Well listers, I can only say from MY experiences with ancestors wills. Possibly many others will disagree with me, but will state my beliefs. Ususally the wife is always mentioned first. If no living wife, then normally it is the eldest child mentioned first. Children normally are named in order from eldest down to the youngest, unless you get one of those wills where all children are not personally named. Maybe one child is named to receive the bulk, when you know they had many other children. Sometimes that child is youngest, sometimes he is the oldest, but rarely a middle child. Then you have wills where all the sons are named, then all the daughters are named, but still they are in quite good birth order, oldest to youngest. You just have a lot of fun tracking their ages from census, just to know where to place them. Sometimes only sons are named when all the children are of married age, simply because it was thought that daughters husbands would be obligated to provide for their care. And quite often daughters were given large dowries at the time of their marriage, and thus releases the father of further obligation. Also sometimes wives when mentioned after some childrens names---quite often you will find that she is a second wife, then the following children are THEIR children. The most heartbreaking is the wills where is only stated, "my wife and my children"! If you have definite names to work with, then other records can be used to establish their age bracket. Mamie ----- Original Message ----- From: Marvin J Southard <southard@interpath.com> To: <NCDUPLIN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 1999 12:56 PM Subject: Re: Wills of 1800 > Sherri Draper wrote: > > Does any one know-when children are listed in wills of this time period, > > are they usually listed in order according to age? Can I assume that > > the last child listed would be the youngest? > > Sherry, > > I waited to see if a more experienced researcher would answer your question. > Since I have not seen an answer, I'll give my rookie genealogy opinion. > > I have noticed in some very early wills (1600s) that a very much loved wife > might be the first one mentioned. After that might come the sons, then the > daughters. I have wondered if the daughters were left completely out of a > few, since only sons were listed. If the wife came after the sons, I wonder > how important she was. > > By 1800, it seems to me the children are listed in whatever order they happen > to come to the mind of the person stating what he wants done with his earthly > belongings. Sometimes a child might even be mentioned more than once. > > I don't believe you can assume anything, but this may incorrect. I wish > someone else would comment. > > Lura > > ______________________________