Nobody ever said you will find everyone. I am finding people who did not own anything, or owned virtually nothing I hve not been able to find. BUT there are tons of records, probate records, estate records, guardianship records, Wills, Letters of Administration etc The Kings Co shortcut seems to be for Letters of Administrat.ion You can only say you cannot find folks when you have looked through ALL of the various categories--but there is no way you will find everyone. In earlier times it probably was not necessary to file legal documents on EVERY single death that occurred. One thing I have noticed since then is that surrogate filings are also listed on Fulton Postcards in newspapers. On familysearch.org some things are filed by year and alpha category by last name. The links I posted are not a "miracle" site LOL BUT if something exists you should be able to find it there...but it takes some looking. Check ALL the categories for the people you are looking for--but if they did not own homes, or had not accrued a decent amount of $ you probably won't find them...BUT I have been surprised by finding some of those folks as well. For the ancestors I KNOW had no money, and rented their homes or apartments, I am generally finding nothing on them. BUT occasionally I do find something...so it is worth looking. When you DO find something, often you can find other family members names--some of which you may not know, some of which are written by their married names which tells you who the females married This is genealogy...you are never going to find everything on everyone. Especially if they moved around a lot, which was common when people rented rather than owned their homes. Joyce On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 8:05 PM, Suzanne Brayer via <[email protected]> wrote: > If they had no will and there was property, there would be probate records. > > On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 7:17 PM, VLB via <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I would think most people did not have wills. They just did not have > much > > to leave and most of them just handed it over to family, it seems, > without > > involving the courts. If you look at the number of wills on > > familysearch.org compared to the population of NYC, including Brooklyn, > > the latter vastly outnumbers the former. > > I searched two gt gt grandfathers who I know owned real estate but found > > no wills. > > My guess is that it was a simpler time as well where you could do things > > like that, unlike today.Virginia > > From: MICHAEL CARNER via <[email protected]> > > > > >

Well said Joyce! When I'm going to say next maybe taken offensively by some people but it is meant to be helpful and I hope it can be taken as it is meant. As I have waded through many of the follow-up questions and comments to Joyce's original posting about the family search index, I have found that many people have not read The original posting and perhaps suggest read follow ups. This has led to unnecessary questions for Joyce to which she must respond and refer her back to her original posting which can be time-consuming and frustrating. She may not feel this way but as someone who follows the posts I get frustrated. If people would take the time to read the original post and some of the follow-up questions it would perhaps alleviate repetitive and perhaps silly questions Sent from my AT&T iPhone. ~ Gail ~ > On Apr 14, 2015, at 09:42, Joyce Presnall via <[email protected]> wrote: > > Nobody ever said you will find everyone. > > I am finding people who did not own anything, or owned virtually nothing I > hve not been able to find. > > BUT there are tons of records, probate records, estate records, > guardianship records, Wills, Letters of Administration etc > > The Kings Co shortcut seems to be for Letters of Administrat.ion > > You can only say you cannot find folks when you have looked through ALL of > the various categories--but there is no way you will find everyone. > > In earlier times it probably was not necessary to file legal documents on > EVERY single death that occurred. > > One thing I have noticed since then is that surrogate filings are also > listed on Fulton Postcards in newspapers. > > On familysearch.org some things are filed by year and alpha category by > last name. > > > > The links I posted are not a "miracle" site LOL BUT if something exists you > should be able to find it there...but it takes some looking. Check ALL the > categories for the people you are looking for--but if they did not own > homes, or had not accrued a decent amount of $ you probably won't find > them...BUT I have been surprised by finding some of those folks as well. > > For the ancestors I KNOW had no money, and rented their homes or > apartments, I am generally finding nothing on them. BUT occasionally I do > find something...so it is worth looking. When you DO find something, often > you can find other family members names--some of which you may not know, > some of which are written by their married names which tells you who the > females married > > This is genealogy...you are never going to find everything on everyone. > Especially if they moved around a lot, which was common when people rented > rather than owned their homes. > > Joyce > > On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 8:05 PM, Suzanne Brayer via <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> If they had no will and there was property, there would be probate records. >> >>> On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 7:17 PM, VLB via <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I would think most people did not have wills. They just did not have >> much >>> to leave and most of them just handed it over to family, it seems, >> without >>> involving the courts. If you look at the number of wills on >>> familysearch.org compared to the population of NYC, including Brooklyn, >>> the latter vastly outnumbers the former. >>> I searched two gt gt grandfathers who I know owned real estate but found >>> no wills. >>> My guess is that it was a simpler time as well where you could do things >>> like that, unlike today.Virginia >>> From: MICHAEL CARNER via <[email protected]> >>> >>> >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Joyce, Do you have a recommendation to find a a Queens probate record for the 1960's? Thanks Deb Sent from my iPhone > On Apr 14, 2015, at 12:42 PM, Joyce Presnall via <[email protected]> wrote: > > Nobody ever said you will find everyone. > > I am finding people who did not own anything, or owned virtually nothing I > hve not been able to find. > > BUT there are tons of records, probate records, estate records, > guardianship records, Wills, Letters of Administration etc > > The Kings Co shortcut seems to be for Letters of Administrat.ion > > You can only say you cannot find folks when you have looked through ALL of > the various categories--but there is no way you will find everyone. > > In earlier times it probably was not necessary to file legal documents on > EVERY single death that occurred. > > One thing I have noticed since then is that surrogate filings are also > listed on Fulton Postcards in newspapers. > > On familysearch.org some things are filed by year and alpha category by > last name. > > > > The links I posted are not a "miracle" site LOL BUT if something exists you > should be able to find it there...but it takes some looking. Check ALL the > categories for the people you are looking for--but if they did not own > homes, or had not accrued a decent amount of $ you probably won't find > them...BUT I have been surprised by finding some of those folks as well. > > For the ancestors I KNOW had no money, and rented their homes or > apartments, I am generally finding nothing on them. BUT occasionally I do > find something...so it is worth looking. When you DO find something, often > you can find other family members names--some of which you may not know, > some of which are written by their married names which tells you who the > females married > > This is genealogy...you are never going to find everything on everyone. > Especially if they moved around a lot, which was common when people rented > rather than owned their homes. > > Joyce > > On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 8:05 PM, Suzanne Brayer via <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> If they had no will and there was property, there would be probate records. >> >>> On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 7:17 PM, VLB via <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I would think most people did not have wills. They just did not have >> much >>> to leave and most of them just handed it over to family, it seems, >> without >>> involving the courts. If you look at the number of wills on >>> familysearch.org compared to the population of NYC, including Brooklyn, >>> the latter vastly outnumbers the former. >>> I searched two gt gt grandfathers who I know owned real estate but found >>> no wills. >>> My guess is that it was a simpler time as well where you could do things >>> like that, unlike today.Virginia >>> From: MICHAEL CARNER via <[email protected]> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message