Thank you so much. That is a huge help and may explain why I cannot find some of the records I expected to find. Marilyn -----Original Message----- From: inmontgo-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:inmontgo-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of s.m.mills@comcast.net Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 11:15 AM To: inmontgo@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [InMontgo] Probate question Marilyn, I'm helping with the Parke Co probate project (though the lion's share of effort is by Roberta Wysong) and have learned a lot in the process. In the early years it appears that probates were generated when the deceased had real estate or considerable personal property. Sometimes there was a will. Sometimes not. If the deceased had little real or personal property, there may be few if any records. The hunt to find what happened to children gets harder. You may get some help from Guardian bonds. Many counties have kept their guardianship records, and others who research more actively in Montgomery will know if they exist in paper form or microfilm. Some counties have sent records to the Indiana State Archives. Their website contains information that will help you find out what is in their stacks. Yes, the estate was probated when the head of household died. The widow and/or a relative was named as administrator and/or guardian. Sometimes a woman couldn't read/write and may have felt inadequate to deal with it. Again, there had to be something of value to probate. A bit later on, if the estate was found to be under a few hundred dollars, the estate was declared insolvent. If then the widow died, the process began again. Always look for the women anyway, married or not, in case they had inherited property that went through probate. I found a gr gr grandmother's probate of this type. Her surviving husband administered the sale of her property for their children. Sharon Mills ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marilyn Jenkins" <marilynkj@cox.net> To: inmontgo@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 11:13:49 AM Subject: [InMontgo] Probate question I have several questions about probates during the years 1840-1880. 1 Were all estates probated or was it only land owners/those without wills/or what? 2 When a married couple had children, was the estate probated when the head of household died or was it only if both parents died? I have been looking for probate records in Indiana (some Montgomery co, some other counties) and I cannot find any records for some; others seemed to be probated when the husband died and others when the wife died, after the husband. Nothing seems consistent. I don't know if I need to keep looking other places or not. Thanks for any help you can give me. List Manager - inmontgo-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMONTGO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message http://indianagenweb.com/inmontgomery/ List Manager - inmontgo-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMONTGO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message http://indianagenweb.com/inmontgomery/ List Manager - inmontgo-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMONTGO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message