Hello All, I am hoping that someone can help explain something to me. Can anyone help explain how Guardianships were done in the early 1800s and why a mother had to go to court to be named the Guardian of her own children. I have a document from 1851, Todd Co. Ky. that shows that Benjamin Hancock died before July of 1851. None of his family stepped forward to be executor of the estate so the court stepped in Oct. 14, 1851 and seized it. In June 1852, Preston L. Yancy was named, Guardian for the two youngest children, James Monroe and Dabney Hancock, which were minors. America M. Hancock was the mother and alive at the time. Why wasn't she named Guardian or why did she even have to be named that, since it was her children. Preston L. Yancy was also the Plaintiff in the court cases following involving the sale of the estate. Alan Jeffrey

the sad fact is women didn't have any rights back then and if the children were old enough to work they were put under someone else's care . Usually young children were allowed to stay with their mother. When I say old enough to work this could be as young as 7 years old. And if their father owed money they were often used to pay of the debts for him. Tamara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelli Jeffrey" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 10:19 PM Subject: [HANCOCK-L] Guardianship > Hello All, I am hoping that someone can help explain something to me. > Can anyone help explain how Guardianships were done in the early 1800s and > why a mother had to go to court to be named the Guardian of her own > children. > I have a document from 1851, Todd Co. Ky. that shows that Benjamin > Hancock died before July of 1851. None of his family stepped forward to be > executor of the estate so the court stepped in Oct. 14, 1851 and seized it. > In June 1852, Preston L. Yancy was named, Guardian for the two youngest > children, James Monroe and Dabney Hancock, which were minors. > America M. Hancock was the mother and alive at the time. Why wasn't > she named Guardian or why did she even have to be named that, since it was > her children. > Preston L. Yancy was also the Plaintiff in the court cases following > involving the sale of the estate. > > > Alan Jeffrey > > > ==== HANCOCK Mailing List ==== > Questions about this list? Feel free to contact > the listowner for help at: > <[email protected]> > >