Buckner Wills
Wills are one of the most useful types of genealogical records, especially
before the mid 19th century when detailed
censuses became common in the English-speaking world. Unfortunately, they're also some of the hardest to get ahold of because they are big, complicated, and usually handwritten. Most wills are held in local jurisdictions, either in the original or more likely in the form of a will book copy. I've been transcribing some, and I've put copies of the transcriptions on this site. The original images are often copyrighted, either by the Crown for UK wills or by whoever took the original image (often the LDS), so I can't put those up in most cases. The status of the transcription is a little murky. Generally, copyright protects the expression of data but not the data themselves, so I'm working under the theory that I'm extracting data, and there is quite a bit of expertise that goes into trancribing these, especially the oldest ones. You have to deal not only with the handwriting but also the archaic spelling and grammar, the cultural context
, and typically small doses of Latin. Early wills were probated by church courts, so the probate notation at the end (usually beginning with "Probatum fuit") was often in Latin up into the 18th century. There's not usually anything interesting in that section except for the date of probate, but every once in a while there will be some clue about the executors.
In some cases, abstracts of these wills were already available, but in my experience, it's almost always worth it to get the entire will. A general abstracter just doesn't know what the important stuff is - the 4th godson who got 3 shillings for a pair of funeral gloves might just be the crucial link that cracks the case.
If you're just looking to see some of the interesting ones, I'd recommend Thomas BUCKNER, D.D. (1644), Rychard BUCKNER (1548), Walter BUCKNER (1579), and Leonard BUCKNOR (1671) as four of the better examples.
Will transcriptions on this site:
- Will of
Henry BUCKNER, d. 1547, Eynsham, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Rychard BUCKNER, d. 1548, Cumnor, Berks., England. (Berks. line)
- Will of
William BUCKNER, d. 1558, Cumnor, Berks., England. (Berks. line)
- Will of
John BUCKNER, d. 1576, Eynsham, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Walter BUCKNER, d. 1579, Longcombe, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Edmund BUCKNER, d. 1586, Hanborough, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Christopher BUCKNER, d. 1591, Longcombe, Oxon., England.
- Will of
William BUCKNER, d. 1607, Abbots Langley, Herts., England.
- Will of
Thomas BUCKNER, d. 1610, Longcombe, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Nicholas BUCKNER, d. 1622, Combe, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Richard BUCKNER, d. 1628, Combe, Oxon., England.
- Will of
Lawrence BUCKNOR, d. 1636/7, Soulbury, Bucks., England. (Bucks., England line)
- Will of
Thomas BUCKNER, D.D., d. 1644, Chevening, Kent, England. (Berks., England line)
- Will of
Thomas BUCKNER, d. 1649, Southwark, Surrey, England. (unknown)
- Will of
Gerrard BUCKNOR, d. 1662, London, England. (Berks., England line)
- Will of Barbara BUCKNOR, widow of St. Martins in the Fields parish, Co. Middlesex, England 1668. (Berks., England line)
- Will of
John BUCKNER, d. 1670, salter of London, England. (Bucks., England line)
- Will of
Leonard BUCKNOR, d. 1671, Dublin, Ireland. (Berks., England line)
- Abstract of Will of John BUCKNOR of Limerick, IRE, 1671
- Will of Deborah BUCKNER of St Martin in the Fields parish, Middlesex, England, 1693
- Abstract of Will of William BUCKNOR of Coolefin, IRE, 1700
- Will of Edward BUCKNER of Sussex Co., VA, 1767 (courtesy of Audrey Horner)
- Will of
Anthony BUCKNER, d. 1780, Halifax Co., VA, USA. (prob. Virginia line)
- Will of
Jean (Jane) BUCKNER, d. 1789, Orange Co., VA, USA. (prob. Virginia line) (courtesy of Betty Elkins)
- Will of
Richard BUCKNER, d. 1799, Surrey, England. (unknown)
- Will of
Adm. Charles BUCKNER, d. 1811, Clewer, Berks., UK (Chichester line)
Related Will Abstracts
Brief abstracts are also now available for some wills that are of interest but not Buckner wills per se, including:
- Will of Francis Barry, d. 1604, Thame, Oxon., England. (son of Lawrence Barry and Joan/Jane Buckner, dau. of Richard Buckner of Cumnor Parish)
- Will of Barnard Turney, d. 1612, Holingden, Bucks., England. (daughter Alice married Lawrence Buckner of Solebury, Bucks.)
- Will of Thomas Adams, d. 1620, London, England. (daughter Mary married John Buckner of London)
- Will of Humfrey Cantrell, d. 1630, Woodley, Sonning Parish, Berks., England (daughter Marie married John Buckner of Abingdon in 1620)
- Will of Sir Thomas Holt, d. 1686. (son of Mary Buckner, daughter of Thomas Buckner the Mercer)
The Will that Got Away:
There are several potentially important wills and administrations that, to my knowledge, no one has ever gotten a copy of, and if you were looking to do some research, I'd recommend trying to get some of these. They may have nothing, but it's always hard to tell until you see them.
Canterbury Administrations at the UK PRO:
- Bukmer, John, Boxley (Kent) A. 1 170 1464
- Bukmer, Bockmer or Buckner, Robert, Eastchurch (Kent) A. 21 96 1536-7
- Bukmer, Buckmer, Thomas, Borden (Kent) A. 32 163 1557
- Buckmore, Buckner, Faith, widow, Queenborough (Kent) (Nunc.) A. 1357 (70/690) 1640
Note: being in Kent, I suspect that those administrations are for the name Buckmer instead of Buckner, since most Buckmers of the time lived in Kent.
Sussex Wills and Admins. at the West Sussex Record Office
- Buckner, Hugh, Northmundham, Register 3, G 107 1629
- Buckner, Thomas, Westhampnett, Register 3, 30 697 1704
- Buckner, Richard, alderman, Register 3, 8, 89 1777
Will links:
