Right on Carol. I posted this note last evening. While Bob is relating his true experience, I personally have seen no where near that percentage he mentioned - 50% - of deeds with no assent by the wife. These assents sometimes were appended to the deed on a 2nd page, and sometimes even in a separate document. It is important to remember that, if the wife did not outlive the husband, the entire question is moot and was never raised, since her "widow's share" (whatever it may have been from time to time and from to place) only vested IF she survived. If she did survive, while the possibility of a court ignoring her rights surely was occasionally present, such matters were well known to EVERY wife, since that was often their only subsistence after widowhood, hence few of such rights slipped by the judges if the widow or any interested party raised the question. Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carol A. Morrison" <carolamorrison@earthlink.net> To: <VA-SOUTHSIDE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 10:34 AM Subject: Re: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] Re: Land Ownership in Tennessee | Paul, | | You stated that "So, NO signature on a deed of the wife almost without | exception means there was NO wife at the date of the deed." I realize you | put that "almost without exception" but was thinking some new folks might | not realize that it can be done and can be found. | | From my own personal research and reading many, many deeds in Virginia, I | can personally tell you that I've seen several deeds where the wife did not | sign the deed and the deed did not mention a wife when in fact there was one | at the time of the transfer of the property. So, folks, while it usually | may indicate that there is no wife, it doesn't mean with 100% certainty that | she doesn't exist. | | Carol | | ----- Original Message ----- | From: "Paul" <martee@citlink.net> | To: <VA-SOUTHSIDE-L@rootsweb.com> | Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2001 3:01 PM | Subject: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] Re: Land Ownership in Tennessee | | | > In answer to Joyce, who asked "...if there | > was no wife's signature on an early deed, | > could there have been one anyhow?" We have a | > saying: "At marriage a man and woman become | > one, and that one is the man." In | > Tennessee, as in nearly ALL the Southern | > States, the belongings of a woman - land and | > personal property, of every sort - became the | > property of the husband when she married him, | > and men could buy land (or anything else) | > with no participation whatever by the wife. | > HOWEVER, no one with good sense or judgment | > would buy land without the written assent of | > the seller's wife to that sale, since to do | > so would be to ignore her nearly inviolate | > rights to a "widow's share" at the death of | > her husband, no matter how much later that | > death occurred. So, NO signature on a deed | > of the wife almost without exception means | > there was NO wife at the date of the deed. | > | > | > | > ==== VA-SOUTHSIDE Mailing List ==== | > USGenWeb Archives http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb | > | > | > ============================== | > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! | > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp | > | | | ==== VA-SOUTHSIDE Mailing List ==== | USGenWeb Archives Census Project | http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/ | | | ============================== | Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: | Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. | http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com |