Wills and Decrees
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| Wills and Decrees |
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Wills and Decrees are a much overlooked resource by many researchers. This is a pity as not only do they give us details of a family but they also give us an insight into the way of life. Wills exist for persons in all walks of life from the lowliest labourer to the highest in the land. I hope these few notes will encourage other researchers to not only use this resource but also to share their findings.
These notes are not intended to be a legal description of the various documents that are available to researchers but are intended as a layman's guide to the Manx material.
The documents that are usually referred to as "Wills" generally fall into one of four main categories.
1: A true Will is a document in which the Testator or Testarix (the person making the Will) sets out how they wish their Estate to be disbursed at their death. Today when we talk of a Will we tend to think of a document that has been drawn up by a legal professional, signed by the testator and duly witnessed. Since about the middle of the 19th century this has been the norm for Manx Wills. Prior to the begining of the 19th century such a Will is very much the exception. The nomal method of making a Will was for the testator to declare his wishes in front of two witnesses who were later sworn in Court and declared the testator's intentions. These witnesses were usually paid by the testator. All probated Wills have the Latin phrase "Probatum est" and the signature of the Presiding Officer somewhere at the end of the document.
2: A person who dies without making a Will is said to have died "intestate". In this case the Court issued a Decree which specifies how the deceased estate was to be distributed. A Decree concludes with the Latin phrase "Decretum est", it is decreed.
3: A Deed of Gift or Deed of Settlement may be accepted by the courts as a Will. These Deeds were a means of passing on land holdings, usually to the eldest son, before the death of the parents with the children contracting to support the parents. You can find interesting cases where the parents lived to regret the bargain and later sue the children for support. When a Deed is used in lieu of a Will it will conclude with the Latin phrase "Acceptum est", it is accepted.
4: A Marriage Contract is often accepted by the courts as a Will. Marriage Contracts are a wonderful resource as they usually give the names of all four parents. Like a Deed these were often used as means of passing on land holdings and when used in lieu of a Will usually have the phrase "Acceptum est" appended.
In earlier years, to about the end of the 18th century, many other interesting items are included with the Wills and Decrees. The first item to be recorded was the date and place of the Court sitting, the names of the Officers and jurors, and a list of those who had died in the past three months, the "Defuncts" (those with a Will or Decree are marked). This is another source of information for the years before the commencement of the Parish Burial Registers or for the missing years in a particular Register.
Following this title page there is often a list of "Presentments". These consists of the names of persons who were presented to the Court on minor matters such as the non-payment of tithes, working on a Sunday. Cases of illegitimacy are often recorded.
Today when we talk about someone's Estate we generally think in terms of land holdings, usually large. However in the context of Wills and Decrees the term "estate" encompasses all the assets of a person including "real estate" (land holdings) and "personal estate" (personal effects, clothing, jewelry, money, etc.).
Where do you find these documents? The LDS has micro filmed all the available material for the years 1599 to 1916 so you do not have to visit the Island to find them - mind you there are many other excuses, if any should be needed, for a visit.
To make your search easier it helps to have a little knowledge of the court system. Up to 1878 the Church Courts were the repository of all these documents. Since then the civil administration has been responsible.
There were two Church Courts dealing with Wills, the Episcopal (bishop's) Court and the Archdeacons Court. The only difference between the two Courts was the presiding officer; the Vicar General for the Episcopal Court and the Archdeacon (surprise) for the Archdeacon's Court. Each Court made two circuits of the Island each year, starting in Lonan and proceeding clockwise round the Island. Hence each parish was visited four times each year to deal with testamentary matters.
The proceeding of each Court were recorded in rolls which in the early 19th century were bound into books. A book (Latin Liber) usually consists of the proceeding of one circuit so, for example, a Will or Decree may be found in the Archdeacons Registry for 1750-2, indicating the second book or Lib: 2 for the year 1750. Depending on the number of cases each year there may be only one or as many as three books for a particular year in either registry.
At the time that the Rolls were bound into books a listing was made of the contents of each book. These are available on LDS microfilms (0106195 for the Archdeacon's Registry and 0106366 for the Episcopal and Civil Registry) but it should be remembered that they are a table of contents rather than indices. These listings have been transcribed and are available as an alphabetical index elsewhere on this site.
At the time of the binding into books the Archdeacons Registry had the foresight to number each case, not page, as they were bound (starting at one each year). These numbers were written at the top of the first page of each case which makes them much easier to find on the films. A few of the Episcopal books have been numbered in similar fashion. In later years the numbering system became universal.