To follow this stream of thought furhter, I have found from time to time that no will or probate packet exists for someone who died. However the heirs were identified in a deed transcaction that distributed the deceased person's land to his heirs. Quite interesting and somewhat rare, but a valuable tool, nonetheless. Sylvia ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Brady" <brady.j@att.net> To: <NYGREENE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 2:37 PM Subject: RE: [GREENE COUNTY] Bronck/Turnbull descendants > >Remember probate files usually contain alot more information than the > >will >>itself. Just think of how complicated our legal system is. This was >>defintely true years ago as well. Many people died without wills >>(intestate). The probate files would then provide the information of the >>heirs and the estate. > > After 1830, or so, NY state implemented a more rigid probate notification > process. You should be able to find paperwork indicating that all named > heirs were notified and addresses should be available. Given the times, a > city and/or county might suffice as an address. Intestate probates seem to > contain more names because even if there were children presumed to be the > heirs, the deceased's siblings were, I think the term is, at-law heirs and > had(?) to be notified. Useful in either case for tracking where relatives > might have moved to. > > And while we sometimes look at will abstracts, the underlying wills and > the > resulting paperwork are more useful. I'll use a will abstract, because > it's > easy and convenient, to build a family group, but if that family is > important to me I'll write myself a to-do note to look at the will and > probate when I get a chance. Abstracts are sometimes inaccurate because, > without understanding of the family, the abstracter may miss references > that > a more familiar researcher would understand. (My all time favorite was a > son > named Johnettortin in the abstract - in the difficult to read will it was > sons John&Martin.) > > Not finding a will in the abstracts can be a gold mine if you take the > further step to find out if there was an intestate probate. If there was, > there is usually more information in an intestate probate package than you > will find in a will abstract or the full packet of will papers. > > In either case, a probate contains all kinds of neat stuff - bills due, > inventories (useful for determining profession - lots of blacksmith tools, > probably a blacksmith), disbursements of funds, etc. > > If you know there was a death in a particular area, but no will or > intestate > probate, the deceased may have had so little that a formal proceeding was > avoided. Or that you may need to check land records to see if the deceased > put his/her affairs in order years ago with transfers of property. > > Jim > > > ==== NYGREENE Mailing List ==== > Your resource site for Greene County Cemeteries, Biographies, Censuses, > Wills and so much more! Check us out! > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygreen2 > > ============================== > Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > New content added every business day. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx >

Thanks for the insight Sylvia- hadn't thought of that! Susan -----Original Message----- From: Sylvia Hasenkopf [mailto:esi@francomm.com] Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 12:49 PM To: NYGREENE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [GREENE COUNTY] Bronck/Turnbull descendants To follow this stream of thought furhter, I have found from time to time that no will or probate packet exists for someone who died. However the heirs were identified in a deed transcaction that distributed the deceased person's land to his heirs. Quite interesting and somewhat rare, but a valuable tool, nonetheless. Sylvia