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Archiver > BRETHREN > 2007-12 > 1197003344


From: winter dellenbach <>
Subject: Re: [BRE] no wills and those missing receipts
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 21:01:37 -0800
In-Reply-To: <000301c83876$f6092530$6401a8c0@thomas01>


Here is my contribution to this discussion, bring in some side issues
which someone may find helpful.

I did some fairly intense research on a particular will in the early
1800's in Lancaster Co. PA. concerning Oberholtzer family. We had the
orphans court document but found it initially confusing because we
didn't understand the convention then (and the sexism). We had a group
of siblings that were appointed a guardian in orphans court after the
death of their father. However, it became apparent in other research
that their mother was very much alive. So why were they in orphans
court and why did they need a guardian? Because their deceased father
owned a farm and personal property that was to be distributed according
to his will. The property was divided among the children, with the
oldest son getting the farm and the others getting personal property,
money, and payment from the inheriting sibling for the farm. Their
mother was given some things and the right to remain on the farm for
her life and proceeds from some crops. But she didn't get the farm or
any property that would really allow her to be independent of reliance
on her children and her right to live on the farm. The guardian was
necessary to make sure that if the mother remarried in the future, that
the children's legacy was safe from the potential raiding by the future
step-father. So the mom had to rely on the goodwill of her now dead
husband, but the children's rights were protected by the court.

So - if you run into orphans courts docs., be aware that a parent (mom)
may very well be alive. There are orphans and then there are orphans...
winter
On Thursday, December 6, 2007, at 06:14 PM, William Thomas wrote:

> Many of my family's late 18th & early 19th Century estate issues were
> handled through deeds. Very few had wills.
>
> However, one family member had a Cambria County will that started the
> estate
> process in 1835 and continued through 1886. It was filled with
> valuable
> info, on family members and associates. It even noted that one of the
> children was in an insane asylum in Minnesota in the 1880's. The land
> associated with this estate was originally part of another estate that
> had
> no will, but was laid out in several deeds. Those 1814 Cambria
> County, PA
> deeds referred to another ancestor who originally owned the property,
> but
> lived in Lebanon County. These documents provided both places of
> origin,
> exact location of the place of residence, final destination of several
> family members, and gave important clues to their religious
> orientation. So
> those few documents covered a period from 1814 to 1886 and provided a
> gold
> mine of information. Prior to these documents (found in about two
> hours at
> the court house), all I had were a tombstone and a name common to this
> area
> listed in the 1830 census. Fortunately in PA, most early courthouse
> documents are microfilmed and accessible at the PA Archives in
> Harrisburg.
> That is a place that provides one stop shopping for many existing legal
> records in PA!
>
> Bill Thomas
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> [mailto:]
> On Behalf Of
> Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 6:45 PM
> To:
> Subject: [BRE] no wills and those missing receipts
>
> Richard wrote on 2 Dec that many of his PA Dutch ancestors left no
> wills.
> (see below from his message) Look for a deed instead. The custom
> among
> some German families was to leave the property to one child, often the
> youngest son, in return for the parents being "kept" through their old
> age.
>
> About those receipts from probates (see also below): if they are
> missing
> from probate packets, that could mean some county workers decided to
> discard
> them. Some county records burned and some were discarded. Even
> counties
> that copied the probates often failed to copy those important receipts!
>
> Sharon Mills
>
> Less than 10% of my PA Dutch relatives
>> seem to have left wills, and of those who left estates the vast
>> majority of accessible estate papers?will not name all the
>> heirs, especially not with larger families. I understand from
>> others that many of the signed receipts of heirs have been
>> misplaced or lost.?
>
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