nothing like a bit of humor on a genealogy list. As to the question of wives being examined to release dowers I have seen, in my personal research, cases where a wife, usually a widow by the time the suit was brought, would sue in chancery court to retrieve the value of her dower. This widow sued because her husband in 1838 sold a piece of property and she either did not relinquish her dower or it was not recorded. In 1881 she sued in chancery and retrieved 1/3 of not only the value of the land but also 1/3 of all the rents that had been collected over the years( Civil War and Reconstruction were in there so some years were not calculated). She must have had a very good lawyer because this was the second case that she brought ...the first involved a sale of land in 1857 which she also won. Her husband was very prominent in the county in those early years and the family literally had lost everything in the Civil War. This case took place in Franklin County VA . I also have cases in Fauquier where land that was inherited by the wife was later mortgaged and sold to pay debts of her husband. The dower was not relinquished when it was sold and 20 plus years later 1/3 of the value of the land with all its improvements (which were considerable) were retrieved in a chancery suit. I love chancery suits ...at least some of the women in my lines got smarter as they older. Susan