I would go to http://www.sampubco.com/wills/ny/newyork.htm to see if there is a will. The index is posted. However, if there is no will it doesn't necessarily mean he didn't die here. There may still be a probate file in Surrogates Court. If you die with a will ("testate" as in last will and "testament") there will be a probate file and a named executor and Letters of "Testamentary" are issued to the executor. If you die without a will (Intestate) there may still be a probate file, but the court appoints an Administrator instead, and Letters of Administration are issued to the Administrator. In that case you of course would not find him in the will index, since there wasn't one. You would find his name still in the General Index in Surrogates Court for the probate files along with those who do have wills in their probate files. The letters are issued, by the way, to prove the persons right to handle the estate, and they need it for proof to show banks and such. The issue is did he own real property? A probate file is only need if the person owned "real" property at the time of his death, meaning land, not personal property. Or things like stocks, large bank accounts. A person may write a will for personal items like furniture, jewelry, books, personal momentos, but that will most likely would not go through surrogates court since there is nothing of real value that can be converted into dollars that would need to be divided among the heirs. So if he was just passing through and died here, or rented or leased, staying with family, etc you will not find anything in Surrogates Court. He would be just among those buried here and among cemetery records. -- Cindy Amrhein Historian/Abstractor "House Detective" Town of Alabama Historian Genesee Co., NY ********************** Historian's Page - Alabama, NY http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycalaba/ APHNYS (The Association of Public Historians of New York State) http://www.tier.net/~aphnys/

Thank you Cindy. After I posted my message I was reminded that Haines didn't die in Genesee Co. He was in Pennsylvania when he died. However, while searching for him I found the cemtery records for Zenas & Senah HUGGINS so it wasn't a fruitless effort. I'm not sure how Zenas & Senah ended up buried in Genesee Co. though. They lived in Cayuga Co. up through 1830 and Zenas died in 1835. Marsha ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cindy Amrhein"