Thank you to Jewell for contributing the following information on Guardians/Orphans Guardianship Records from “Southern Queries”, Jan./Feb.1999, page 16-17 What Is a Guardian? A guardian is a person appointed by a court to manage the property ownership of an individual who is either a minor (younger than the legal age of majority as defined by the state under which the court lies) or who is mentally or physically incompetent by reason of age or other circumstance to manage his or her own affairs. Certainly guardians are appointed for other reasons as well. The guardian’s role is usually to supervise the financial affairs of the person in question. The guardian is responsible to the court to act responsibly in the interests of the person in his charge until such time as they reach the age of majority or until there is another change in the condition, i.e. marriage or death. The guardian must submit an annul accounting to the court of his or her actions and any expenditures made on his charges’ behalf. When the person for whom he is responsible has a change in status, the guardian must also make a report to the court of that alteration in circumstance and present an accounting to close out his role on that person’s behalf. That means that there may be additional records in the county courthouse that could help you trace the guardian or the person for whom he was responsible. An orphan in the eyes of the court is an individual without one or both parents. Usually a court refers to a child whose father is dead as an orphan for legal purposes. There are usually two court processes involved: 1. the declaration that a person is incompetent to handle his or her affairs, and 2. the assignment of the guardian (also sometimes called a conservator). In the first court process, the age of the child is ascertained. This is a very important point. The age of 14 years is critical. If you find the appointment of a guardian, it usually indicates that the child was under the age of 14. Children of the age of 14 years and above could usually make their own legal decision of whom they wished to act in their behalf. The guardian usually acted on behalf of his charge until he/she reached the age of 21 years unless,as discussed above, there is a change in status – such as death or marriage. In the second court process, the guardian is legally appointed and the name of his charge is listed. It is not uncommon for there to be multiple guardians appointed to act for different children in the same family. It may not have been practical for one person to act as guardian for an entire family of children. Also,if some children were a product of one marriage and others from a previous marriage, it may have been desirable to appoint guardians from the families of the different spouses to act on behalf of their blood kin. One or both of these processes may be separate from the process of probate, in which the estate of the deceased parent is registered, proved and administered. Certainly,some estates took a long period to be probated and distributed. In the meantime, the needs of the children had to be attended to. Therefore, sometimes temporary guardians were appointed strictly for the probate period and/or until arrangements could be made to place the child with relatives. Alternatives to Guardianships In some cases, parents couldn’t support their children and the county took on the responsibility to support them. They were often sent to places referred to as orphan homes, orphan asylums, alms houses, workhouses or poor houses. You will often find records of county-operated institutions on the county tax rolls. Names of individuals housed at these places are usually included because there is a price associated with the maintenance of each one. Depending on the time frame, census records, too, may provide information about the residents. Church-supported institutions may be more difficult to find or to access. Non-government operated institutions records may no longer exist or may be impossible to locate. They may reside in a county office or in a state archive, in a county or local historical society’s collection, in a local library’s vertical files, or in a private collection. Quite often, unfortunately, the records simply disappeared after the institution closed its doors. Sometimes a child was apprenticed to learn a trade. A poor family that could not provide for all its children might choose to bind a child to a master via an indenture. A poor father might also make such arrangements and include directions in his will for a child to learn a trade. The master who accepted an apprentice takes responsibility as his guardian. He is usually responsible to feed and clothe the apprentice in addition to teaching him the trade. He might also be required by the local or county government to insure that the apprentice attended school. Indentures for apprenticeships can often be found in county records. What Does It All Mean? As you can see, there were a variety of ways in which an underage minor child’s interests could be protected. There are also public records that documented the processes and the accounting. If you have male ancestors who died leaving young children, there’s a possibility that there may be records of guardianship or other arrangements. While there may be a will that went through probate, there may be other records too. Don’t overlook these other records. They may hold clues to names, ages, dates or birth and other information that you’ve been seeking.