Missing Will or Intestate?

[cam15a]

Hi,

I have been trying to find a will for a Thomas Meyricke of Ludlow and London who appears to have died between 1798 and 1813. He was executor and beneficiary of his brother Edward's will in 1798 ( as well as his father Robert's in 1756 and his brother John's in 1785) but he is not mentioned in the wills of his sisters, Judith and Sage, in 1813. I have tried the National Archives Documents Online as well as the Archives for Wales and Shropshire but have found nothing. As he was 68 by 1798 and should have considered making a will, I am wondering what happened at this time if a person of property died without a will?

I am interested in finding out whether he had any children listed in his own will. While the wills of his brothers and sisters mention the names of a number of nieces and nephews, there is no mention of any children of Thomas's. A number of online trees and practically every tree on Ancestry has Thomas as my g g g g grandfather's father; I have my doubts - not least because his supposed son and grandsons were agricultural labourers in Worcestershire.

I will be most grateful for any suggestions.
Anne

[Peter Goodey]

Where were the other family wills proved? I would say look first under the same court but search for administrations as well as wills. The PCC wills at TNA are wills only, the administrations are on paper only and not online (that may be out of date, it's hard to keep up).

This may help -

http://yourarchives.nationalarchives...robate_Indexes

[cam15a]

Thank you Peter, I will have a good look at that. All the wills in question were proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. It doesn't look as if the administrations are available online - perhaps I just need to be patient.

[Peter Goodey]

There's the Index to Death Duty Registers on Findmypast that you might want to glance at. Also the National Archives have some fixed price standard searches of probate records -

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/d...andprobate.pdf