I have seen this time frame pretty often. It's common for the Court which appointed appraisers to at the same time stipulate when the appraisal was to be filed, and common for the same time period to be stipulated for the appointed/approved estate administrator or will executor to file an accounting. You would probably find it useful to locate the Court orders of appointment and see what time frame was mentioned. Consider that the personalty at the domicile property might not be all of the decedent's personal property. I have seen wills mentioning specific items that were held by others, and there could be parcels of cultivated land or woodland where other items were stored. There could be items more or less in escrow pursuant to a chattel mortgage. A working horse or team of oxen may be in use by others. Some livestock might be in offsite rented pasture. A wagon, sled or plow could be at the blacksmith's for repair. Where the inventory also included real estate, there could be small parcels here and there that could take appreciable time to sort out by checking deeds and Town records. Where the decedent had appreciable 'book accounts' it could take time to sort out what debts were outstanding, which would be considered assets, and which would be considered not susceptible to collection. If you have not had the opportunity to see such accounts in a day book or other ledger from the middle of the 19th century, a little effort to locate such manuscripts and take a look could be an eye-opener. Good hunting, Judy **************************************************************************** ******** Kassie writes: Joseph Guillaume died in March 1878 in Christian County Illinois, the appraisal of his property according to the date on the documents was done in April 1878 but the appraisal was not filed until March 1879. This seems strange to me.