This was posted on a list hosted by Bill Utterback, he graciously gave permission for it to be reposted to our list. It covers guardianship records. Milton ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Volunteer of "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness" at http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnraogk/index.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Utterback <billco@ARN.NET> To: <KYJacksonPurchase-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 16, 1999 5:37 PM Subject: [KYJacksonPurchase-L] Tip # 39 - The Appointed Guardian > My friends - > > Over the past several weeks, I have coincidentally received about a half > dozen private messages from subscribers to this List, and from others, > which all had the same general question. The question concerned why a > guardian was appointed after the death of a husband and father, when the > widow survived, and, in fact, in the next census, the children are shown > living in the household with the widow. This gives me a good opportunity to > talk for a few minutes about guardians. > > We deal with, and see documentation about, guardians in every aspect of our > genealogical research. We know that it is important to investigate > guardians, since they are very often close family members. We know that > there are guardian bond books in many courthouses, which we should > investigate, since the appointment of the guardian often mentions some > details of the death of the parent which brings about the need for a > guardian. We also will want to examine the court minutes to watch for the > reports which the guardian must file periodically with the court. If a > minor child is 14 or over, he may, in many states in the 19th century, been > given the right to select his "guardian and curator". Anything that relates > to guardians and guardianships requires our diligent attention and > investigation. > > But what about the situation I mentioned in the first paragraph above - why > would a guardian be necessary if the widow survived and the children are > living with her, and if a guardianship was needed, why was she not named as > guardian? Occasionally, we will see the widow named as guardian, especially > later in the 19th century. Before about 1870, however, women were not > considered to be capable of handling the financial part of their children's > inheritance from the deceased father, either because of the custom of the > times, or the possibility that the widow was illiterate or there may have > been reason to believe the widow would not preserve the children's > inheritance properly until the children reached their majority. In those > cases, the court would appoint a guardian to oversee the children's rights > through inheritance, even though the children continued to live with their > mother until they reached their majority, or married, at which time the > guardian would discharge himself. > > It is vital to follow a guardian's administration activities from the time > of his appointment until he discharges himself. There are occasions in > which court documents will provide valuable clues if a squabble develops > between the family and the guardian. Guardians did much more than care for > the children - they were, just as often, the overseers of the property due > to the children, whether the children lived with the guardian or not, and > therein lays the potential for possible clues in the documentation. > > As always, there will be no data posts per se over the weekend, but I will > be dropping in with another in our series of JP Land Grants, and, if time > permits, another from the miscellaneous files group. > > -B > ============================================================ > > > ==== KYJacksonPurchase Mailing List ==== > Check out the Rootsweb searchable mailing list archives at: > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=KYJacksonPurchase-L > >