Scottish wills and testaments from 1902 to 1925 go online

Reprinted from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, 6 November 2012

The following announcement was written by ScotlandsPeople:

“From inmates of poorhouses to owners of mansions - a fascinating portrait of Scottish life during the early 20th Century and a major new family history resource.

A colourful picture of life in Scotland in the early 20th Century is revealed today with the release of the Wills and Testaments from 1902 to 1925 by the National Records of Scotland on the ScotlandsPeople website.

The new records, 392,595 in total, document the last wishes of 267,548 individuals who lived and died in Scotland during this period. The collection also includes the wills of Scots who died outside Scotland, but still had assets in the country. As inventories of moveable estate (savings, cash, furniture, stock, etc) are also included, you can discover the fine details of people’s worldly possessions in this era.

People from all social classes are included in the records - from famous industrialists and philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie and George Coats, to the impoverished inmates of the nation’s poorhouses.  With more than 35 millionaires included in the records, you can learn how the members of this Scottish ‘Rich List’ ultimately chose to divide up their wealth.  Conversely, simpler and cheaper procedures for recording wills meant that estates below £500 were also included.”

Click HERE to read more.