written by Dr. Emily C. Richardson |  

Welcome back to the fifth class in this series – Leaving a Legacy. I’m Dr. Emily Richardson, and in addition to being the administrator for University College at Widener University, I teach at our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and academic cooperative, located in Exton, PA. This class will be focused on Land and Probate Records. We already mentioned one type of probate record in the last class, wills . But there are several other types of probate records, including guardianship that may lend you additional information about your ancestors.

Remember that as good as you have found the federal census records, the majority of information about an individual is actually held at the state or local level. Typically you start with the county clerk, but each county within each state is different. They will rarely do general searches, but if you send a letter being very specific about a record (such as a marriage bond) they will ly respond to you. However, often the best finds ate traveling to the courthouse, sitting amongst the records and looking for your ancestors.

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