I always wondered about that myself. I have the will (or wills) of James McCommon (the 2nd) and possibly James (the 1st) and did notice that he had his children under the guardian ship of a brother. I at least know now that it was most likely he only had guardianship over their money and property and they continued to live with their mother. I did notice that on a couple of the payment receipts it is was one of the elder sisters collecting the money for her younger brothers. I will have to check, but it may have been because the mother died a couple years later. The sister was married by then. If anyone is interested in James McCommon of Plain grove and wants me to transcribe what I have either on or off list I can try to do this. It might take me a few days to dig out all the papers and some of them were ruined when they were in my trunk and it was "flooded". I plan a trip back to Mercer and New Castle court houses later in the summer to replace some of the info and collect new info, so if anyone wants me to look up anything for them let me know. Renee X-Message: #1 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:14:25 -0700 From: "dolores leifheit" <dolores85374@cox.net> To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <002501c64c39$5ba11cd0$6401a8c0@de> Subject: Guardianship Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Can someone please explain the appointing of guardians (at least in PA 1750-1840) to children after their father dies but the mother remains alive and she, along with the children, receives money and property through a will. I have cases where the children are in their teens, usually female, sometimes a guardian is appointed by the courts, sometimes they 'appoint' their own guardian, sometimes they ask the guardian for 'their money' upon marriage. Other cases where an adult male (over 18 years) is appointed a guardian. Other cases where the children are quite young. Do these children live with the guardian? Thanks for any ideas. Dolores ______________________________ X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 11:39:37 -0500 From: "R.Musselman" <ram@enter.net> To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <00e301c64c3c$e11c12e0$b998c1d8@003559779> Subject: Re: [AMER-REV] Guardianship Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dolores, These are the type of records you can expect to find in each PA county Orphans Court. In most instances the appointed guardian only had a fiduciary responsibility. The child would usually continue to reside with the surviving mother. Until age 14 a child held no standing before the court. A petition for the appointment of guardianship would be made on his/her behalf by an adult. After age 14 the minor could petition the court directly and request the appointment of a specific guardian. In all instances the court was required to approve the request/petition. Throughout most of the time period in question, females usually attained the age of majority at age 18 and males at age 21. The guardian may have been required by the court to post a Bond and later to provide an Accounting. The accounting sheets can provide some very interesting information concerning how the funds were dispersed. Dick Musselman Family History Research & Photography Nazareth, PA X-Message: #6 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 11:21:57 -0800 From: Dean Scribner <dean.scribner@juno.com> To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <20060320.112326.3584.10.dean.scribner@juno.com> Subject: Re: [AMER-REV] Guardianship Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Not only in the 18th and 19th centuries, but also in the 20th and 21st centuries, minor children were and are not legally able to manage and administer inherited property until they became of legal age, so a guardian must be appointed by the court of probate, or in Pennsylvania the orphans' court. Anyone could petition the court to appoint a guardian, usually nominating a preferred person, and often the minor child was allowed to nominate a guardian, in all cases, always subject to the approval of the court. Only the court can actually "appoint" the guardian. A surviving parent, or any other adult person could be appointed, and the guardianship had nothing to do with determining with whom the child lived. I'm familiar with more than one case where the father was appointed guardian for his own children, because they had inherited from someone unrelated to the father. It all boils down to who is to be legally responsible for protecting and administering the minor child's property until he is of legal age to do so for himself. Also, it is not uncommon for a guardian to be appointed for an adult person who is either physically or mentally unable to properly administer his or her own property. Dean X-Message: #5 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 12:12:05 -0500 From: "David Armstrong" <heraldry@meer.net> To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <001b01c64c41$6bf659d0$0589ced8@yourcjyhi9abh9> Subject: Re: [AMER-REV] Guardianship Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit You asked about PA and Dick obviously knows more than I do about that, but since part of PA for a time fell in Virginia (depending on who one talked to) perhaps a brief mention of their law would be helpful. Unlike in PA, nearly all functions of government from roads to orphans fell to the county justices. One body, one record, real handy. Chalkley's CHRONICLES, which mentions the Pittsburgh government, has several notations of allowances from the public coffers for families of soldiers, sometimes whether dead or not. It must be remembered that in Virginia the whole matter of whether the justices would act depended on the liklihood of the woman/child becomming an expense to the county. If a girl had an illegitimate child and her father or the father could afford to pay and did so, then no action of the court would appear. Then as now if the maker of the check could not be found then the last endorser was charged. Some guy would be hauled in (fingered as the father - some were, others are questionable) and charged for child support. Or the child may be bound to a trade, which had the result that sometimes the children with the humblest origins and illegitimate births came out on top of society after they were bound to a carpenter, wheelwright, barrel maker, and thus wound up more skilled than their legitimate cohorts who likely stayed in the farming trade. In the absence of a father (killed in action, died of disease, etc.,) the whole family may be provided for by the county but this was rare compared to today and it was more likely the widow would promptly remarry and the child would be "bound". If those concerned could afford to act on their own then sometimes informal arrangements were made (like the "adoption" of one individual here apparently without act by any government body). Also watch for sudden name changes, particularly among boys. I have one Rev. pension (can't seem to lay my hands on it at the moment) in which the claimant said he served the military in a different name as he "went by my step father's name till I was 21". Sudden and abrupt name changes are common. all this will only apply to a small part ot SW PA and then only for about ten years but in case anyone would be interested I posted it. Good luck. Best regards, David Armstrong, Elkins, WV