Hi Sally, I have to say that dealing with 18th century PA records is a chore we share with the Germans and Quakers (etc)! It seems hard till you try a few other colonies.... Anyhow, you won't find out where he died unless you channel him. You can find out where he owned land and probably lived. That's where they processed his estate. Though I have seen people file in various counties who didn't own any land in two of the three (apparently lived in Cumberland Co because all land is there, but filed in Lancaster and Chester too. Don't know why.) >Am trying to figure out where one Edward Cathey died. >Intestate, his estate bond was filed in Lancaster before >Thomas Cookson and James Smith in 1745. Maybe he died on a UFO <grin> but he had enough of an estate in Lancaster that the local court took an interest. >Anyone else got admin bonds c.1745? I got many things but not personally these. The thought makes me sneeze and my eyes cross. However when I am researching if these things exist and where they are here is what I do. 1. Check the FHL catalog. Why not? It's free and y ou can get most of what is in it cheaply. 2. Check a book on PA records. Sometimes its confusing because you can find (for example) film/transcriptions/abstracts of probate records from the courthouse but also sometimes the PA Society of Genealogists (I hope I got the name right) in PHilly may have a collection that is also filmed/transcribed/abstracted. Check them all. Sometimes there are courthouse fires and these secondary collections got more. I keep hoping to find a copy of a will that was not recorded as it was disallowed due to debt (in three counties though the person owned land in only 2, He had a debtor in the third, I suspect) about 1742 or so. The estate went to a man with a different name who claimed he was the 'heir at law'. Twenty years later another man manifested and convinced a court he was the rightful heir and the property was sold in a sherrif's sell and the original 'heir' was given a cash amount representing a debt. None of the depositions survive that id this younger man. ANd where was he for 20 years? If he was an orphan than why wasn't there an orphan's court case in one of three counties?? I donno... 3. Check www.usgenweb.com . This last idea is particularly good because it has a lot of aids to understanding the evolution of counties and townships in early PA. Anyway I digress... The FHL has under Probate Records Abstracts of Lancaster County, Pa, Orphans Court records, 1742-1791 Wevodau, Edward N Abstracts of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, wills Wright, F. Edward (Frederick Edward) , 1934- Abstracts of wills of the Hess families of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Young, Henry James, 1908-1995 Index and abstracts of Orphans' Court records, 1742-1760 Pennsylvania. Orphans' Court (Lancaster County) Index to letters of administration, 1730-1830 Pennsylvania. Orphans' Court (Lancaster County) Lancaster County wills, 1729-1825 Lancaster County, Pa. will abstracts, 1721-1820 Miscellaneous books, 1742-1867 ; Index to miscellaneous books, 1742-1891 Pennsylvania. Orphans' Court (Lancaster County) Pennsylvania wills, 1682-1834 Wills, 1730-1908 ; Index to Wills, 1729-1947 Lancaster County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills >I'm curious if that makes it more likely he lived near >Lancaster City as opposed to Cumberland County like I'd >thought. One of the nice things about the FHL catalog is it gives the dates the counties were forms. Regarding Cumberland it says: Created Jan. 27, 1750 from part of Lancaster County. From it came Bedford Co., in 1771, part of Northumberland Co. in 1772, Franklin Co. in 1784, part of Mifflin Co. in 1789, Perry Co. in 1820. So anyone wanting to probate a will, etc, in 1745 had ONE CHOICE. That's Lancaster Co because it included what would become Cumberland. The legal descripton of the land might name streams or other individuals that might well. I think most all of Cumberland was "Hopewell Township" then. You do end up wanting to narrow it down. You could hire a lawyer in Carlisle. I have found court records of men I knew lived in what would become Franklin Co, near Chambersburg who were summoned to jury duty in Carlisle. Not as big a trek as Lancaster. People got around back then, esp on the frontier. >>The Lancaster County Historical Society says admin bonds >were loose papers so they're not chronologically accessible. There. Have you check the FHL? I'd order any number of items from the above list esp the orphans court records. Thats's where they processed estates in PA. The adminstrations are filmed (above). Dealing with a brick and mortar historical society is the LAST thing I'd do. You may also want to do more checking to see if these have been published (www.genealogical.com is a good place to start as well as the library of congress -- the catalog is on the web, try www.google.com ). These things are hard to read. You have to read them very carefully. You are not probalby trained to read 18th century hand writing. If you can find published abstracts that index them, WOW what a win. THEN read the one you care about on film. Print out a copy. >Who's got 1745 Pennsylvania estate papers, anyone? Are the >only ones that made it to the courthouse from Lancaster-area >people? Thoughts? Check also the FHL free guide to PA records for more stuff than I recall. There are wills but better than them are administrations and records for intestates because more had to be documented and discovered to process those estates. In PA in the 1740s you have lots to go on. To find out where he lived you go to www.usgenweb.com and navigate to Lancaster CO. You check the on line wills. The abstracts I think are there. He may not have left a will but did he witness a neighbor's? These usually ID the township. If he witnessed a will for a John McBip of Lost Twp, where do you think he lived? Probably near John McBip. You can do a lot of research in this period and tell where he lived. Did sons serve in the French and INdian War? Who was their captain? That gives you a very good idea where they lived. Much info is in the on line PA archives. An index to them is at our website: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~merle . I am fairly sure the admins are not in the PA Archives, but check. Apparently the man had children. Check where they served in the Revolution. Again, the militias were recruited locally. IF you get the name of the captain, you know the township where they lived. The Cumberland ones are published in "Mother Cumberland". Lancaster will take a little research. Best of luck!! Linda Merle >Thanks, >Sally Brandon > >http://www.genealogy.com/users/b/r/a/Sally-A-Brandon/ > > ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net

Linda, <Check also the FHL free guide to PA records for more stuff than I recall. There are wills but better than them are administrations and records for intestates because more had to be documented and discovered to process those estates.> This is something I did not know. I have wills for both my ggg-gradfather McKinney, born 1776 and was the first in my line to cross from Derry (eventually settled near Pittsburgh in 1822), and for my gg-grandfather. I do not have a will for my g-grandfather. I thought that ended everything for him and didn't look further. He died young, and his wife and kids (one of whom was my grandfather) moved from Wilkins Township to New Castle, Pa. I also found no will for her. Would the prothonotary's office or the recorder of wills office in Allegheny County be the appropriate place to look, and what would I be looking for? Tip for other searchers: Don't be afraid of the criminal courts records. Most are public. And sometimes what you find there answers more than one question. It also gives your ancestry collection tons more human color. Believe me, I know! One gg-grandfather on father's side (not a McKinney, though) was charged with bastardy and forced by a judge to marry my gg-grandma. Guess it worked. They went on to have 10 kids. Bill McKinney