Source Information

Ancestry.com. Maryland, U.S., Calendar of Wills, 1635-1743 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1998.
Original data: Cotton, Jane Baldwin. Maryland Calendar of Wills. Vol. I-VIII. Baltimore, MD, USA: Kohn & Pollock, Inc., 1904-1928.

About Maryland, U.S., Calendar of Wills, 1635-1743

This database contains wills of Maryland residents from 1635-1743. Most entries will list the name of the testator. Persons bearing relationship to the testator are often listed as well. The county of testator follows the name in the same line if it is given in the will itself, and if none appears in the abstract the inference must be drawn that it is lacking in the will.

The dates of both the drawing and of the probate are typically included, the probate date following the drawing date. If either date does not appear in the Calendar a line of dashes is placed in the respective place to indicate the fact that it is lacking in the will as recorded, and if, as is the case in a few instances, neither date of drawing nor that of probate appears in the will, a double line of dashes is substituted.

The numbers at the foot of each abstract give the number of the book and the page from which it has been taken. Almost all the abstracts in the Calendar have been taken directly from the wills, as recorded in the will-books among the proceedings of the Prerogative Court of the Province.