VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 10

 So you've looked at some death records for Vancouverites. What did they leave behind, if anything?

Do check to see if you can find if they left a will and/or an estate.  

Start at the FamilySearch Wiki page which has links to information and indexes and images for British Columbia wills and probate files: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/British_Columbia_Probate_Records

I recommend you read the BC Archives guides first; links are on the above FamilySearch Wiki page. 

British Columbia Archives Research Guide to Probated Wills" and ""British Columbia Archives Research Guide to Probate Case Files".

And do read the 'How to Use this Collection' guides offered at FamilySearch with the two collections of Estate Files and Wills.

BC wills are not always found where you might think. I also recommend searching newspapers. A published notice may give you more details to help your search. And since sometimes, there's confusion,  disappointments or disputes involved, you may find out more about it in the newspapers, even newspapers from far away.

FamilySearch collections - see the collection descriptions, etc. before searching. 

Canada, British Columbia Estate Files, 1859-1949 (County and Supreme Court) with images. For Vancouver, Supreme Court, indexed 1893 to 1925. 

(Ancestry.com has this database online too - British Columbia, Canada, Estate Files, 1859-1949. Browse by Judicial District/Locality.)

Canada, British Columbia Wills, 1861-1981

And also on the FamilySearch page is a link for the Abbotsford Genealogy Society's alphabetical indexes online to some BC wills, from 1860s to the 1940s. I've found this very useful and you can request a will copy through their lookup service, if you need to. 62 volumes of probated wills were donated to the Society and indexed and filmed. The Society also has an index for 2,620 wills registered in BC from 1864 to 1939  by non-residents. 

Another index available online is " People Who Died Intestate, 1861-1883" As reported in the Sessional Papers of the Government of British Columbia, 1885, page 475. Extracted by Hugh Armstrong. See the link on the first FamilySearch Wiki page above. 

This index is on the old Rootsweb site and apparently will be moved very soon. I expect that I and FamilySearch too will post a new link once available. This full Sessional Intestate Report for 1885 is available in the University of British Columbia's Open Collections: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcsessional/items/1.0065782?o=6

TWO WILL EXAMPLES

SHORTEST  VANCOUVER WILL TO 1907.

Shortest Vancouver will, 31 words. John T. Carroll. 26 Jun 1907, Wednesday, Daily News Advertiser (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123657843/shortest-vancouver-will-31-words-john/ 

Shortest BC Will, John T. Carroll, dated 5 October, 1903, Vancouver. "Canada, British Columbia Wills, 1861-1981," #8/1-/1507. Images 786-789, courtesyFamilySearch.org. Citing Supreme Court. British Columbia Archives and Records Service, Victoria. John T. Carroll died 13 May 1907 at Vancouver. 

SOLDIERS 1916 WILL VALID IN 1929

Military will valid, 1916-1928, Gerard Henry Varty. 15 Nov 1929, Fri The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com. Gerard Varty died in Vancouver, BC, 18 December 1926. Newapapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123646740/military-will-valid-1916-1928-gerard-h/