1841 census and wills question.

[Joan of Archives]

I got the will index no problem, & there is no trace of a Ware for the right time there, sorry. As Elizabeth says, they were more often than not Tenant farmers, my 2 x great grandfather was a Tenant farmer as when he died my poor 2 x great grandmother ended up in the workhouse unfortunately

[Olde Crone]

Farming tenancies can be nearly as informative as wills because they were often granted on the "three lives" principle, which was normally father to son to grandson, but also very often husband to wife, if eldest son wasn't up to snuff or whatever.

I can follow one particular family through nearly three hundred years of tenancy of the same farm - three tenancies each granted on the three lives principle, giving me nine generations for the same family.

OC

[anne fraser]

I have lots of farmers from census records and BMD's but I think they were mainly tenants. Owners often call themselves yeoman farmers or gentleman farmers. A tenancy was often for 99 years and could pass twice to a close relative without a will. My grandfather had a small holding and the tennancy passed to his widow and then his eldest unmarried daughter. It is worth trying to do an address search for a farm as the new tennant is often a relative of the former tennant.

[HarrysMum]

I still haven't found George Ware's will. however I did find Thomas Abbey's will.

Thomas was the first husband of Catherine, who later became George's wife. That should at least tell me if Thomas left anything to Catherine.......so if she had something when she married George.