Kathy, My best guess is that the difference in dates is due to the so-called French and Indian, or 7 Years War, which totally disrupted things in the South Branch Valley as well as various court entries. People just had other things on their mind--like survival! so not all things were entered in court records immediately. I've also seen numerous cases, even in good times, when estates were not settled until several years later. Sara At 04:53 PM 8/12/00 -0700, you wrote: >Posted on: Hampshire County, WV Query Forum >Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/WV/Hampshire/1332 > >Surname: Arnold >------------------------- > >I just received the latest 2 documents, one for Richard Arnold and one >for Josiah Arnold from the culteral center in Charleston and I was hoping >that the date would be different from the first document concerning Josiah's >estate sale but it wasn't. So, my question is does anyone know if it is >possible that an estate wouldn't be sold till years later after someone >dies. The reason I am asking is that Rev. Pugh's Diary listed Josiah as >dying in 1755 and the estate sale records aren't dated until 1763. If someone >can explain this I would really appreciate it. Both of the documents are >estate inventories and they both listed a Bible.( anyone know of one that >is still around?) >Thanks.............Kathy