Anybody of Legal Age (had reached Majority) could sign as a Witness, but it was better to have someone that was not going to benefit from the Will, to be the Witness, to avoid any later court challenge regarding conflict of interest...or other such bunk... Most of the time Witnesses were extended Family members, i.e., not part of the lineage; a cousin, a Brother-in-law, sometimes a child when the Mother(or Spouse) was the sole beneficiary. That should have carried weight in the mind of the Probate Court that the child was in agreement with the Spouse receiving the inheritance. A Witness needed to be someone who was acquainted with the Testator (person making the Will), because the Witnesses swear an Oath, too...You don't just take some bum off the street, and make him a Witness...After the demise, at least one Witness needed to be personally present at the Probate hearing... Most all this seems foreign to us today, because we have Lawyers do it all...for which they are well compensated... I have often told my researcher-cousins, that when they come across a document signed by Gieger/Geiger and a Martin was a Witness, (or Vice-versa) they were both our guys...because whoever was handy was used as a Witness on all legal documents...and they were all related...someway or the other... in MS - Gieger, Welch, Speed, Lowe, Hough, Rogers, & West, among others... >From: "James and Kim Smith" <mikis1314@earthlink.net> >To: MISSISSIPPI-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [MISSISSIPPI] Will witness identity >Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 18:10:31 -0400 > >I need to ask folks who are much more experienced and learned than me in >the field of genealogy. >Does at least one family member sign as a witness to a will? >I have 2 separate families with 3 wills and 2 of those wills have family >members (son, daughter not residing at the home) who signed as a witness to >these wills. >The 3rd will I am unsure of the relationship, but it could be a son. >Help >Mike _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com