Court records such as wills, probate, and the purchase and selling of land (and slaves) are quite useful to better understanding your ancestors and how they lived and who they were and how they are connected to other families. I've had some fascinating journeys using these and so might you.
Where the courts and lawyers were used and how well these records have survived is key, of course, but if your roots are in pre-Revolutionary times into the mid 1800's, these records may make all the difference. (Gentleman's agreements - handshakes - witnessing by family and friends or neighbors - also occurred where people trusted each other or could not afford lawyers and courts.)
These records can especially enhance the information on early census records, which appear to be quite basic and statistical compared to later census.
If you're looking at 'head of household' data on an early census, which is usually the oldest male in the family (And so might not be the HUSBAND), looking further within that town, county, or state, archival records can bring up things such as:
The names of family members. Sometimes birth order/ages. (Including the names of wives, daughters, and daughters-in-law that are elsewhere missing and thus marriages.)
The location of property. (Follow up with maps, as place names may have changed.) Often the descriptiveness of where the property lines are defies any survey.
Who was favored in a will, and sometimes why.
Sometimes letters to the court with petitions and adjustments. (For instance letters a daughter sent to her father asking him to please send certain slaves to her, though she was in a territory where there was no official slavery. He did by the way.)
How much was paid. (Follow up with an inflation calculator): You may get a feel for if that person was rich or poor, if they owed money or were in debt. (Don't be too surprised. Our Founding Fathers and their families often were. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington were in debt.)
WHERE TO FIND THEM:
Although certain subscription genealogy oriented databases have loaded on some of these documents, which are in English or German for early colonial, pre-Revolutionary, and post-Revolutionary times, there is much more out there.
I still believe the so-called "Old Fashioned" methods such as looking in books, historical societies, local and state archives, NARA, and libraries, are useful.
If you think you have found family on census in a certain place, focus on that place and see what libraries may contain books that were published in that area. (The population was much smaller so one book might contain the information on every person who owned land in that county.)
You may be surprised to learn that big city collections far from that area also have Will books and other records of legal proceedings. In one big city library I found information on many counties in the Southern United States. Sometimes you wonder how those books got there. (They may have been donated.) However, start where the location on the census is and expand out from there.
Consider: The largest city, county, and state archives. The college or university libraries (even if they are 2 year community colleges.) SOMETIMES THE LIBRARIANS or ARCHIVIST may NOT have what you want BUT THEY MAY BE ABLE TO TELL YOU WHERE THE DOCUMENTS ARE HELD.
These early records are almost always in handwriting. Sometimes the handwriting itself is puzzling as is the terminology.
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