Series 18215

A separate agency history is available.

DESCRIPTION: Probate record books are a daily record of what documents were filed in court on a particular day. They contain details of the proceedings in estate cases. Personal name change cases may also appear. For deceased persons, the will, appraisals and inventories, and the settlements are recorded. For guardianships the appointment of a guardian and frequently an account of some property are noted. Adoption records give the full order of the adoption, often with statements from both the natural and adoptive parents or a social service agency detailing circumstances of the adoption.

Though no longer produced these record books provide useful information both for researchers seeking socioeconomic data on households and those seeking biographical or family history data such as information about the estate, the deceased, and the heirs. As with the minutes, access to the record books is easiest when done in conjunction with the register of actions, which provides the date of each action.

ARRANGEMENT: Arrangement is chronological by date of entry.

RESEARCH NOTE: In 1903 and 1904, the probate clerk began keeping some documents on preprinted forms (Record Books H 1 and H 2). Record Book H 2 was designed to accommodate cases in which the deceased had a will and H 1 to accommodate cases in which a person died intestate. When the preprinted documents were inadequate for the case, the clerk recorded additional documents in Book H or H 3. The clerk made entries in Book H 1 until 1908, an isolated entry in 1918, then abandoned the preprinted version altogether. Entries in Book H 2, made between December 1903 and July 1916, include not more than 15 cases.

RELATED RECORDS: Series 3636 , PROBATE CASE FILES, contains the complete case files cited throughout these record books. Series 18217 , PROBATE REGISTERS OF ACTION, can be used in conjunction with this series to determine the exact dates for court proceedings.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: Probate proceedings are public records. However adoption records, which are referred to throughout the probate record books, require the permission of the Fifth District Court until 100 years have passed.

PROCESSING NOTE: This series was archivally processed by Jim Kichas in September 2007 as part of a grant project designed to preserve the historic records of Utah's Fifth District Courts.

PREFERRED CITATION: Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

CONTAINER LIST