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Administrative History

The Duke's Laws of 1665 gave the Courts of Sessions and the Mayor's Court of New York City the authority to probate wills. A 1670 ordinance by the Court of Assizes required all probated wills and grants of administration to be recorded in the provincial secretary's office. Pre-1686 wills included in this series reflect this procedure. When New York became a royal colony in 1686, probate jurisdiction was granted to the royal governor.

Chapter 27 of the Laws of 1692 established a Prerogative Office or Court with the royal governor as its head. This court exercised sole probate jurisdiction over all estates in the southern district of the province (New York, Westchester, Orange, Richmond, and Kings counties) and over estates worth over 50 pounds everywhere in New York. (In these latter districts, wills for estates worth less than 50 pounds were probated in the Courts of Common Pleas; these wills are now filed with the county clerks.) This jurisdiction was transferred to the state's Court of Probates by Chapter 12 of the Laws of 1778. Wills in this series which were probated between 1686 and 1787 are for individuals who resided in the southern district or possessed estates worth 50 pounds or more.