Hi, I just got back from a successful trip to NM, photographing gravestones and gathering photos and papers from relatives. One of the papers I found was a "final account" for an estate for May READ. She had acquired quite a sum of worth for 1961 and the list of heirs was over 32. My husband's grandfather, a paternal cousin, received 1/4th 1/6th of 1/2 estate. I contacted the probate office for Cook Co. , IL and they say the file is 400 pages. That would cost about $125 to have copied. I have the "final account" that states page 240 on the first page and lists assets and heirs. There are no addresses for heirs or genealogical evidence on these pages. My question, does anyone know what I would ask for that would show how the heirs are related? The woman in the office was quite helpful and she is going to look through the file over the next couple of days, but I only asked her to look for addresses. I didn't know what else to ask for. Would there be a chart or family tree? What would a genealogist submit for a probate heir search as results that might be in this file. I would think it would be a great find to further my research if this estate already paid someone to do a search back for all these cousins. Thanks for any suggestions and help. Evelyn Evelyn Bayna <ebayna@ucsd.edu>

> [snip] > > I contacted the probate office for Cook Co. , IL and they say the > file is 400 pages. That would cost about$125 to have copied. > [snip] The woman in the office was quite helpful and she is going > to look through the file over the next couple of days, but I only > asked her to look for addresses. I didn't know what else to ask > for. [snip]I would think it would be a great find to further my > research [snip]. > > Evelyn Bayna That first part of your last sentence says it all, Evelyn. Since you obviously have been willing to spend money to travel for the sake of your research (which can get quite expensive), I would simply weigh the cost in time and money of "someday" traveling to the courthouse again to actually spend hours examining the entire file and choose for yourself what you want copied from it, vs. the $125 to receive all 400 pages of the file to examine at your leisure in the comfort of your own home, repeatedly as necessary and as you learn more about the value of each document to you. The genealogically-advantageous information that might be included in a probate file that large can be virtually priceless, if it happens to include something that you might search for years and never find elsewhere. Much of the value, however, depends on your particular viewpoint and objectives regarding what genealogy research entails. Some researchers are only interested in finding names, dates, and places of ancestors, while others want to know everything possible about the lives of their ancestors. Whatever your particular objectives, just as we can never totally rely on another's research to follow every possible lead and prove every fact, you cannot rely on a county clerk to have the exact same judgment that you might have in recognizing what to copy and what to leave. Nor can you fully recognize just from the Docket what valuable genealogical information a particular document will have for you. For that matter, you may recognize the advantage of a document a few years from now that you might not recognize today for lack of experience or particular information in your research today. If you have any way to afford it and don't have a less expensive alternative that will allow you to examine the entire file, I would consider $125 for 400 pages of court files a bargain. Unfortunately, courthouses won't let you have an RAOK volunteer borrow the file and take it where they can make copies for only 05 cents a page, but many would cost you at least double what they are charging. If you absolutely cannot afford all of it now, then I would start with the Docket and be selective regarding what you get now, going back for more later as you can afford it. Diane genmail@1st.net