singhals@erols.com writes: > Since Z is the only one designated "minor", it implies (doesn't it?) > that X and Y are both 21 or older. Cheryl- I think so. > Since the known wife isn't mentioned, how safe is it to assume she's > dead in 1836? I definitely think (even without knowing what Illinois' dower laws were at the time) that you can assume if the man was free to sell/ transfer property to anyone without the wife's permission/signature that his wife was no longer living. > Does the absence of any further record (land, probate, marriage, > census) in that county for grantor, X, Y, or Z imply they left? > (The county did not subdivide thereafter.) I'd only give you a maybe on this one. If not, how could they > not-leave any other record, before or after? If grantor and/or X > and Y died, shouldn't there be some sort of estate settlement, even > if not a probate? Should be, but I'd never say you will always find that info. Sometimes things don't get recorded or become lost. :) Joan JYoung6180@aol.com