In a message dated 4/22/01 12:05:35 PM, martee@citlink.net writes: << So, NO signature on a deed of the wife almost without exception means there was NO wife at the date of the deed. >> I must take exception to this, but also ask a question. I have many situations where a wife did not relinquish her dower in a property though by other records I know she was alive. These cases seem to involve land either patented by the husband but which was not their primary farm, or land he had purchased prior to his marriage. Was the wife's dower excluded to certain properties such as the home plantation or land acquired after the marriage? Or did wives just fail to relinquish dowers at times, or otherwise the relinquishments were not recorded? Craig Kilby