New York State Court of Probates Exemplifications of Wills, Letters Testamentary, and Letters of Administration

This volume contains exemplifications, or official transcripts admissible as evidence, of wills, codicils to wills, letters testamentary granted to the executor of a will, and letters of administration granted to the administrator of an estate (in the event there was no will). Each exemplification consists of the text of the will and letters testamentary, or letters of administration, the original acknowledgement, and an acknowledgement by the governor and/or the judge or clerk of the Court of Probates that the instrument has been duly registered in the Court.

A few of the wills registered by the Court were dated during or before the Revolutionary War. Letters testamentary for such wills were granted by the royal governor, and the wills were later registered by the state Court of Probates. A small number of exemplifications contain the text of letters of administration granted when a decedent left no will. A few of the exemplified wills were made by individuals residing outside of New York.

Microfilm is available at the New York State Archives.

Microfilm is available at the New York State Archives on roll 75 of accretion J1043-92.

Microfilm: 1 reel; 35mm.

There is a name index to testators/decedents in the fore of the volume. The index indicates the cases in which letters of administration were granted with the initials "L.A."

In 2013, it was discovered that the Genealogical Society of Utah had microfilmed this volume twice - first in 1953 at the Court of Appeals (former series J2022), with the wrong start date on the opening target, and second in 1967 at Queens College (series J0039) with the correct span dates on the opening target. The microfilm roll containing J2022 was therefore reaccessioned under series J0039.

The Court of Appeals placed these records on deposit at the Historical Documents Collection, Queens College, from 1973-1982.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.