hey there- ARMSTRONG CO WILL INDEX 1805-1900 BURFORD- david sugarcreek twp 1884 4 48 4166 george " " 1896 5 391 5675 reuben sr. " " 1852 2 33 992 BURFORT ruben " " 1890 4 500 4856 MARTIN david c. Kiskiminetas twp 1888 4 376 4635 esther j. ------------ 1896 5 387 5666 george toby twp 1827 1 79 207 hugh wayne twp 1841 1 235 558 john a d leechboro 1896 5 360 5621 jonathan burrell twp 1898 5 595 5958 margery dayton 1889 4 419 4710 nancy plumcreek twp 1879 2 329 3626 robert elderton bo 1866 2 419 1807 robert pine twp 1868 2 474 1906 william plumcreek twp 1851 2 8 934 Please let's not forget the importance and availibility of wills and probates in our research. So many of us are used to picking up free stuff on the web or the LDS computers, that we may not ever learn how to do basic research and just give up! My point being, that an important figure such as a senator would most certainly have had a most well documented will which would very clearly lay out who his heirs were- named Zoe or otherwise. Will are kept on a county level. That means that theya re at the county courthouse or building of the county that they died in. This may not be the county they lived in, but where they died. Small but important difference in the case of relatives who die on vacation or in a hospital out of town. This apart. What put me off and therefore millions of other researchers who aren't as pesky as I am, is that you can't just saunter in and get a will off the shelf. Well, maybe if you passed two twenties under the counter- this being a legal fee many courthouses require to search for you. Get a cup of tea and nestle down to a quiet Christmastime story all about wills. Once upon a time, a will was a piece of paper your ggggrandpa put his x on and carried down to the courthouse. When he died, it was dusted off and anybody that was in it that hadn't died yet got their share. Therfore, wills for very early years in counties are pretty straightforward to find. You search a year spread when you suspect they may have died, and there it is in the book- hand copied over by some clerk 150 years ago that you pray didn't dilute his ink with wine ,kept his quill sharp and paid attention in school. This uncomplicated way was the case until recent days in very small counties. ie- Surnames a-c 1780-1820......vol 1........(film #) d-g " " vol 2......." " In front of the book there was usually an index that said what names were in the book, and the page #. Blessed are the ggggggrandchildren of persons living in small counties, for they shall get their research done a whole lot faster! In big counties- industrial centers such a Allegheny,this whole will business got turned into a paperwork nightmare quite quickly, as soon as those pesky civil servants moved in and set up housekeeping. On thing that drives the will business is estate taxes. If you had a gun or a good cow or a few good acres, perhaps the county wanted to check it out, and so they nosed on in. Investigations had to be made into the estate- its value, and its legal heirs. Then there were always those happy individuals that every family has not just one of, that pipe up and say they deserve more, who deserve their day in court to be heard, and this must all be written down somewhere,mustn't it? Additionally, children of the deceased under the age of 21 needed a legal guardian appointed to them, and this all had to be recorded as having been done by full legal process properly and to the satisfaction of the court. Okay, so I've been reading too much Dickens. What we have then, is a lot of documents. All of them relate to the estate and therefore potentially contain material of interest to the researcher. Even the poor had a will, or a probate- or probe - into their estate after death. Don't just say that your folks were poor, and not look for a will at all. Being chicken causes us to miss quite a lot of serendipity. In Allegheny county, where I have done most of my research, there are two indexes that you must wade through in order to get to the will itself. Please note, all the accessory papers may actually contain a whole lot more than the will itself! The first index is the ESTATE INDEX. IT is extraordinarily valuable, even if you don't care about the will. What is wonderful about it is that you do not need to know when exactly a person passed awy to find them in the estate index. These indexes and wills are, by the way, listed under "VITAL RECORDS" in the FHLC on the computer at the LDS for the county in question, or on the microfiche as well. Here is an actual case. I was researching my gggrandfather, Jeremiah JEsson. Now, I had been searching all over England for him, and through the AIS discovered that he was actually in Carnegie Bo in Pittsburgh. I wanted to know if he died there. I ordered the film for "ESTATE INDEX - H-J". It covered a wide range of years. When it came, I scrolled along- and there he was. This is the actual entry- Jesson, Jeremiah Jan 6 1900 Carnegie Bo. Ann H. Palmer Admrx. v. 18 p 163 bk 9 There he was, big as day. I immediately used this info to order a death cert for him, and could have stopped there, but as I said, I am pesky. So, the numbers listed there relate to the next index that you must learn- the PROCEEDINGS INDEX. I needed v (that is, volume) 18- which I ordered from the LDS- the listings for the proceedings index volumes is right below the estate index listings. When volume 18 came, I went to page 163, which is divided up into squares called blocks- and that is what the bk stands for. I went to block # 9. This is what I saw- Jeremiah Jesson jan 6 1900 Carnegie Bo Caveat RG vol 1 p 116 no. 214 Record of death RD 14 / 228 no 177 year 1901 Letters of Adm BD v. 70 p 640 So what is all this? This is a listing of all the actions taken on the estate. You will note there was no actual will recorded. Let's all have a pity party for the pesky researcher thwarted once again. But if there was, it would look like this- Will WB vol5 p345 yr 1901 If you read the section on the fiche at the LDS relating to these indexes, it gives a pretty fair explanation of what the abbreviations stand for. There is a first and final accounting, which is where the court or executor accounts for the $ in the estate and what was used for expenses and how it was distributed to the heirs. The Renunciation is a useful record, in it the heirs agree with their signatures ( women may use their MARRIED name, or sign for children underage) to renounce any other claims against the estate, and or agree to the terms of the will. If you see OC, that refers to the Orphans Court, and you may be sure that there were minors involved- names will be given there as well. There may be an inventory- sometimes down to the feather tick mattress and brooms were inventoried! From the PROCEEDING Index the pesky researcher must make a few decisions. Usually, it is nice to have all the papers relating to the will. One can often write a courthouse, and give them all the info as it is copied exactly and ask them what it will cost for copies. You are not asking them to undertake research- they only need to walk over and get it- which may be hard to do with a coffee in one hand ... Another option is to order the films relating to those documents, if they are listed. Not all things for all counties have been microfilmed yet. You can pay a person to go and in person ask for these things or go yourself and photocopy it yourself, or handcopy it. Handcopying is cheap, but we get to economical with our words and may leave out tiny bits of data that will be absolutely CRUCIAL in about six monthes time...had you known...poor thing! If land is mentioned in the will, you may well find there are related records in the deeds section that you will be pleased to stumble upon. I once found 13 new names in a deed...it was a marvelous thing! Perhaps you will let me know, kind readers, if I have led you astray, or have I helped? Happy Hunting- KAthy Baumgarten