Branching Out: How to Use Pre-1858 Wills for Family History

Overview

A will can be a treasure trove of information for a family historian, providing details of the testator, their family members and associates, as well as descriptions of land and properties. A will can be a rare opportunity to ‘hear’ your ancestor’s own words and find out more about their relationships and what was important to them in their lifetime. More broadly, wills are social documents, providing a window on a particular time and place in history.  
 
‘Branching Out’ is a series of online, self-paced 5-credit modules, which focus on key documents, resources and collections for family history research. They give students an opportunity to study a key topic in depth, using relevant examples and collections.  
 
This course focuses primarily on British research. Students will learn how to effectively search a number of subscription and free genealogical websites. Wherever possible, alternative free resources are highlighted, and the majority of the subscription websites used are available to access for free through local public library services. Some of the online resources referred to during this course do require a subscription, if accessed from home. 

Programme

Activities and tasks will be embedded into each unit so students can practise the techniques they have learned and develop their skills. Students will be encouraged to share their own work and participate in discussions on Blackboard. Alongside the learning materials on Blackboard the tutor will be on hand via email to answer any queries and provide guidance throughout the course. They will also participate in the online discussions.  There will be 1 live webinar. 

 Unit 1 – Introduction 

Unit 2 – Reading old handwriting 

Unit 3 – Post-1700 wills 

Unit 4 – Pre-1700 wills 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:  

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the system within which wills were proved, pre-1858
2. Identify key online and archival pre-1858 will collections
3. Perform multipart online searches for wills
4. Identify and transcribe some of the letters and word structures found within these documents, from different time periods
5. Analyse a will and complete some further research in order to contextualise the document within a wider socio-historic context. 

Assessments

1. Transcription Task (20%)
2. Research Project 800 words (80%)

Reading Suggestions

Reading suggestions will be offered throughout the course. 

Entry Requirements

This course is for everyone. No previous experience is needed and there are no formal entry requirements.

What Do I Need?

As this is an online course, you would need the following:

• Internet access
• Access to a laptop or computer with a web camera and microphone; the use of headphones might also be of benefit
• Use of the Chrome web-browser where possible.