I am sure I have mentioned this before but real estate abstracts, lengthy documents which trace the history of a property from its original purchase from the government to whenever the last time an abstract was made, are treasure troves of information. They contain copies of all the deeds relating to the land as well as any other documents which may apply including wills, court documents and so. In one I am working with we get this paragraph: "And the Court further finds that the said deceased left surviving his death the following heirs at law towit: Loretta Downing (widow), Margret Shaw intermarried with Lewis Shaw, Nancy Vandeventer widow of Andrew Vandeventer, Susan Wilcox intermarried with Alfred Wilcox all of whom are daughters. George Downing, Samuel W. Downing, William Downing, Mary Downing, Rebecca, Thomas Downing, all of whom are Sons and daughters of the decd. and John French Jr who is the only son and heir at law of Hannah French decd. who was also a daughter of the decd. the said Hannah French being intermarried with Daneil French..." Right there we know the names and marital status of all the children of Thomas Downing on October 11, 1867, date of the court's ruling. In this case Thomas Downing died having outlived three wives. The children, ranging in age from 44 to 13, went through probate and all was fine. Arrangements were made for the minor children to live with a half sibling. Then the "dead" third wife showed up! It appears she must have left her children with him and departed some years before his death, returning several years after his death to claim her share. Clearly she was believed dead by all before. By the time it all got through court again and all the settled property resettled she was really and truly dead. Loretta Sherman Downing is reported to have been a relative of General Sherman. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.14 - Release Date: 5/20/2005