Recently I was doing some research into California records in an effort to trace my husband's great grandmother who passed away there. Along the way, I came across a transcription of Early California Wills, which was published by the DAR in 1952.
The transcription is broken up into six volumes. Volume 1 covers Los Angeles County wills from 1850 to 1885. Volume 2 picks up where the first left off and covers 1885 to 1890. Volume 3 covers wills in San Diego County from 1848-1899.
Volumes 4 and 5 offers bonuses. Volume 4 offers wills from Placer, Shasta and Yuba Counties. It also has Shasta County births, marriages, deaths and divorces from 1927 and Placer County marriage licenses from 1852 to 1856. Volume 5 has Kern County wills 1876-1899 and marriage licenses 1850-1900.
Volume 6 has wills from Santa Clara and Solano Counties. It doesn't say what years are covered.
Clicking on the volume will take you further down the page where there is information on the volume, transcribers, and an overview of the book. It appears that each page is transcribed separately. Clicking on the page takes you to the information on that page.
This is a great free genealogy resource for those researching California ancestors. Information varies between entries, but from scrolling through, it looks like some have the names of parents, spouses, children and even in-laws. I'm not sure if this is common, but I did notice one entry that had a note about the spouse's later marriage as well. Makes sure to check who the executor and witnesses are as well. These may be family members or close acquaintances.
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