The Wills and probate records of about 100 million Americans dating back to the colonial era are now available online. Ancestry.com has been digitizing records that for years have been left sitting in dusty basements and storage areas of courthouses across the country. The genealogy website is offering a treasure trove to both amateur and professional historians who will have a massive wealth of information to study. People will be able to access the probate records of historical figures like Paul Revere and Harriet Beecher Stowe. A massive amount of information will also be available to people who are researching their own family history.
See Mark Pratt, Wills of millions of Americans now available online, Herald-Whig, September 2, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
