Earlier this year, I wrote about my grandmother’s grandfather, Reuben H. Ward. According to my grandmother’s story, he was a Methodist circuit rider who had been murdered while going down the river. His body was then thrown overboard. I uncovered more details of the story through newspaper articles. This week, while looking at Ancestry’s new “probate and wills” databases, I discovered more information about Reuben H. Ward. I found that his estate was insolvent. What is an insolvent estate? It’s when an estate is in bankruptcy. So, the estate has more debt than equity. In other words, the person owed...
Over the past couple of days, I’ve spent some time looking for ancestors and other relatives on Ancestry’s new “Wills and Probate Records” series. I was having trouble finding any of my numerous Perry County, Tennessee relatives, so I decided to skip the index and look at the actual records. Here are the steps I used to get started: Went to Ancestry.com Clicked on “Search” then “Card Catalog” For Title, typed in “Probate” and the state’s name (in my case, “Tennessee”) Clicked on “Tennessee, Wills and Probate Records, 1779-2008” On the right hand side, chose the county (in my case,...
(Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow at “No Story Too Small” for creating “52 Ancestors” where we can share our ancestors stories, one week at a time.) Thomas B Whitwell, my 5th great grandfather, wasn’t even a year old when he was legally declared an orphan. I say “legally” because we are uncertain as to whether his mother was still living or not. But, the law stated that he was an orphan if his father died. So, Thomas and his older brother, Robert, were orphans. What happened to orphans in the 1770’s in Virginia? They’d be legally “bound out” to a...