To find a will for a decedent one must search the indexes for the probate or administrations of the jurisdiction in which the will may have been probated. Additionally, there may have been an administration even if the deceased left no will. The administration could have taken place either in the county in which the deceased was domiciled at the time of death, in the county in which the death occurred or in the county where property of the deceased was located. Typically, if there was little or no property, there would have been no administration whether or not the deceased left a will; however, if the deceased left children under the age of 18 (16 in some jurisdictions, 21 in others) there may have been guardianship proceedings in the probate, the "orphans" or the county court. The administration could have taken place as long as four years after death. The exact date of death is not required for making a search, but it is important to know the earliest date on which the death could have occurred in order to know at what date the search of the indexes should begin. Dave Sarles ----- Original Message ----- From: <puterbaugha@aol.com> To: <ILWHITES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 7:49 AM Subject: [ILWHITES] Wills and Widows > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Zh.2ADE/1958 > > Message Board Post: > > How would I go about finding a will for a death in 1902. I don't have an exact date of death. > > Did widows have wills in 1902? She was an immigrant, did not own land in Illinois, and was widowed before she came to the states. Wondering if she would have had one. > > Anyone be down this path before? > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 >