Mary Stewart Kyritsis wrote: > His will which is filed in the office of the County > Court of Augusta appears to have been written with his own hand and the > writing and style shows that he had more education than was usual at > that early day. This brings up a question that I have regarding the Recorder's copies of wills. I have seen digital copies of wills as filed in Hardin County, Kentucky, and they appear to have been copied by the Recorder into record books. I have another photo-copy of a hand written will, and I assumed it was "original" but the note at the end states that it is a true copy and gives the name of the recorder. Was there a "usual practice" as to filing original wills and also copying them into public records? I notice that signatures are indicated with a s/ and the name. Cheers, Erica Stewart researching Stewarts in Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas

Erica, If you look at the court record books, you will note that consecutive records are usually in the same handwriting, that of the clerk of court or an assisitant. To find original wills, go to the probate file if it exists and there you will hopefully find the original will and in many cases a wealth of other information - where the heirs are living, guardianships that have been established, etc. etc. All the old official court records in Deed Books, Wills, Probate Books, etc. that I have examined in Texas, Louisiana, Missaissippi, and Alabama have been transcribed. I have never seen an original document in such a book. The originals have all been filed in little boxes, cases, tied packages, or such and include all the documents relating to the case. Marriage Book records, on the other hand, typically have valid signatures on the license applications. James Stewart On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 17:39:03 -0800 Erica Stewart <erica53@earthlink.net> wrote: This brings up a question that I have regarding the Recorder's copies of wills. I have seen digital copies of wills as filed in Hardin County, Kentucky, and they appear to have been copied by the Recorder into record books. I have another photo-copy of a hand written will, and I assumed it was "original" but the note at the end states that it is a true copy and gives the name of the recorder. Was there a "usual practice" as to filing original wills and also copying them into public records? I notice that signatures are indicated with a s/ and the name.

Hi Erica, I am not sure about KY, but in NC and VA all original wills, deeds and grants, and probate papers are filed at the Archives. What you will find in that county in KY are transcribed documents. Of course courthouses all over the USA are known to have "loose papers" in boxes thrown in the basements of courthouses, that have not been transcribed yet. You may ask to go down there and check. I know several who have done this and have been successful. Bring latex or cotton gloves so as to not damage any of these old documents. Teresa __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com