Every once in awhile you get lucky! I have had a transcription of my 4th great-grandfather's will for the last 15 years. It was the first piece of "evidence" I found about his family on the internet from my very first search engine search. It could have been the very hook that got me into this genealogy hobby. However, it was YEARS until I was actually able to hunt down the original document. I'll never forget that email ad from ancestry.com about their new Will and Probate Collection for Tenessee. I was thrilled when I entered my William Swain's name and, like magic, found his will as the first result of the query.
The transcription had left me with so many questions. For example, the will was proven in 1871 and the transcription still had my ancestor, William Swain, as the executor even though he had passed away in 1864. When I was finally able to see the original documents, so many of my questions were answered. The full will included three codocils or addendums to the will, and two of the three were focused solely on my direct ancestor, and William's son, William - my 3rd great grandfather. One of the addendums named the children of William Jr. and the other named his wife! And that date written on the transcription as 1871 . . . it was wrong. The real date of the will was in 1861 -- prior to the death of my 3rd great grandfather William Jr. and the reason for the codocils which came after.
Seeing the original record was gold. It cleared up some very important questions I had about this family and helped me "prove" theories and conjectures I had made. I am so grateful for the amount of original records I can now find online. I love everything about old documents and deciphering handwriting and creating a narrative about a person's life based on what the documents tell us!
The transcription had left me with so many questions. For example, the will was proven in 1871 and the transcription still had my ancestor, William Swain, as the executor even though he had passed away in 1864. When I was finally able to see the original documents, so many of my questions were answered. The full will included three codocils or addendums to the will, and two of the three were focused solely on my direct ancestor, and William's son, William - my 3rd great grandfather. One of the addendums named the children of William Jr. and the other named his wife! And that date written on the transcription as 1871 . . . it was wrong. The real date of the will was in 1861 -- prior to the death of my 3rd great grandfather William Jr. and the reason for the codocils which came after.
Seeing the original record was gold. It cleared up some very important questions I had about this family and helped me "prove" theories and conjectures I had made. I am so grateful for the amount of original records I can now find online. I love everything about old documents and deciphering handwriting and creating a narrative about a person's life based on what the documents tell us!
