New York City Mayor's Court Minutes of Proceedings in Proof of Wills

Between 1786 and 1829 the Supreme Court of Judicature and the courts of common pleas shared with the Surrogate's Courts the power to prove and record wills devising (transferring) real property, and also wills whose witnesses were unable to appear in court to testify. The Mayor's Court of New York City functioned as the court of common pleas for New York City and County (which then had coterminous boundaries).

This volume contains minutes of proceedings in proof of wills. Each entry provides the name and address of the decedent in the case title and then summarizes the proceedings. Information included is: name of the person presenting the will for probate, order admitting the will to probate, determination that the last will and testament of a given date was duly executed and that the testator was "of lawful age and of sound mind and memory and not under any restraint," and order that the will and proof of will be recorded. In most cases, the entry states that the will was to be recorded in a separate book. In some cases there is a lengthy summary of the probate proceedings, and the text of the will is recorded in this book.

The microfilm roll on which this record is found also contains part of Series J1043, New York (County) Surrogate's Court Record of Wills and Probates (labelled Roll 75), and Series J0039, New York State Court of Probates Exemplifications of Wills, Letters Testamentary, and Letters of Administration.

Records of the New York City Mayor's Court are held by the New York County Clerk's Office.

Index to testators is available at the front of the volume.

This record was discovered and subsequently accessioned in 2014 as part of a staff review associated with the Ancestry.com digitization project.

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