This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: petriska Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.otsego/4918.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I found wills for both Burrell L. Story and Laura Story, but they don't add much information. Burrell left everything to his wife Laura Story, and Laura left everything to her daughter Harriet Scott. The only note of interest is that Harriet Scott petitioned surrogate court to probate Laura's will in December of 1881, the proceedings were adjourned until February of 1882. That means Laura died in 1881, not 1882. Burrell wrote his will on April 25, 1858 and I assume he died shortly thereafter as he does not appear in census records (that I noticed) but his will did not go to probate until after wife Laura died in 1881. This is not that uncommon when everything was left to a single survivor. Often they did not bother to take the will to probate (surrogate court can only proceed with probating a will if they are notified of the death, it does not happen automatically). I bet when Harriet tried to probate Laura's will it was discovered that Laura did not legally own anything because Burrell's will giving it to her was never probated. So, they had to probate Burrell's will at the same time. Anyway - the wills are online at www.familysearch.com you find them by going to that website, but DO NOT ENTER SEARCH TERMS! Instead go towards the bottom of the page where it says "browse by location". click on "United States" Click on 'New York' - one of the 31 New York specific listings is "NY probate records 1629 - 1971", click on that one. click on "browse through5432,139 images" that brings up a list of counties - click on Otsego scroll down to wills for 1881 - 1884, volumes 29 - 30 and click on that The pages are shown as images and the page numbers don't correspond to the image numbers, Laura and Burrell's info starts with Image 61 of 792 and goes for a few double pages until at least image 68 of 792. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.