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

Marilyn -- Probates were indeed done when there was property. If the woman had land or was left the land then there was another probate for her. If there was a will, sometimes the probate was skipped but almost always it went through the court so that all bills were paid. But, sometimes a person died without a will, intestate in other words, and the court would have to take over and do the same - send the property through the legal process - if he had only personal property then I'm 99.9% sure there was nothing in the courts and the kids and wife divvied it up. IF the husband willed the property to the wife, then often it did not go through the whole court process (will was filed though) until she passed. Most men left the property to the wife UNLESS SHE REMARRIED. So, even sometimes the property went through court then at her marriage. The C'ville library Reference department ref@cdpl.lib.in.us has many of the probates - old ones - and suppose they'd look for you for a reasonable amount. Don't think they do it free but maybe $5 or something. Very reasonable anyway and can send you copies via e-mail if they find something. Hope that helped ! On 7/25/2013 11:13 AM, Marilyn Jenkins wrote: > 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 >

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