Wealth in Probate Records
If you've spent any time working with probate records, you know a probate packet can contain a wealth of information. Wills often identify the names of family members and close friends, describe their location at specific times, and detail the relationship between the testator and his or her heirs. Reports by the administrator of an estate to the court may detail estate contents, lists of debtors and creditors of the estate, and a roster of potential heirs. It is the final duty of the probate court to determine the equitable distribution of the estate.

Sometimes the settlement of an estate is a protracted affair, drawn out for months or years, because of a variety of reasons. During that time, the value of the estate may change, heirs may die, new potential heirs may be born, or marital status may change. These and other factors may change the ultimate distribution of the estate.

It is in cases like these that lawyers must become genealogical researchers, determining and verifying every potential heir and scrutinizing the validity of each claim to the estate. Their research must be thorough, their sources impeccable and verifiable, and their detailed written report to the probate court must bear up to the finest scrutiny.

A Case in Point
"Mrs. Mary Ann Smith," declared the New York Herald, in her obituary dated Wednesday, March 24, 1897, "one of the best known and wealthy business women in New Jersey, died late Monday night in her home, No. 63 Market Street, Newark, of a complication of diseases. She was sixty-eight years old, and had been a widow for a number of years." Her obituary further states that she was an immigrant from Ireland, having arrived and settled with her husband in Newark in 1847. Following the death of her husband in 1872, she took her money out of the grocery business and began what became the American Glass Bending and Beveling Works in Newark. Mrs. Smith was the sole owner of the business at the time of her death, and she was considered to be one of the wealthiest women in New Jersey.

Mrs. Smith had six surviving sons at the time of her death, all of whom were in some way involved in the business. Her sizable estate was left in a trust, administered by her youngest son, Thomas D. Smith. In simple terms, the estate was to be divided into seven equal shares: one for each of her children and one for a Catherine Burke. Her estate would be distributed on the death of her last son among all of her grandchildren and the children of Catherine Burke. If some issue of these seven individuals died before that time, their portion would be distributed among their siblings. If there were no issue by any of the seven, or if all his/her issue died before that time, that portion of the estate went back into the pot.

What Mrs. Smith had not reckoned on was that her youngest son would survive until July 30, 1958. Over those years, during her sons' management of the business and Thomas's management of the estate, its value had reduced significantly. However, there was still an estate, and sixty-one years later, it became the job of lawyers to determine who were the rightful heirs, and for the probate court to determine Mrs. Smith's intent and how to distribute the residue of her estate.

The lawyers began an extensive research campaign to locate every potential heir. They determined that Catherine Burke had died without issue, and so her share went immediately back into the estate. They next determined the names (including spouse's name) of each of Mrs. Smith's children, grandchildren and, after all these years, her great-grandchildren. Each person's birth date, status—living or deceased (and date of death) as of July 30th, 1958, and, if living, the current address was ascertained. Careful research determined that Mrs. Smith had twenty-eight grandchildren, sixteen of which were still living, and seventeen great-grandchildren living as of July 30, 1958.

A well-documented, written report was filed by the lawyer with the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Essex County (Docket # 29/386/764) on June 8, 1959. Since Mrs. Smith had made no provisions for her great-grandchildren in her will, the probate judge made a ruling as to Mrs. Smith's intent. Mrs. Smith's estate was divided in fractional shares of the total estate ranging from 1/6 to the sole surviving son of one of her sons to 1/144 to each of the six children of one of her son's children.

Reaping the Benefits
Mrs. Smith's probate packet is a vast collection of materials spanning the years from her death in 1897, through all the annual estate financial reports made to the court by her son, the administrator, to the final documentation just described. While her estate is somewhat spectacular in scope, it is not unusual. Wills and trusts are quite common. My own grandfather left 2,000 shares of relatively worthless stock in trust with instructions that any dividends should be used for the education of his grandchildren until the last one turned age twenty-one. Twenty-five years later, the trust fulfilled, the shares were equally divided among his four surviving daughters. Throughout the years, and at final liquidation of the trust to settle an estate, legal paperwork should exist, including a lawyer and/or administrator's final report and the probate court records of the disposition of the estate.

If you encounter evidence in family papers, wills, letters, probate records, or other documents indicating there may have been a trust or similar legal arrangement in an estate, look deeper. Check for records such as those created by the thorough genealogical research to settle Mary Ann Smith's estate.

By the way, in case you were wondering what the final bequests from Mary Ann Smith's fabulous 1897 estate were, the news was not so wonderful. It seems that her youngest son was not the greatest administrator, and the value of the estate was substantially diminished. The final bequests ranged from $2,400 to the grandson who received a 1/6 share down to $100 for each of the great-grandchildren who received a 1/144 share of the estate. While not a king's ransom, think of the inestimable value of the genealogical research for the family historian!

You may find this kind of impeccable research already done for you.

Happy volunteering!

George

The article originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send e-mail to alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear from you but, because of the volume of e-mail, is unable to personally respond to each letter individually. He also regrets that he cannot assist you with your personal genealogical research. George is also the author of "The Genealogy Forum on America Online," which is available in the Ancestry Online Store at: http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/
product.asp?pf%5Fid=1101046&dept%5Fid=10102000.