Probate Inventories – Podcast

Probate inventories are one of the most overlooked — and most revealing — records in family history research.

In this episode, we take a close look at probate inventories and the terminology commonly found within them. Using a real nineteenth-century estate inventory, we explore the everyday household, farming, and trade items our ancestors owned, why those lists matter, and how understanding unfamiliar terms can dramatically improve your interpretation of probate records.

We also walk through how probate packages are structured, what typically appears beyond the will itself, and why inventories, sales, bonds, and final accountings can provide critical clues about family relationships, community connections, land ownership, and daily life.

This episode includes practical discussion of:
• What probate packages are and why they exist
• Why inventories are often skipped — and why they shouldn’t be
• Common inventory terms such as cant hook, wheat fan, quill wheel, pot trammel, straw bed, soap tub, and more
• How probate inventories connect families, neighbors, and geography
• Differences between executors and administrators
• How probate records help reconstruct property, land use, and inheritance
• Using FamilySearch full-text search alongside Ancestry
• Tips for handling original probate files at archives
• How AI tools can assist with difficult handwriting and terminology [with caution]

Whether you’re newer to probate research or already comfortable working with estate records, this episode will help you slow down, look closer, and extract far more value from inventories than just a list of “stuff.”

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