Janell, Since he had a will you should be able to find probate papers; these would include the dispersal pertaining to his will and also the inventory Wills are usually probated fairly soon after the death of the will creator so that should narrow down a search. Look for a copy of the entire probate papers because abstracts serve a purpose but often miss points which can be really valuable to the genealogy researcher. Since the will states that "all real estate, tenements and hereditaments" should be sold after his wife's death, you could look for properties in the vicinity sold not too long after her death. They were likely to have been put on the market at pretty much the same time, and they would likely be sold with Henry shown as the owner. Did his will indicate that the cash to be dispersed to family members was to come from the sale of the goods? I used my Webster's Unabridged Dict. to look up the terms "hereditament" and "tenement." The term hereditament is an archaic legal term meaning "any inheritable estate or interest in property." Tenement has six meanings: #1 is "any home or building to live in; dwelling house." #2, 3, &4 are variations on that theme; however, #5 is "any species of permanent property as lands, houses, rents, an office, a franchise, etc., that may be held by another." So the use of tenement doesn't necessarily indicate rental property/properties. However when he includes "rents and incomes of all his real estate," I think it becomes very clear that he has properties of some type which he rents out or makes income on in some way. I also agree that census records, tax lists, and other documents suggested by responders should be included in a search for the answer to your question(s). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Janell Gregson" <jgsgenealogy@yahoo.com> To: <palancas@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 4:02 PM Subject: [PALANCAS] 1850s in Lanc. County >I hope one of you can steer me in the right direction, and I'm sure any >answers would be useful to others researching our ancestors who lived there >during the 1800's. > I'm working on a family history book to self-publish for my extended > family. I'm fine with names (Diffenbaugh and others) , dates and places. > What I am looking for are stories or at least best guesses. Guesses will > not be presented as fact. > > My 2nd great-grandparents, Henry Diffenbaugh and Mary Bressler, raised 11 > children (one died as an infant) in East Lampeter. > Henry's will and codicil were written in 1856 and 1857. Henry willed to > Mary "all livestock, carriage, wagons, farming implements, and rents and > incomes of all his real estate." He authorized, after the death of his > wife, the sales of all "real estate, tenements and hereditaments." Also > after the death of his wife, his children and grandchildren were to > receive a total of $3,600 between them. (All were listed, with varying > amounts.) > > I checked on www.westegg.com/inflation and see that that $3,600 cash would > be worth $89,577.63 in 2010 dollars. Does the above information give any > clues about his life and lifestyle? I assume he was a farmer. Does above > indicate he also owned other property, or was that wording what we might > call "boiler plate" on a form? Would this be considered an average income? > Any way to guess the amount of land he may have owned? > > I will certainly be checking all the wonderful PA websites that were just > shared! Are there books I should be checking , maybe through inter-library > loans? I've been to Lancaster but live in Seattle and can't do research > on-site unfortunately. > > Thanks to whoever can steer me in the right direction, and sorry for the > long question! > > Janell > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PALANCAS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message