Sandra: Thank you for taking time to help on this... it has been very problematic indeed and you are assisting several of us that are all working on the same main problem some of the researchers working with me have worked on this a great many years. We have quite a bit of info on John I who came from Frodsham/Cheshire England 1682/1682. He did leave a will and had a large estate for the time. He signed it Hodgkinson although the exuctors corrected it later to Hoskins. His son was John II and was Sheriff of Chester but he died at a fairly young age as you note. We have seen the Orphan Court record to which you refer I believe. John III is the one in question and the one that causes so many problems some early genealogies are incorrect and there is much heresay about the whole matter so we are trying to nail this down once and for all. We have a document where John III petitioned the court trying to get his share of the estate but it seems he wasn't lucky ... also his brother Stephen did the same thing. Their brother Joseph is the fellow who was a judge there and set up the first school from his will. We know much about the rest of the family except for John III and this is the fellow who tradition and some reseach has as our ancestor. We have one fellow who has taken time to look through all the tax lists but John III doesn't seem to be around. In the petition to the court he stated he was sickly in 1730 but his brother Joseph leaves him his clothing in his will at a much later date 1770s. Other documents point to John III dying in 1780. He is suspected to have had many wives and several children one of his wives seems to have been a widow by the name of Eleanor Arthur the widow of Charles Arthur... we know this because of documents where they were already married and the estate hadn't even been settled... they owed Nathan Evans money because of her deceased husband's estate. We are hoping to find something that shows John III was exempted from paying taxes either b/c he was poor or unhealthy or something of that nature. JJH On 9/7/06, Sandra Ferguson <ferg@ntelos.net> wrote: > The name John Hoskins appear on land holders list of 1689, and in 1715, > when it is included on the Chester twp tax list. > The name appears many times in the Chester Co court records (90+) > between 1697 and 1710. here are a few, abridged, below. > > David Lloyd acknowledged a deed to John Hodgskins...47 foot land fronting to > the street that leads along the greene..& 20 acres land lying in the > woods....13rh day 10m 1693. > > appointed appraiser for the court....1698 > > served on many juries and did many estate apprasials for the court. > > John Hoskins and his mother Mary Hoskins and Chatrles Whitaker acknowledge a > deed to Jos. Richards Sr for a lot of land lying in Chester Town the deed > bearing date 20th Dec 1699. ( John Sr was dead by this date, but I can't > find a will for him....under any spelling...send me the spelling, will you? > I'm curious.) > ... > Helped lay out a road from the west side of Chester creek where the ferry is > . 1699 > As John the SR died before 1699, all mentions of the name after that date > are John, Jr....before that date I'm not sure how you can tell which is > which.... > HOSKINS, JOHN. .January 1, 1716. Adm. to Ruth Hoskins. (this appears to be > the son ) ...this indicates there is no will for John Jr, but adm. papers > are on record) > > Sandra > > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.1/440 - Release Date: 9/6/2006 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PA-OLD-CHESTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >