This, the second volume of the “Abstracts of Wills” series, was published long after the first volume, due to a fire in 1902 which destroyed the office of Mr. William Nelson and the almost-ready manuscript.
Mr. Honeyman took up the project in 1914, and finally had the book published in 1918. The abstracts are arranged in alphabetical order by the testators’ or intestates names. Abstracts from the wills and the administrations were made from the originals in the office of the Secretary of the State in Trenton. When such information was available, the book and page where the record may be found was given. Where the originals were simply filed as papers, but not recorded, as happened with many wills and all inventories, the reference given was to the number of the filing case in which the original papers may be found.
The preceding volume of abstracts had intended to include all wills and administrations up to and including the year 1730. But the editor discovered numerous omissions in the 1730 probates of the previous book and chose to include them in this volume, which is therefore entitled as beginning with that year. This book also contains abstracts of wills bearing the date of 1750 which were probated later. In all, particulars of about 3,025 testaments, intestacies, or guardianships are included in this large volume. Also included are two indexes, an index of names of persons, and an index of places. If you are a genealogist interested in colonial New Jersey, you will find this collection of early will abstracts a valuable source of information for your research.
William Nelson
(1918, 2008), 2019, 5½x8½, paper, index, 708 pp
ISBN: 9780788400414
101-N0041
