New Hampshire, Cheshire County, Probate Estate Files, 1886-1900 is a free collection at FamilySearch with images of probate case files from Cheshire County, New Hampshire.

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What Can I Learn from Probate Records?

Probate records include petitions, inventories, accounts, decrees and other court documents.

• Name of the testator or deceased
• Names of the heirs, such as spouse, children, other relatives, and friends
• Name of the executor, administrator, or guardian
• Names of witnesses
• Residence of the testator
• Dates the documents were written and recorded (used to approximate event dates since a will was usually written near the time of death).

How Can Probate Records Help Me Find Other Records?

With information from these records you may be able to:

• Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives
• You may be able to use the probate record to learn about adoptions or guardianship of any minor children and dependents
• Use the document (such as the will) or the recording dates to approximate a death date
• Use the information in the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records since the probates exist for an earlier time period
• You may be able to use the probate record to learn about land transactions
• Use the birth date or age along with the residence or place of birth of the deceased to locate census, church, and land records
• Use the occupations listed to find employment records or other types of records such as military records
• When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct