> Why were women in the 1800's asked questions to insure that they were > making a free decision to buy or sell land? In reading deeds to property > at the Bradford and Tioga Court Houses I read several deeds involving > women where they seem to have been taken aside and questioned , and then > assurance was given that they were making a decision of their own free > will. Women weren't allowed to own property, or at least not allowed to buy or sell it if they had a husband. I was in Towanda last month collecting deeds. My great-grandfather divided his land among his wife and young children in his will. Presumably my great grandmother inherited her share in her own right. But she remarried, and when she and two of her now grown children sold their shares to my grandfather, it was her husband, and her daughter's husband whose names were on the transaction. The two women were taken aside and asked if they agreed to the sale. I'm glad that women were given even that much consideration in the disposal of their own property. The antiquated laws were lucky for me because I've been wanting to know for years who her new husband was and where they lived. Finally found out on that deed. Fran Clark in New Mexico