I have just finished entering two transcribed volumes Wills of Jefferson co.
and Early Wills of Jefferson Co. into my computer. These transcriptions were
made by Mary Hill and others I believe in the 1930s. One book covered early
(before 1850) and the other later (after 1850) wills until about 1883.
However, there were overaps. And in those pre computer days neither book is
either completely alphabetized or indexed. I have also added a number of
estate administrations from the John Paul's journals. There are very few of
these and most appear to be duplicated in the probate books (but not all.)
I am willing to do lookups. But here are the caveats. This is a transcription
of a transcription. Middle initials and dates should be double checked against
the original.
I will only look up specific names. In other words, I will look up James
Wilson, but don't ask for a report on all Wilsons in Jefferson Co.
I am also not sure of the conventions used by the original transcribers.
Usually there are two sets of dates with a will. One is date or writing. The
other is either date of recording or proving--from searching originals, I'm
not sure is this is consistent. I have chosen to use proved.
Some probate records of people who died intestate are here. In several cases,
no date was transcribed.
There are also a significant number of probated estates which were not
transcribed. (Although I believe almost all wills were.) So if you don't find
anything, that doesn't mean your ancestor didn't leave an estate in the
county.
Bob Scott