This post is part of a series for the April Blogging from A to Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is Newspaper Clippings in relation to my family history. These have come from both microfilmed and digitized newspapers I've searched over the past 25 years. Click to enlarge any clipping.
Judicial proceedings
Judicial hearings and other court proceedings are typically published in the local newspaper. During the judicial process of settling the estate of a deceased person, there are several different types of probate notices that are published. From what I've seen in most cases, they may be published at least three times. I've seen "Notice of Appointment Administrator", "Notice to Creditors" and "Notice of Hearing" as a small sample. Besides Probate Notices, I've seen other notices for legal actions like unpaid taxes and Sheriff's Sales. What I have here are all for probate cases.
This is the oldest probate notice I've found, from 1825 in Norwich, Connecticut. I'm still trying to prove a connection from Mr Potter Smith to my Third Great Grandfather John Potter Smith.
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| Norwich [CT] Courier, February 2, 1825 |
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| DeWitt [NE] Times-News, June 19, 1884 |
I found this while searching microfilm for David Roscoe's obituary, which I didn't find (he had one of those one sentence death notices in the paper). This probate notice is nice to have for further documentation of his death.
Josiah F Negley died on April 15, 1922 and his estate was finalized on October 6, 1922. There were a few different Notices posted between these two.
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| Clay County [NE] Sun, April 20, 1922 |
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| Clay County [NE] Sun, September 28, 1922 |
From these two notices for the estate of Henrietta Gaisford, I learn the Estate Number which will probably help locate the file quickly when I get the chance to go to the Courthouse. I also learn the Administrator of her estate, Frank G. Amos, who was her son-in-law. This is one place that a woman's first name is always used.
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| Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, June 14, 1932 |
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| Beatrice [NE] Daily Sun, June 28, 1932 |
I might also have an article about an ancestor who went to Jail, but I might post that at some other time. Jury members are often listed in the paper, but in papers that I can access easily, I haven't found a listing of one of my ancestors on any jury. Or maybe one of your ancestors played Junior league baseball. Digitized newspapers are so nice for finding mentions when you don't have an exact date of an event. See what you can find. Good luck with your search!
Interesting. Collecting information from probate notices published in newspapers. As I am visiting A to Z blogs, I am coming across interesting things. My blog is in the area of management education. My AtoZ 2019 best blog post had 180 page views so far. I consider it as a good two-day performance.
ReplyDeleteIndustrial Engineering and Operations Management - Distinction and Combination
There is such a variety of topics that people are blogging about for this challenge. It's hard to get to all of them, thanks for stopping by mine.
DeleteAnother great collection, am thinking of using your idea of newspaper cuttings for my A-Z next year. That way it will make me write about many of those I have collected.
ReplyDeleteGreat! My lesson learned was maybe not include so many in one post. I wanted to give lots of ideas, but being my first time with this challenge, didn't think about the reading time.
DeleteToday I decided to look for newspaper articles for my L post and was surprised to find a bunch. Nothing big, but they help round him out.
ReplyDeletePiecing together little things sometimes can make a pretty good story. I'll be interested to see what you found.
DeleteI have a juror on an arson case. The case is interesting but not much about my ancestor except that he is on the jury. Another interesting post.
ReplyDeleteFran
TravelGenee visiting from the A to Z challenge.
I know any jury trial is more about the case than the jury, but it does show an ancestors civic involvement. Of course, you don't know if he/she wanted to be there!
DeleteVery interesting!
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting from the A-Z Challenge with Music and Writing: Great Music and Lyrics
Thanks for checking it out.
DeleteThese are good ones that can be very helpful in advancing your research. I am using a probate announcement to prove the connection of 2 generations for one of my DAR prospective members.
ReplyDeleteI needed at least one of these for a Patriot descendant who died young with children at home yet, but Mercer Co., PA papers for 1852-54 aren't available for me. There just has to be something as far as guardianship, but I haven't been able to find anything.
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