Research

Scope and Content Note

This series consists of microfilm of a typescript "Index" to the "Record of Wills, Albany, New York, from a Collection of New York State Court Records" from the Queens College, Flushing, N.Y. Historical Documents Collection. A copy of the index may be found in the New York State Library.

The microfilm is an index to testators in New York State Archives series J0038-82, Probated Wills, 1671-1815. The index lists testators (makers of wills) in alphabetical order by surname. It provides name; date of will; place of residence (usually county); will in foreign language (Dutch); whether will was recorded ("R"); and file number (e.g., "AA23"; the second letter and the number designate the actual file).

There are also occasional annotations, including notes of the many wills listed in this index that are not indexed in Berthold Fernow's "Calendar of Wills on File and Recorded in the Offices of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals," (New York, 1896).

Most of the wills indexed were made by testators residing north of Westchester County. Series J0038-92, Probated Wills, 1665-1787, includes mostly wills made by testators residing in New York City, Long Island, Staten Island, and Westchester County.

It is not known who compiled the index; it may have been staff or volunteers of either the Genealogical Society of Utah or the Historical Documents Collection, Queens College.