Wills and probate in Jamaica

Original wills are today kept at the Island Record Office (which by Law 6 of 1879 replaced the office of Island Secretary), part of the Registrar General's Department of Jamaica. Copies of proved wills for the past 100 years or so are kept at the Supreme Court, but these are primarily for the use of the legal profession.

District Courts operated from 1867 until March 1888, when on 2 April 1888 they were replaced by the Resident Magistrates' Courts. There is a Resident Magistrate's Court for each parish. The Supreme Court was established by law of 1879.

Wills are proved in a Resident Magistrate's Court or the Supreme Court, depending on the value of the estate.

Some sources for information on early Jamaican wills:

• Will index at the Registrar General's office.
  The (approximate) year of death and the parish of the testator's residence must be known to use this index effectively. The index gives the liber and folio numbers of the will record. Some of the will books have been recopied and the folio number in the index may no longer be valid unless it says old folio or new folio.
• Indexes, compiled by Vere Langford Oliver and published in Caribbeana, to wills "which are on record in the Office of the Island Secretary, Jamaica, from 1663 to 1750".
  Caribbeana vol's 1, 2, and 3: LDS FHLC film no. 0038848; Caribbeana vol. 5: LDS FHLC film no. 0038849. [? Vol. 4]
  The index for 1663-1700 is ordered by liber number, with several years in each liber; the names are not in alphabetical order. The index for 1731-1750 is alphabetically ordered within each year. The folio numbers are not given for these indexes.
  Caribbeana also has an index to wills which were proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), London, of testators who either held land in Jamaica or had PCC probate for reasons of social status. The volume and folio numbers from an entry in the Caribbeana index can be used to find, in the FHL catalog under England - Probate Records - Church of England - Province of Canterbury, the number of the film with the copy of the relevant PCC will.
• Abstracts of Jamaica wills, 1625 - 1792.
  British Library Additional Ms 34184.
• Lists compiled by the Jamaican historian C.E. Long.
  British Library Additional Ms 21931.
  These lists cover the period 1661 - 1750 and are as follows:
  • List 1: 1661-1700, by liber, non-alphabetical, without folio number
  • List 2: 1700-1730, alphabetically, by year and liber, with folio number
  • List 3: 1731-1750, alphabetically, by year with liber and without folio number
• Hints for tracing an Anglo-American pedigree in the old country: with a list of wills from 1700 to 1725 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, England, of testators living or dying in America and the West Indies by John Matthews.
  LDS FHLC film no. 1429855, item 14.

(I thank Madeleine Mitchell for some of the above.)

For details of some wills not filmed by the LDS see http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw/cgw_archive/jamaica/wills.htm.

Testators of wills proved in Jamaica

The following lists are based on the microfilms, produced by the Genealogical Society of Utah, of wills and records of probate of the Supreme Court of Jamaica. The film numbers are those in the catalogue of the Family History Library™ of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The microfilms are of documents of various periods, as detailed in the following table.

(For films no. 1937929 through no. 1937931, the above is taken from the computer FHL catalogue.)

I make no claim as to the completeness or accuracy of the above information. Any comment, addition, or correction to the data is welcomed.