiful words!) more wills to its new database.
Why do probate records make a family historian sing out loud? "An inventory of the estate assets can reveal personal details about the deceased’s occupation and lifestyle," notes Ancestry.com. Names of family members are given in these records which some times differ from names recorded in a family's old Bible. Ah, ha! Children's names might appear--from earlier marriages now long forgotten. I love surprises. And my fav probate shocker was learning of a great-great's new wife preparing a new will for her husband to sign in his final hours. A will that left his two adult children only one dollar each. (The resulting Coffee family lawsuit to be shared later)
But first, in appreciation of the guy who pays my genealogy expenses, I submit this will from his fourth great-grandfather. Born in British America about 1762, 4xGreat-Grandfather is thought to have died in Circleville, Pendleton County, Virginia before April 1821. As you will see, he left his mark on this document on December 20, 1820.
Source Information
Ancestry.com. West Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1724-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
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LINEAGE? Monroe's grandfather was Amos Cyrus Arbogast, the son of George Washington Arbogast, the son of Michael--the fourth child of the above-mentioned John.