I had a similar query - mine was "what does 'Letter of Administration granted to' mean?" A cousin of mine who is a retired judge clarified: " In Pennsylvania, letters of administration are issued to the person who will be the administrator of a deceased's estate. However, there is normally not a will involved. If a person dies with a will and names an executor, then the executor is issued "letters testamentary" to carry out his or her duties. One can normally think of an aministrator as a person who is administering the estate of a person who died without a will while an executor does the same task for a person who died with a will. Sometimes you will see the term "administrator(trix) d.b.n." or "adminstrator(trix) d.b.n.c.t.a.". This occurs when the named executor in a will either does not take out letters testamentary or has taken them out but either resigned, was removed, or died during the course of the administration of the estate. Then the replacement administrator is issued the letters previously mentioned and assumes that title in administering the estate." This doesn't directly answer your question, but it may help a bit. I've seen a lot of cases where a child or a son-in-law are given the letters of administration and a child tends to be the one named as an executor as well. (OK, I don't have a lot of data, only several dozen examples, so maybe I am extrapolating...) - Jeff R ---------- > From: HBGood@aol.com > Subject: who does inventories and witnesses wills? > Date: Wednesday, September 03, 1997 4:39PM > > I am stumped on a surname for a female line. All I have is a will and > inventory for an old (her description) widow from 1805. Her only surviving > son is the executor; don't know if there were any daughters. Who or what > relation might witnesses to the will be, and who might have done the > inventory? The names are not on the list of baptismal sponsors for her > grandchildren. One appears to be a neighbour, another was also a justice of > the peace. The other two also lived in the same township (Whitehall - Lehigh > Co). What have you folks found - friends or family? My limited info for > inventories I am sure of point to brother-in-law and neighbours. Of course, > often neighbours are family, but in that instance, nothing obvious has shown > up (yet). > Thanks for your suggestions > Heidi from Sugar Land TX