I am so grateful for the help I have received from you on the list who share so generously your knowledge. At last I feel that I can pass on to the list members information that was shared with me from another list with the permission to pass it on. This suggestion set that proverbial light bulb aglowing in my head because I personally have used the probate packet and got unexpected information. So from a more knowledgeable source than me I offer this. ----- Original Message ----- From: Family Tree Finders Sent: Monday, November 29, 1999 10:10 AM Subject: Family Tree Finders Monday November 29, 1999 FAMILY TREE FINDERS Monday - 29 November 1999 - ------------------------------------ Dead Men Tell No Tales, Or Do They? We have been so conditioned to believe that death signifies an end, that we do not always remember that the records generated at death actually signify the beginning; the beginning of your search for that particular line. When we are researching we work backwards. We will search for things like the death record to hopefully learn the date and place of birth and the names of the parents. However, there are other records generated at death that can be truly beneficial to researchers. I know you are sitting there thinking about wills. We all hope that we will find a will on our ancestor. However, sometimes a will may actually cheat you of valuable clues. What you actually want to search for is a probate packet or the probate records. This may include a will, but there are many other papers generated by the death of an individual and they can hold clues to the family members and names of others who had business dealings and contact with our ancestor. Why are these names important? Sometimes it will be the names of your ancestor's business associates or neighbors that you find in write-ups rather than the name of your ancestor. By familiarizing yourself with the others who lived in the community you will then be able to keep a look out for lots of different people. If your ancestor left no will, then his estate will be handled by an administrator. The court will appoint the administrator. Administrator bonds will list the name of the administrator as well as those individuals putting up the sureties. Very often the administrator was a relative. Other times it could be your ancestors primary creditor. In the papers generated by the sale of the property, you will very often find listings of neighbors who purchased various farm implements, food stuffs, or livestock. In the accounting of the estate you will learn who your ancestor owed money to and who owed him money. You may be able to find an indication of the request of dower for the widow. She was entitled to the house and one-third the land for her to use until she died or remarried. In some instances, you will see newspaper clippings or pages alluding to the mention in newspapers for the notification of heirs who no longer live in the area where your ancestor died. This is an excellent source of information for married names of daughters and localities for those children who you have lost track of. As you can see, while death may be an end, for genealogists it is very much a beginning. Rhonda R. McClure rhondam@sodamail.com If you know someone who is interested in genealogy, please forward this entire message to them! _________________________________________________ To subscribe to Family Tree Finders, send a blank e-mail message to: join-family-tree-finders@gt.sodamail.com At the site you can change your address, cancel or join: http://207.153.204.247/cgi-bin/gt/login.html