Wills

[TheOtherHalf]

Sorry about the avatar. Havnt had time to change it yet.

I recently received copy of a will. It states thats 3 houses in various towns ,villages were left to his 3 daughters. It doesnt however, state the actual addresses.
Should it state the address in the will or is there anyway I can find out as I would like to know where they are as they may have been built by the deceased as he was a master builder. Also so I can try to find out who was living in them at the time by checking electoral rolls etc

Thanks for anyones help

[dzug2]

Well ideally a will should state the address of the property - but not everyone makes an ideal will.

I think that a probate document will give the address of whoever took out the grant - that may be a starting point.

Is this recent or are you doing historical research?

[TheOtherHalf]

thanks dzug2. The will is dated 1927. I would have thought they would have to actually state the address of the properties.

[jackthehat]

Unfortunately, wills aren't always as helpful as we would like.
My GGG-Grandfather left 3 properties in a village to his 2 sons - they weren't even described in great detail.

However, because he owned them, he appeared by name in the book giving details of the rateable values of property in the village. That could be an idea for you to investigate.....?

[Barmaid]

Although as dzug says any will draftsman would normally include the address of the property today, back then it was very unlikely. If the he left my house in Blackacre to Mary, my house in Whiteacre to Ethel and my house in Redacre to Edith and he only owned one house in each place, they are described with sufficient certainty. I've seen hundreds of will which are as jack says, quite unhelpful (if not interesting all the same).

You could try trade directories for the area from 1927 backwards to see if your relative is mentioned in them in any of the places which MIGHT give an address. As a master builder, he is likely to have been listed in a trade directory somewhere. I also find the local studies section of the nearest library can be very helpful for picking up odd details like this. In Peterborough we are very lucky to have a huge index system which someone prepared donkeys years ago and is a real treasure for turning up missing details.

[dotty.]

You could also look for the wills of the three daughters, or for the marriage certs that would show their addresses, or the birth certs of any of thier children, or their death certs, all of which should give a residence,

[TheOtherHalf]

2 of the daughters are now deceased and the other is my 95 year old Mother in law.
She tells us that the houses were in trust to them, presumeably until they were 21 and were then sold but doesnt remember much due to her present condition.
I suppose if I could find the electoral rolls for those 3 places for around that time and just trawl through them in case his name comes up. Luckily 2 of them are only smallish villages. The other is South Elmsall near Pontefract which I think is quite large.
Thanks anyway for your help everyone. I will keep trying