Help searching the Irish Wills Index (once logged in)
| Search by |
Search by Testator First and Last Name (ie. the deceased), Executor First and Last Name and Year (Year of Death, Year of Will and Year of Grant).
Seach BOTH testator and executor by entering details into Any Last Name and/or Any First Name boxes.
Year may be the year of death, the year the will was dated, or the year probate was granted. In most records all of these dates are not present, so searching on year will find records where the year refers to either the death, the will, or grant of probate.
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| Contents of the index records |
The records in the Irish Wills index may contain the following information - though please remember that not all information is always present, since what was captured depended on what was present in the original documents.
- Name of testator
The first and last names of the person who made the will.
- Date of death; Date of will; Date of probate
These dates are not often all present but generally one of them is.
- Status or occupation of testator
eg. widow, farmer; sometimes contains the title, eg "Lord".
- County
County where testator lived (present in only about half the records).
- Parish
Parish where the testator lived; not often present.
- Address of testator
Very variable format, and not always given: eg "Drogheda District"; "Philadelphia, America"; "Kinsale"; "Dublin City"; "St Stephens Green".
- Document type
What kind of document the information was obtained from.
- Document status
Whether the document was an original, a copy or an abstract, etc.
- Where proved/granted
The diocese or court where the will was proved or an administration granted; eg "Down & Connor Diocese", "Prerogative Court". This information is usually, but not always, present.
- Name(s) of executor(s)
First and last names of the executor of the estate, to whom the probate was granted. There is usually just one executor, in a small number of cases there are 2 executors names, and in a very few cases there are 3 executors. You can search for executor names.
- Title of executor
eg Reverend, Lord, etc
- Address of executor
eg "Donaghadee, Co. Down"; "Ballypulledy"; "Nassau Street, Dublin"; usually, but not always present.
- NA reference
This reference identifies the source document at the National Archives of Ireland.
- Notes
Often contains very useful additional information about the testator or executor, for example mentioning if they were a relative or a creditor of the deceased; sometimes previous addresses are given.
Examples of notes:
"Simon Osborne the Elder" [implies the testator had a son also called Simon]
"Letitia Newburgh [executor] is his [ie the testator's] sister"
"Original Administration is dated 1798" - In this case there is no date of death, and the date of grant of probate is 1806; this additional information shows that latest date for the death must have been 1798.
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| Aliases |
Many people, but especially married women, were known by more than one surname. There are frequent references, particularly for executors, to "alias" names - mostly surnames, but there are a few forenames also. Where "alias" names were given, records were created for each such name. So, for example, where the "notes" field in a record referring to the testator "Eliza Bowden" states "Alias Allen, alias McKibb", extra entries have been created for the testator names "Eliza Allen" and "Eliza McKibb". For executors, if an alias is present, and extra executor name entry has been created. So you should always be able to retrieve record whatever the name you have for the person.
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| Personal names |
All searching is case-independent. It does not matter where you search for "Donovan" or "DONOVAN".
We have not attempted to standardise personal or place names, but have reproduced the information as it appears in the original or National Archives finding aids. Standardised spelling of personal names, especially family names (or surnames) is essentially a modern development. This has been influenced by a number of factors, particularly greater literacy and urbanisation, as well as political concerns. But traditionally family names had a much wider and arguably richer variation of spelling, reflecting local influences, both cultural and economic. Modern spelling has evolved, a process that can be clearly seen when examining this index.
Searching for names using our unique name variant software NameX™ will find most variants of any name.
Prefixes: Traditional Gaelic surname prefixes (like Mac, Mc and O) only became widespread again in the mid-nineteenth century, particularly with the rise of Irish nationalism. Prior to this time Gaelic prefixes were rarely used. In fact they remained technically illegal until the 1890s. There were also several other surname prefixes that were used as well, of English, French, German, Norman and Welsh origin. Some of these are far less well known. Below we have listed those that appear in this index. We advise you to search for family names with and without prefixes, to ensure the highest return of possible candidates.
Ap (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space)
D'
D'L'
Da (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space)
De (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space)
De La (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space)
Fitz
La (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space)
Le (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space)
L'
Mac (do not leave a space)
Mc (do not leave a space)
O'
St.
Van (usually, but not necessarily, followed by a space).
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| Place names |
The spelling of place names has evolved over the centuries. Names have also been changed for mainly political and/or territorial reasons.
There are a number of different location or place name fields used in the index, reflecting the information available about the documents listed.
In about 40% of records listed we have been able to give a detailed address. Another 10% have a parish and/or county address only.
Of the remaining 50%, there are two main ways to help determine an address. The most reliable is by examining where the document was proved or granted, as this will relate to where the person held property. This usually gives the name of the Diocese, or the Prerogative Court which dealt with the case. There are 32 Church of Ireland dioceses in Ireland which rarely correspond with county boundaries. We have provided a composite map of dioceses and counties to help the user determine which counties are covered by which diocese.
The second main way of determining a location is by examining the executor's or administrator's address. Often an executor or an administrator was a family member or neighbour. This is especially useful when looking at documents that do not give any specific address information and were proved or granted at the Prerogative Court. This court dealt with testamentary cases where the deceased owned property valued at over £5 in more than one diocese. In other words it is not a particularly useful indicator of a person's address beyond suggesting that they were probably wealthy. In these cases the executor/administrator address can be a valuable clue. However, you should note that wealthier testators were likely to have their testamentary matters dealt with by lawyers or other professionals based in the cities, especially Dublin.
Only in a small number of cases is there no location of any sort given in this index, although further information will probably be found on the original document.
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| Default year range |
Default Year Range has been entered as 1016-1917 to cover records which appear outside the main Irish Wills year range (1484-1858).
The index includes documents besides wills, so the actual range of dates included in the database extends both earlier and later than the range of dates of wills. For example, the date of death can be much later than the date of the will, and the date of probate can sometimes be years after the date of death.
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| Types of documents |
Several types of documents are indexed. While most of the records are wills or relate to testamentary matters (wills, probate, administrations, etc.), about 10% are not.
Click here for details on the most common document types.
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| Abbreviations used |
| Abbreviation |
Meaning |
| BA |
Bachelor of Arts |
| BL |
Barrister of Law |
| chirurgeon |
Surgeon |
| DD |
Doctor of Divinity |
| HM |
Her/His Majesty's |
| JP |
Justice of the Peace |
| LLD |
Doctor of Law |
| MD |
Medical Doctor |
| PC |
Privy Councillor |
| RC |
Roman Catholic |
| TCD |
Trinity College Dublin |
| ? |
unclear |
| [ ] |
Editorial comment or 'best guess' |
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| NameX |
NameX is a proprietary name-matching tool which allows you to find family records for names which have common variations in spelling or which may have been spelled incorrectly on some records.
Click here for more help.
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