A Family History Mission: Probate File Examples

Really strange adhesive stamp for Notary or Clerk's seal on a legal document from Virginia

No. 88

Note: You can do a Google search for "A Family History Mission James Tanner" to see all the previous posts in this ongoing series. You can also search for "James Tanner genealogy" and find them or click back through all the posts.

As the days pass we are getting close to the end of our one-year Senior Mission. As a result, I am trying to summarize and reflect on the work we have been doing in the Maryland State Archives, here in Annapolis, Maryland. In this post, I am illustrating images from one part of a probate action. I am also commenting on the documents. The overall FamilySearch digitization projects is broken down into segments (also called projects) that reflect the way the records are maintained by the court.

First, the image above is a very strange adhesive stamp that was used as the base for a Notary Stamp or Stamp of the Clerk of the Court embossed impression. I have never seen anything like this before. At one time, the stamps were placed on seals, sometimes red.

Here we go.

During the preparation of the documents for digitization, the volunteers, including the Senior Missionaries, fill out a "target sheet" for each file. A complex or contested probate action can last for years and so these "files" may be only one part of the entire action unless the deceased's probate estate is very small. The target sheets are being entered into spreadsheets and then used to make a limited index of the files. Over time, these indexes will be digitized with the probate files. Previously digitized files will also have indexes. This will take quite a long time to create.

This digitization project had been going on for years before we arrived and will continue for years after we leave.

If you need help understanding a probate action, I suggest my multi-part series on probate on the Brigham Young University Family History Library YouTube Channel. See this one for the first in the series:

Probate in the Beginning Part 1

You can search on the term probate on the BYU Family History Channel YouTube Channel to find all the other videos in this series.

The court usually has a cover sheet or envelope for every pleading filed. In the case of the Orphans Court in Maryland, the cover sheet information is usually entered on the back of a pleading or during the time of this example on an envelope. This is the first item digitized.

These particular envelopes are very brittle and disintegrating. They are very difficult to handle and we are always sweeping up the pieces that fall off. Absent their digitization, they would have been a pile of scraps in a few more years. During this time period, some of the information was stamped onto the envelope and the rest filled in by hand. There are thousands upon thousands of these files with this type of envelope.

Here is a pleading cover sheet.

This cover sheet has the name of the law firm and the filing information for the court. The type of filing is an account of sales, that is a report to the court of the property sold by the estate administrator. Typewritten pleadings only began appearing in the late 1800s and were not common until about 1910 to 1915.

This is a copy of the Account of Sales Pleading:

We work on specific projects. This project is for Baltimore City. This particular sale is important because it identifies the real property owned by the deceased. This suggests that additional research could find the deed or deeds to the properties and the names of the sellers and purchasers. It would also suggest researching in a city directory and tax records and well as several other types of records such as census records, school records and so forth.

Here is Page 2 of the document.

The small amount of the sale price indicates the economic level of the deceased.

Here is the certification of the document by a Notary Public. Notaries only came into existence in the last half of the 1800s.

This is the pleading side of an Order NISI. An Order NISI is a conditional order which is to be confirmed unless something is done, which has been required by the court, by a time specified. What this means is that the court is ordering someone to do something by a certain time. Very, very few of the cover side of these particular documents have any of the blank spaces filled in.

Here is the other side of the Order which includes the body of the Order with the information filled in.

Most of these documents are routine and do not have a lot of information for a genealogist.

Here is the Notice of Publication. Before a sale is made, the law requires any action by the estate, such as the sale of real property, to be published or notice given in some fashion.

Again, the cover side of these documents seldom has any writing on them other than the printed form. Here is the side with the writing.

This is a valuable piece of information. The notice was published in a local newspaper. With this information, you can possibly find a death notice or obituary in the same newspaper. Since the newspaper notice is typeset, the name of the deceased is readable when it may not be on the handwritten notices and filings. It also identifies a court date for a hearing and a record of the hearing may also provide more information.

Here is the Final Order of Ratification. Although it is entitled a "final" order it is often not final. Again, this side of the document is seldom filled in.

This is the side of the document with the information about the Order.

Remember, this is only one part of the entire probate action. The FamilySearch digitization project will eventually cover all of the filings but the researcher will have to look in all the different court records to find the complete action. I would suggest that this illustrates the value of indexing because it helps to consolidate fragmented documents such as these. 

The Book of Mormon and DNA Studies

https://www.lds.org/topics/book-of-mormon-and-dna-studies?lang=eng

During the past few years, I have been reading extensively about DNA testing and particularly about its relationship to genealogy or family history. I have been reading through all of the Gospel Topics recently and read this one about the Book of Mormon and DNA Studies. I found it to be a very helpful summary of the limitations of genetic DNA testing and ascribing or designating a genetic history. Obviously, the subject is more complicated than the short summary but the overall perspective of the article helps to establish a point of reference.

The intent of the article is to discuss the utility of referring to DNA tests within the context of "proving" or "disproving" the Book of Mormon. However, from the standpoint of genealogy, the same issues raised in considering whether or not DNA testing can apply to the migration of a small group of people from the Middle East to America also apply to establishing a genetic connection with an individual remote ancestor.

Although the article is rather short, it does introduce the reader to some of the fundamental problems with projecting DNA testing back into antiquity. My own current ethnicity estimate from MyHeritage.com is a good example. According to the current status of the results, I have connections with North and West Europe, South Europe, East Europe, and West Asia. The highest percentage of my ethnicity comes from English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry with a small percentage of Scandinavian included. This is entirely consistent with my own research, but the entire list of connections extends well outside any historical documents I have yet to discover. This anomaly may arise from the simple explanation of the English heritage, including the centuries-long occupation of England by the Roman Empire.

For example, the initial results from my DNA test indicated a significant Ashkenazi Jewish component. But current results show no percentage at all. This is despite the fact that I have research that shows that I do have Jewish ancestry. Which one is right? Several other possible ethnicities also show up in my paper research that are not reflected in the DNA testing.

The best lesson learned from reading about DNA testing as it applies to ethnicity is that we shouldn't get too caught up in drawing any current conclusions. The whole subject of DNA testing is in a state of flux. Right now, it is best to focus on only a few, less than six, generations of ancestry as having any applicable help in determining relationships. Read the article and see what you think.

Church Statement on Local Celebrations, Including Pageants

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/statement-local-celebrations-pageants-october-2018

Beginning when I was a teenager living in Phoenix, Arizona, the annual Mesa Easter Pageant at the Mesa, Arizona Temple has been an institution. The production has changed from a local sparsely attended event to a major dramatic production with a huge stage and a cast of hundreds. Many of the people who are in charge of the Mesa Pageant spend the major part of their time during the entire years preparing for the event.

https://www.lds.org/locations/mesa-easter-pageant?lang=eng&_r=1

Attending the Pageant has become an annual, family affair. Apparently, all this is about to change. On 27 October 2018, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made an official statement concerning pageants and other large productions. The statement says, in part:

Larger productions, such as pageants, are discouraged. As it relates to existing pageants, conversations with local Church and community leaders are underway to appropriately end, modify or continue these productions.

I certainly recognize the problems addressed by this statement. Although I have enjoyed attending pageants over the years, I have often questioned the efficacy and utility of the productions. Just as I have come to the conclusion that family history must be ultimately taught one-on-one, I have come to see the need for a focus on "gospel learning in homes" as the most efficacious way to affect the lives of others. 

Avoiding Family Tree Pedigree Traps

You sign in to FamilySearch.org and take a look at your part of the huge Family Tree program. Perhaps you are looking at the entries for the first time or maybe not. But as you click back on the entries, you find that some of your family lines go way back in time. Just like the illustration above; clear back into the 1700s. In fact, this line goes clear back to 1624 in Ireland. I can't let you know who this is in order to protect the innocent.

Look at it. All these entries are supported by more than one source. What could you possibly do to add anyone to this family line considering how far back it has been researched? OK, I know there are a few of you out there that have seen the point of this blog post. Why is this an example? Simply put, because all of the dates and places listed above are bogus; completely inaccurate. This is a classic example of a Family Tree Pedigree Trap. How do I know this? I guess my question would be why don't you suspect that there is a problem? Here is where we start. When did Kentucky become a state?

• Here are a few other questions to answer:
• When was Simpson, Kentucky founded?
• When did Breathitt become a county? 
• Did you know that Simpson and Breathitt were both counties?
• Where was this person born?

Would it help you to know that every one of this person's listed children were born in Kentucky except the direct line ancestor child who was born in Tennessee? 

Let's suppose that this person was born in 1766 although none of the cited sources actually mention a birth date. How would that change where he was born? Would it help to know that the first permanent settlement in what is now Kentucky was Fort Harrod constructed in 1774? Would it also help to know that this part of the country was claimed by Virginia?

OK. This type of pedigree trap is very common in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. You can find one or more of these traps on almost every extended family line. Yes, almost every extended family line. Especially those that go back into the 1700s and 1600s. What happened with the line above? Not much yet. But we are almost certain that the family came through Tennessee and North Carolina rather than Kentucky and Virginia and yes there were two people with almost the same name at the same time: one in Virginia/Kentucky and one in North Carolina/Tennessee. The research to untangle this family line will take a while. 

Unless your pedigree is relatively short, you may have one or perhaps several of these traps waiting for you to unravel. You begin by checking the accuracy of every location cited in the Family Tree. Oh, that means you might have to do some extensive work. Yes, it does. How do I know my pedigree is correct on the Family Tree? Actually, I know that many of the lines are not correct and should be pruned off. But that takes time and we have been working at it now for almost 37 years. 

I guess at this point you have to answer one question for yourself. Do you care if your part of the Family Tree is correct or not? If you don't care, I can't help you. 

New Discovery Fan Chart Options on FamilySearch Family Tree

The options for viewing the fan chart previously on the Consultant Planner have been moved to be available for all users of the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. In addition to the already available Family Lines view, You can also view the fan chart by Birth Country, Sources, Stories, and Photos. You might also note that you can now extend the chart out to 7 generations.

Here is an example of the Birth Country View:

Granted, my ancestral lines are not very surprising or exciting, but yours may be entirely different. You should also realize that the countries won't be correct if the entries in the Family Tree are wrong. This applies to all of the varies options.

Here is the same chart showing Sources:

The one person on my chart who has no sources does not really exist. Since no one has any sources to support his identity, he is really a figment of someone's imagination. But you might be surprised at how many people claim relationship to me through this unsupported line.

Here is another example. This one is the Stories selection:

It doesn't look like we are doing quite as well with stories as we are with other information in the Family Tree.

The last example is for Photos:

You can cut me some slack here. Photography wasn't developed until around 1838 and I did start these examples with my Great-grandfather who was born in 1852. Here is what the chart looks like with seven generations from one of my grandfathers.

Bear in mind that this chart starts with my Grandfather and so this is actually nine generations from me. I would have four of these charts.

Time to get involved with the Family Tree again and take a look at your charts.

National Harbor

The name "National Harbor" in Maryland outside the beltway in Washington, D.C. gives the impression that this place has some historical significance with boats or shipping. In reality, it is a recent and somewhat controversial commercial development. Here is an explanation of the development from Wikipedia:

The land developed for National Harbor was previously Salubria Plantation, built in 1827 by Dr. John H. Bayne. The plantation house burned down in 1981 and was offered for sale along with the surrounding land. The land was sold in 1984 and in 1994 was rezoned for mixed-use development. In the fall of 1997, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Army Corps of Engineers approved new developer permits, granted for the PortAmerica project in 1988. 

This development has caused considerable controversy due to its environmental impacts. The Sierra Club voiced strong objections in 1999 saying that construction of National Harbor would "prevent forever the completion of the Potomac Heritage Trail". The site was linked to hundreds of thousands of gallons of untreated sewage being discharged into the Potomac River in 2008. In 2006, Peterson Companies withdrew plans to build a Target department store where the remaining plantation building, the slave quarters, still stand.

The two most prominent structures are the Capital Wheel, a large Ferris wheel, and the MGM Resort Casino both of which are visible from the beltway. For us, the main attraction was the collection of statuary along the main street.

I usually put photos in WalkingArizona but sometimes I insert them into my other blog posts.

Still Waiting for the Golden Years: Surviving Dementia: Part Two

Why am I writing about dementia in a genealogy-oriented blog? Perhaps you need to look around you at the next genealogy conference you attend. The demographics of those involved in genealogy is just about the same as those at the highest risk for dementia.

If you have a family history of dementia, like I do, then the subject is of interest. In addition, because I deal with people interested in genealogy, I have an ample opportunity to see people who are in some stage of dementia and can usually tell if they are impaired. See Still Waiting for the Golden Years: Dementia and Alzheimer's for an explanation of my involvement.

Is dementia one of those conditions where if you have it, you don't know you have it? The answer is yes to some degree. Since there are no obvious physical symptoms of dementia, you can progress through a number of stages without realizing that you are developing the disease. However, as I have already written in previous posts, dementia may or may not be a disease.

What are the most common symptoms of Alzheimer's?

According to the Alzheimer's Association,  Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, progresses slowly through three stages. Other organizations have divided the progression into seven stages. Symptoms vary considerably from individual to individual. The changes to the brain that the medical community believes are related to Alzheimer's begin years before any symptoms can be detected.

In its earliest stages, some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's are common to those who have other cognitive disabilities and even common among people may not have dementia at all. For example, you may have difficulty remembering people's names but that may be some issue you have had for a long time and by itself may not indicate Alzheimer's. It is a cumulation of the symptoms that should be a concern.

Being aware of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's and other dementia-related conditions may allow the person time to live as long as possible and plan for changes in the future. There is presently no cure for dementia, including Alzheimer's.

Quoting from the Alzheimer's Association website, here are some of the early stages of Alzheimer's"

• Problems coming up with the right word or name
• Trouble remembering names when introduced to new people
• Challenges performing tasks in social or work settings.
• Forgetting material that one has just read
• Losing or misplacing a valuable object
• Increasing trouble with planning or organizing

From my own experience, I would add personality changes that include paranoia and ungrounded fear. I would also add that the person may become defensive if confronted with the possibility of impairment. Those around the individual suffering from the early stages may also be in denial about the degree of impairment. I also think the memory test, sometimes referred to as a mini-mental, can be misleading. Some people with no impairment cannot respond accurately or correctly to these ad hoc tests. In addition, there are a variety of other diseases that can cause the same symptoms. 

These symptoms blend over with and overlap with the symptoms of the moderate stage. Again from the Alzheimer's Association website:

• Forgetfulness of events or about one's own personal history
• Feeling moody or withdrawn, especially in socially or mentally challenging situations
• Being unable to recall their own address or telephone number or the high school or college from which they graduated
• Confusion about where they are or what day it is
• The need for help choosing proper clothing for the season or the occasion
• Trouble controlling bladder and bowels in some individuals
• Changes in sleep patterns, such as sleeping during the day and becoming restless at night
• An increased risk of wandering and becoming lost
• Personality and behavioral changes, including suspiciousness and delusions or compulsive, repetitive behavior like hand-wringing or tissue shredding

The symptoms in the "moderate" stage can be life-threatening if, for example, the person locks him or herself out of the house in the winter or drives off and fails to return home. This is also the stage when personality changes begin to be pronounced. However, it is not a good idea to focus on any one symptom. I have been known to be unaware of the date or even the day of the week for most of my adult life. 

The last stages of Alzheimer's are obvious. This is why experiencing a close relative with Alzheimer's is similar to seeing the person die twice. Quoting from the Alzheimer's Association:

At this stage, individuals may:

• Need round-the-clock assistance with daily activities and personal care
• Lose awareness of recent experiences as well as of their surroundings
• Experience changes in physical abilities, including the ability to walk, sit and, eventually, swallow
• Have increasing difficulty communicating
• Become vulnerable to infections, especially pneumonia

Why is this important to genealogists? Again, many of us find ourselves in the age group most susceptible to the disease. Many of us have years of detailed work on our family history and have gathered substantial numbers of original documents, journals, Bibles, and other important items. What happens to all this when you become impaired? Could you make reasonable decisions about the disposition of your genealogical data? Think about it now, when you can still think about it. 

I am going to write about the strategies that we can take to preserve and protect our genealogical investments. 

See the previous posts:

Part One: https://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2018/10/still-waiting-for-golden-years.html
https://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2018/10/still-waiting-for-golden-years-dementia.html