Inheritance in Ontario: Wills and Other Records for Family Historians

by Jane E. MacNamara

A guide to researching your family’s inheritance history in Ontario.

Whether your ancestor left hundreds of acres of land, money, or a few modest belongings, the records created when those legacies were distributed can provide valuable clues to family connections, relationships, and just how your ancestors lived. Inheritance in Ontario will help you determine whether your relative’s will was proved in the Court of Probate, surrogate courts, or another court, and navigate the finding aids to locate surviving estate files and other complementary records at the Archives of Ontario, local courthouse or archives, or through FamilySearch.org . Not every Ontario estate was handled by a court, however, and land records, newspapers, and manuscript collections can also help you discover "who got what."

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2013

Reviews

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great new resource from historian Jane MacNamara. The complexities of researching wills and estate files in Ontario is spelled out in clear and concise language. There are also great suggestions for other resources including links and publications.

[Roger Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book describing the sources of records generated when someone dies. It is limited to Ontario so is not of much use to anyone researching ancestors who did not die or have their will probated in Ontario as most of the records relate to the Ontario courts and are held either locally or in the Ontario Archives. It does give exhaustive descriptions of the documents and this could be of interest in other jurisdictions.