Where there's a Will....

...there's a way to get to the Truth.

A new found elderly cousin related the story of  her Grandmother's will last week, she was rather bitter that her mother and siblings were only left a pittance while one brother and a man who had befriended the old lady got the bulk of the estate.

State Records NSW (our State Archives) is situated in Kingswood which is 50 kilometres to the west of Sydney CBD. While it is good that there is plenty of parking (once you get there) and lots of room for expansion but getting to the archives is a pain. It just so happened that I was going to have lunch in our Blue Mountains last Wednesday, a trip that took me along the Motorway past Kingswood.

State Records is out amongst the gum trees on the edge of Sydney

State Records NSW do a great job and, with the help of an army of volunteers, they have a number of Online Indexes to their holdings available.

State Records Online Indexes.

Remembering that they have indexed many Probate Files so I did a search for the Grandmother's file and was lucky to find that it was available. While I was at it I also found a Land Title file for the Grandmother's property. One can pay to have the files copied and sent but at $AU30 each I could think of other ways to spend my geneabudget.

The Reading Room at State Records

As I have a Reader's Ticket for State Records NSW I was able to order the files to be ready in the Reading Room when I visited. After spending time with my friends over lunch I set off for Kingswood arriving about 3:15pm. As the files were waiting for me I was able to get straight to work. It only took me around 45 minutes to read and digest their contents and to photograph the contents on both my camera and mobile phone (Back ups are important especially when Kingswood is so far away).

The File contained affadavits, receipts, a copy of the will, details of properties owned and an inventory of household goods and personal effects.

So what did the Probate Packet reveal? The one brother and the man who had befriended the old lady got a few extra bits and pieces like a piano and some furniture  and some of the grandchildren got odds and ends but the bulk of the estate was divided equally in five shares between the four living children of the grandmother with the fifth share going to the children of her fifth (deceased) child.

Since the Grandmother died in 1944 the story of her bequests to family members has become slightly twisted. The lesson here is that while elderly relatives can be great sources of information it is wise to check the facts via other available sources.

Part of the Inventory in the Probate Packet.

Original Records Are Always the Best

I finally came to the place in my tree while cleaning up, that made me acknowledged that for years I had let stand another person's research that was based on an abstracted record.  It was time to search for the records that the other person had abstracted.  This was not new to me.  I had done this with my Hero's line and discovered an abstracted record in respected published book had left out a child entirely.
The search in the probate records on FamilySearch was a bust.  The records did not go back far enough.  I then turned to the FamilySearch Wiki , search for my county and state, which helped me find there was a searchable database for the county. Had I gone there first, I might not have found it as it is not intuitive to discover... The area of records is under holdings... I did find the probate indices and searched. They were there, the two men who died within months of each other and the focus of my research.  They had come to Madison County, Mississippi Territory as Squatters apparently as one shows up in the 1809 Mississippi Territory Squatter's Census.  The hash marks with him indicate the other man and his family in the household.

I ordered the files, and lo and behold, the previous abstracts did have some relationships incorrect. Yep, the original is ALWAYS best!  My problem now is to try and figure out the relationships.  On the 1809 Squatter's Census the dates are not helpful as to if it would brother or father and son relationship as, it just lists 21 and up.  They died in late 1814 and early 1815.  I always love it when more information flows in, but wish some could have been definitive.
What I did learn was some of the life style and crops they must have grown.  They did not have slaves, so they must have done most of their work as a family.  Which is pretty much the way the Mississippi Territory Squatters were described.There was a Flax Spinning Wheel for sale, and cloth. I gather they grew the flax, spun it into cloth.

One of the women in the file had made a coat. It apparently was for the burial of the one who is thought to be the older of the two men. So they must have also made clothing for others. There were also, sheep, wool, and cotton mentioned. They purchased a 5 gal jug of whisky for use as  the property was being sold.

They apparently were not teetotalers and knew how to loosen people up, ;-)  or all were friends and it was a type of social.  Maybe someone has a better understanding of the people of that time.  I love reading Judy Russell's, The Legal Genealogist, blog posting.  They have broadened my look as I search through the files.  If you haven't subscribed to her posts, it is not too late.
I am now digging into Mississippi Territory and Georgia Territory records in the hopes to discover something to clarify the relationships.  Another researcher has found a family they think could be this one in South Carolina.  Deed Records, here I come.
This post has really served as a thinking ground for me as I am trying to sort out what I have found.  Maybe you have suggestions or it will help you in your journey too.
See you next month!