Sources - emilyhboyer/Signed-Sealed-Delivered GitHub Wiki

The probate records that I am transcribing and encoding can be found here. For this interested in exploring these records, a FamilySearch account (free) is required. FamilySearch is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes, if a record is especially faded or the handwriting is illegible, I consult Ancestry to see and if I can locate the author/individuals listed in a given probate record. This is also done to try and confirm the spelling of surnames, which can often vary in spelling.

The repository can be accessed at the following: FamilySearch, Maryland, Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999 home page

Maryland State Archives

When I first sought out the colonial Maryland probates, I came across seemingly two sets or scans of records. Having contacted MSA (Maryland State Archives) help desk to get more information on the, they shared with me the following information:

"Previously, each county had an office of Deputy Commissary that held probate records. When the Commissary became defunct records were transferred to the Register of Wills, which is why we have older wills under the Register of Wills agency.

During its existence, the Commissary would send copies of its wills to the Prerogative Court, which held jurisdiction for the entire colony of Maryland during British rule. The court was eventually abolished in 1777 and replaced by the Orphans Court and Register of Wills. This is why there are two sets of records. One was held by the counties and the other held by the state court."

The Archives of Maryland Online explains these two sets of records as so:

"The Prerogative Court was located in Annapolis, the county seat, and therefore it was pointless for the Deputy Commissary to keep a duplicate set of records; particularly, since the Register of the Court was almost invariably appointed Deputy Commissary for Anne Arundel County also. Therefore, the proceedings for this county were entered directly into the records of the Prerogative Court. Except, f or Anne Arundel County and the proceedings of the Court itself, the records of the Prerogative Court were duplicated by the records of the Deputy Commissaries. Naturally there were some discrepancies. Due to accident, carelessness or other causes, instruments may sometimes be found in one set which do not appear in the other."

The probate records that I am transcribing are accessed from FamilySearch, and are identified as being the records from the Prerogative Court, or the copies of the original probate records. This is confirmed based on the fact that the signatures and seals that would have present on the original probate records have clearly been copied, as seem here:

See Home (Disclaimer #3) to learn more about my choice to encode this set of records.

Citation

The citation for these records is as follows, provided by FamilySearch: "Maryland, Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 3 December 2024. Citing Prerogative Court. Hall of Records, Annapolis.