Over 40 members and guests attended the CVGS program on 27 May 2015 at Bonita-Sunnyside Library to hear "Probate Records - My Favorite Record Type" presented by CVGS member Randy Seaver.
This talk covered three main topics:
1) Why do you want to obtain Probate Records? Randy noted that they help define family relationships in an official court document, they may provide death dates and locations, they may provide married daughters' surnames, they may provide insight into literacy, belongings and real property, and they may provide occupations and signatures.
2) What are Probate Records? He said that they are court records created after a person's death for the purpose of distributing the real and personal estate to heirs and creditors, usually filed in a county court, according to state law at the time of the event. Estates are either testate (there is a valid will) or Intestate (there is no valid will). Randy described the proceedings required for both testate and intestate cases, the widow's dower rights, inheritance guidelines for intestate cases, guardianship proceedings, etc. Each event in a probate case may generate one or more pieces of paper, each submitted to the court for approval, and these papers make up the estate case file.
Randy showed and read text from three wills of his ancestors to illustrate the content and variety encountered in colonial and more modern wills. He also described and showed several of the papers that might be in an intestate case file.
3) Where can you find Probate Records? Indexes of probate records may be found online, at a library or repository in published or periodical form, and in local courthouses. Actual probate records - the estate case files - are usually in the county probate court or in a state archive. Court clerk transcriptions of some of the original documents are also in the county probate court. Microfilms of probate court records for many counties are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and can be borrowed at a local FamilySearch Library. Other repositories may have microfilms also. He worked through finding an ancestor's will in Norfolk County, Ontario on FHL microfilm.
FamilySearch has digitized probate court records for about 30 states from the microfilms, but these record collections have to be browsed - think of them as "digital microfilm." To use them, the records are "waypointed" by county, then by the case numbers or by the court volume numbers. The key is to use the Estate Index" to find the name of the deceased, note the proceedings index volume and page, search the proceedings index for the deceased name, note the record type, court volume numbers and page numbers, and then access the court volumes and find the records on the pages. Randy worked through one example from Pennsylvania probate records on FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com also has probate and estate databases, but has few actual probate case papers. Other online sites may have case file indexes and, in some cases, digitized probate case files or court volumes.
In conclusion, Randy noted that:
* Probate records are really valuable genealogical records,
* Not all probate records are available on microfilm or online - you may have to visit a courthouse or archive to access them
* It is important to know the state probate laws at the time of the deceased's demise.h
* It is important to know the jurisdiction - state or territory, county, town, etc. - at the time of the deceased's demise.
Randy has a page on his Genea-Musings blog with his transcriptions of probate and other records of his ancestors - see http://www.geneamusings.com/p/amanuensis-monday-posts.html.
Showing posts with label Probate records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Probate records. Show all posts
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Sunday, May 24, 2015
CVGS Program on Wednesday, 27 May is on "Probate Records"
The 27 May 2015 Program meeting of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society will start at 12 noon in the Community Room at the Bonita-Sunnyside Library (4375 Bonita Road in Bonita).
NOTE: The venue is changed for this month.
The program of "Probate Records - My Favorite Record Type!" will be presented by Randy Seaver.
The program description is:
"Probate records are my absolute favorite record type for identifying and proving family relationships. This presentation describes the overall probate process, the different kinds of probate records, and how to find and obtain probate records in repositories and online record collections."
The speaker's biography is:
"Randy is a native San Diegan, retired aerospace engineer, genealogist and family guy. He and his wife (Angel Linda) love to travel, visit friends and relatives (especially the grandchildren), sightsee, cruise or do genealogy. Their travels have taken them all over the USA, England, Down Under and Scandinavia. Randy is a past President of CVGS and is currently the Newsletter Editor and the Research Chair. He blogs every day at Genea-Musings (www.geneamusings.com) on genealogy news, resources, software and his own research."
There will be a short business meeting before the presentation, and snacks before and after the meeting. This meeting is FREE to attend.
NOTE: The venue is changed for this month.
The program of "Probate Records - My Favorite Record Type!" will be presented by Randy Seaver.
The program description is:
"Probate records are my absolute favorite record type for identifying and proving family relationships. This presentation describes the overall probate process, the different kinds of probate records, and how to find and obtain probate records in repositories and online record collections."
The speaker's biography is:
"Randy is a native San Diegan, retired aerospace engineer, genealogist and family guy. He and his wife (Angel Linda) love to travel, visit friends and relatives (especially the grandchildren), sightsee, cruise or do genealogy. Their travels have taken them all over the USA, England, Down Under and Scandinavia. Randy is a past President of CVGS and is currently the Newsletter Editor and the Research Chair. He blogs every day at Genea-Musings (www.geneamusings.com) on genealogy news, resources, software and his own research."
There will be a short business meeting before the presentation, and snacks before and after the meeting. This meeting is FREE to attend.
Friday, April 13, 2012
CVGS Research Group Summary - 11 April 2012
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society Research Group meeting on Wednesday, 11 April was in the Computer Lab at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library, so we took advantage of the 12 computer stations there.
Randy Seaver reviewed the available 1940 U.S. Census options on www.MyHeritage.com/1940census, on www.Ancestry.com/1940census/, on www.FamilySearch.org/1940census/ and on the NARA 1940census.archives.gov site. He noted that the Ancestry site had the Steve Morse ED Finder tools available, and demonstrated their use. His conclusion was that the Ancestry.com site was the easiest and fastest to use. He noted that Ancestry has two states completely indexed, and that FamilySearch is in the process of indexing all states, but none are yet complete. As an example, the 1940 U.S. Census for Susi's father was easily found once we identified the correct Wyoming county.
In the second hour, the attendees discussed their 1940 census successes and challenges.
* Karen found lots of her families in Maryland, and found that her father made $748 in 1939 wages.
* Virginia found herself in Indiana, but her age was wrong.
* Helen found her brother, but not her parents at the address where they lived. She checked the whole ED and found her parents on Page 61 (the returns to enumerate those not at home previously).
* John found his folks in Butler County, Nebraska.
In the last half hour, we discussed the successes and problems doing the research in general.
* Gary transcribed and analyzed the Yates County NY Estate file for Timothy Roff, which named his siblings, nieces and nephews, including Solomon Roff, Gary's ancestor. Solomon was named as a son of Phillip, and a marriage record of one of Solomon's sisters names her parents. Phillip Roff's gravestone indicates that he is a Revolutionary War soldier who died in 1835, so there may be a Revolutionary War Pension File available.
* Helen found a Hamburg passenger list in German which named her ancestor's home town.
* Virginia was happy that a "shaky leaf" on Ancestry.com provided information for nine more generations in her Bland line, from Moses back to Adam, in a book. Adam Bland was a minister in England who was burned at the stake by Queen Mary.
* Ralph joined CVGS today. He said he was just starting his research, enjoyed the Spring seminar and the Research Group, and looked forward to the other CVGS activities.
The next meeting of the CVGS Research Group will be on Wednesday, 9 May, at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista). We will be meeting in the Conference Room on the East Hall. Randy will demonstrate how to create Source Citations using RootsMagic source citation templates.
Randy Seaver reviewed the available 1940 U.S. Census options on www.MyHeritage.com/1940census, on www.Ancestry.com/1940census/, on www.FamilySearch.org/1940census/ and on the NARA 1940census.archives.gov site. He noted that the Ancestry site had the Steve Morse ED Finder tools available, and demonstrated their use. His conclusion was that the Ancestry.com site was the easiest and fastest to use. He noted that Ancestry has two states completely indexed, and that FamilySearch is in the process of indexing all states, but none are yet complete. As an example, the 1940 U.S. Census for Susi's father was easily found once we identified the correct Wyoming county.
In the second hour, the attendees discussed their 1940 census successes and challenges.
* Karen found lots of her families in Maryland, and found that her father made $748 in 1939 wages.
* Virginia found herself in Indiana, but her age was wrong.
* Helen found her brother, but not her parents at the address where they lived. She checked the whole ED and found her parents on Page 61 (the returns to enumerate those not at home previously).
* John found his folks in Butler County, Nebraska.
In the last half hour, we discussed the successes and problems doing the research in general.
* Gary transcribed and analyzed the Yates County NY Estate file for Timothy Roff, which named his siblings, nieces and nephews, including Solomon Roff, Gary's ancestor. Solomon was named as a son of Phillip, and a marriage record of one of Solomon's sisters names her parents. Phillip Roff's gravestone indicates that he is a Revolutionary War soldier who died in 1835, so there may be a Revolutionary War Pension File available.
* Helen found a Hamburg passenger list in German which named her ancestor's home town.
* Virginia was happy that a "shaky leaf" on Ancestry.com provided information for nine more generations in her Bland line, from Moses back to Adam, in a book. Adam Bland was a minister in England who was burned at the stake by Queen Mary.
* Ralph joined CVGS today. He said he was just starting his research, enjoyed the Spring seminar and the Research Group, and looked forward to the other CVGS activities.
The next meeting of the CVGS Research Group will be on Wednesday, 9 May, at the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library (365 F Street in Chula Vista). We will be meeting in the Conference Room on the East Hall. Randy will demonstrate how to create Source Citations using RootsMagic source citation templates.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Probate, Will, and Insurance and the Law Seminar Review
We had 32 attendees at the April 2nd CVGS Seminar, including five non-members, at the Bonita Library for the presentations on Probates, Wills, Insurance Papers, and the Law” by Del Stevens (husband of CVGS member Ann Stevens) and Michael Murphy (President Gary Brock's neighbor).
Del Stevens explained the history of insurance – it started the merchants in China insuring their wares in 2500 BC. Life insurance started in England in the early 1800s, and it was prevalent in the USA by the 1830s – New York Life, Metropolitan, Prudential were mentioned. Basically, the insurance agent assesses risk and defines the premium required to insure the life, property, etc. for a term. Insurance in the 21st century is confidential between the insurance company and the parties – the companies hold the applications and other paperwork and have no responsibility to provide it. If you find it in a set of family papers of an ancestor, the papers can be highly informative and are judged to be highly reliable, and would provide a good biographical snapshot at the time of the application. Property title information is a different story – they are public records and can be accessed at County Recorder offices.
Michael Murphy defined many of the terms found in probate records, including will, codicil, administration, etc. He also described the different parts of a 21st century will and what it needs to cover – name of the testator, state and county of residence, alternate names, and declaration that it is their will. The will needs to declare marital or partnership status, declare the children of the testator, declare an executor, and be signed in the presence of two or more witnesses. A formal will can be changed by a codicil, which revises or adds to the terms of the will.
After the death of the testator, the executor files a petition for probate of the will in the Probate Court, and the substantiating witnesses may need to testify in order to prove the will as valid. There is no probate if there is no property. In California, an estate with property values below $100,000 goes through an abbreviated administrative process rather than the more complex probate process. The executor must take an inventory and make an appraisal of the real and personal property, and provide lists for “separate property” (owned solely by the testator) and “community property” (jointly held with another person such as a spouse). If real estate must be sold to disperse the property to the heirs, then a notice must be published. An Executor's Deed would be in the probate records that shows the parcel number and a description of the property. The Executor files a petition for court approval of the final property distribution according to the will of the testator, the actions of the executor and the laws of the state. After court approval, the property is distributed to the heirs.
Both presenters provided visuals of some of the papers that make up insurance and probate papers based on their own family histories.
Del Stevens explained the history of insurance – it started the merchants in China insuring their wares in 2500 BC. Life insurance started in England in the early 1800s, and it was prevalent in the USA by the 1830s – New York Life, Metropolitan, Prudential were mentioned. Basically, the insurance agent assesses risk and defines the premium required to insure the life, property, etc. for a term. Insurance in the 21st century is confidential between the insurance company and the parties – the companies hold the applications and other paperwork and have no responsibility to provide it. If you find it in a set of family papers of an ancestor, the papers can be highly informative and are judged to be highly reliable, and would provide a good biographical snapshot at the time of the application. Property title information is a different story – they are public records and can be accessed at County Recorder offices.
Michael Murphy defined many of the terms found in probate records, including will, codicil, administration, etc. He also described the different parts of a 21st century will and what it needs to cover – name of the testator, state and county of residence, alternate names, and declaration that it is their will. The will needs to declare marital or partnership status, declare the children of the testator, declare an executor, and be signed in the presence of two or more witnesses. A formal will can be changed by a codicil, which revises or adds to the terms of the will.
After the death of the testator, the executor files a petition for probate of the will in the Probate Court, and the substantiating witnesses may need to testify in order to prove the will as valid. There is no probate if there is no property. In California, an estate with property values below $100,000 goes through an abbreviated administrative process rather than the more complex probate process. The executor must take an inventory and make an appraisal of the real and personal property, and provide lists for “separate property” (owned solely by the testator) and “community property” (jointly held with another person such as a spouse). If real estate must be sold to disperse the property to the heirs, then a notice must be published. An Executor's Deed would be in the probate records that shows the parcel number and a description of the property. The Executor files a petition for court approval of the final property distribution according to the will of the testator, the actions of the executor and the laws of the state. After court approval, the property is distributed to the heirs.
Both presenters provided visuals of some of the papers that make up insurance and probate papers based on their own family histories.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
CVGS FREE Seminar - Saturday, 2 April 2011
...
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society is sponsoring a FREE seminar on Saturday, 2 April from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bonita Library (4375 Bonitra Road in Bonita, California) in the Community Room.
The seminar topic is: "Probates, Wills, Insurance Papoers and the Law: How It All May Affect Your Genealogy Research" presented by Michael T. Murphy (local attorney) and Del Stevens (local insurance broker).
The doors will open at 9:45 a.m. and the program will begin promptly at 10 a.m. Bring a sack lunch or visit one of the many nearby eateries.
There will be Opportunity Drawings, Two Door Prizes and Information Tables.
To Reserve your Seat:
Complete the reservation form online - type in your browser: www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/page26.htm, or contact Virginia Taylor (619-425-7922, or irishdoll@cox.net). Provide your name, street address, telephone number, email address and if you are a current CVGS member.
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society is sponsoring a FREE seminar on Saturday, 2 April from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bonita Library (4375 Bonitra Road in Bonita, California) in the Community Room.
The seminar topic is: "Probates, Wills, Insurance Papoers and the Law: How It All May Affect Your Genealogy Research" presented by Michael T. Murphy (local attorney) and Del Stevens (local insurance broker).
The doors will open at 9:45 a.m. and the program will begin promptly at 10 a.m. Bring a sack lunch or visit one of the many nearby eateries.
There will be Opportunity Drawings, Two Door Prizes and Information Tables.
To Reserve your Seat:
Complete the reservation form online - type in your browser: www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/page26.htm, or contact Virginia Taylor (619-425-7922, or irishdoll@cox.net). Provide your name, street address, telephone number, email address and if you are a current CVGS member.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
CVGS FREE Seminar - Saturday, 2 April 2011
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society is sponsoring a FREE seminar on Saturday, 2 April from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bonita Library (4375 Bonitra Road in Bonita, California) in the Community Room.
The seminar topic is: "Probates, Wills, Insurance Papoers and the Law: How It All May Affect Your Genealogy Research" presented by Michael T. Murphy (local attorney) and Del Stevens (local insurance broker).
The doors will open at 9:45 a.m. and the program will begin promptly at 10 a.m. Bring a sack lunch or visit one of the many nearby eateries.
There will be Opportunity Drawings, Two Door Prizes and Information Tables.
To Reserve your Seat:
Complete the reservation form online - type in your browser: www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/page26.htm, or contact Virginia Taylor (619-425-7922, or irishdoll@cox.net). Provide your name, street address, telephone number, email address and if you are a current CVGS member.
The seminar topic is: "Probates, Wills, Insurance Papoers and the Law: How It All May Affect Your Genealogy Research" presented by Michael T. Murphy (local attorney) and Del Stevens (local insurance broker).
The doors will open at 9:45 a.m. and the program will begin promptly at 10 a.m. Bring a sack lunch or visit one of the many nearby eateries.
There will be Opportunity Drawings, Two Door Prizes and Information Tables.
To Reserve your Seat:
Complete the reservation form online - type in your browser: www.rootsweb.com/~cacvgs2/page26.htm, or contact Virginia Taylor (619-425-7922, or irishdoll@cox.net). Provide your name, street address, telephone number, email address and if you are a current CVGS member.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
CVGS Weekender Talk - "Why Have a Will?" on Sunday, 24 October
The next Chula Vista Genealogical Society October Weekender Talk will be on Sunday, October 24th, at 1 p.m. in the Chula Vista Civic Center Library Auditorium (365 F Street).
The presenter will be CVGS Member Shirley Becker on “Why Have a Will? And What Happens if You Don’t?”
In this talk, Shirley will show examples of wills from her collection, and describe the uses of a will to help in your family history research. She will also discuss the need for genealogists to have their own will, and steps that should be taken to pass on their genealogical research.
For more information about this program, or any CVGS program, please contact Barbara at baribai@cox.net or 619-477-4140.
All CVGS programs at the library are free and open to the public, and we welcome guests and visitors.
The presenter will be CVGS Member Shirley Becker on “Why Have a Will? And What Happens if You Don’t?”
In this talk, Shirley will show examples of wills from her collection, and describe the uses of a will to help in your family history research. She will also discuss the need for genealogists to have their own will, and steps that should be taken to pass on their genealogical research.
For more information about this program, or any CVGS program, please contact Barbara at baribai@cox.net or 619-477-4140.
All CVGS programs at the library are free and open to the public, and we welcome guests and visitors.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
CVGS Workshop on Saturday - 9 October 2010
The next Chula Vista Genelaogical Society workshop meeting will be Saturday, October 9th at 1 p.m. in the Community Room at the Bonita Library (4375 Bonita Road).
\The workshop topic is "Probates and what you should know for use in Genealogical Research" moderated by CVGS member Susi Pentico.
No other information about this program was submitted by the speaker.
\The workshop topic is "Probates and what you should know for use in Genealogical Research" moderated by CVGS member Susi Pentico.
No other information about this program was submitted by the speaker.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Finding records of living persons
In her presentation "Digging Up the Un-Dead" last month for CVGS, Joan Lowrey gave some practical advice for finding living people using online resources. She briefly mentioned online databases for City or County court, probate and land records.
For San Diego County, the County Recorder and Assessor office provides minimal property information online. For land records, the web site is http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx. You can use the Search box (use last name first) to find the type of transactions (e.g., trust deeds, deeds, reconveyances, notices to creditors, tax liens, etc) and document numbers for property transactions. With the document number, you can order the document for a fee.
For probate records, the San Diego County Probate Court web site is here. On this page, put "Court Index" in the right hand search box and then select a "Party Name Search." If you input a surname, you get a list of the Probate Court cases on file between 1974 and 2007. Clicking on the Probate Case number gives you some information about the case - the type of case, the case category, the date filed, and the case file location. There is a link that tells you the physical location of the case file. In San Diego, most of them are in the Madge Bradley Building at 1401 4th Avenue in downtown San Diego.
Civil, criminal and domestic court records can also be found at the San Diego County Court web site. You get essentially the same information as for a probate case. The records are stored in a different location than the probate court records.
But you can find more information about property records by going to one of the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk locations - there are five locations in the county (downtown San Diego, Kearny Mesa, Chula Vista, El Cajon and San Marcos). The offices permit public access to computers with several databases on them. For instance, there is an index of current property owners and the tax assessments on those properties. By inputting a surname, or a surname and given name, you can find the properties they own, the property assessment value, the tax assessment, and a mailing address for the owner. You can also input a street address or a property identification number. This database is fairly difficult to use because it is function key driven, not mouse driven. But it is extremely useful.
The Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk offices also have an index of San Diego county marriages from about 1960 to 2007. The information is sparse - names and date of marriage - but it can be very useful.
All of these records are records that can be accessed by the public. To obtain the actual record, you need to go someplace to obtain it, but a committed researcher, or any person, can find them and obtain them.
For San Diego County, the County Recorder and Assessor office provides minimal property information online. For land records, the web site is http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx. You can use the Search box (use last name first) to find the type of transactions (e.g., trust deeds, deeds, reconveyances, notices to creditors, tax liens, etc) and document numbers for property transactions. With the document number, you can order the document for a fee.
For probate records, the San Diego County Probate Court web site is here. On this page, put "Court Index" in the right hand search box and then select a "Party Name Search." If you input a surname, you get a list of the Probate Court cases on file between 1974 and 2007. Clicking on the Probate Case number gives you some information about the case - the type of case, the case category, the date filed, and the case file location. There is a link that tells you the physical location of the case file. In San Diego, most of them are in the Madge Bradley Building at 1401 4th Avenue in downtown San Diego.
Civil, criminal and domestic court records can also be found at the San Diego County Court web site. You get essentially the same information as for a probate case. The records are stored in a different location than the probate court records.
But you can find more information about property records by going to one of the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk locations - there are five locations in the county (downtown San Diego, Kearny Mesa, Chula Vista, El Cajon and San Marcos). The offices permit public access to computers with several databases on them. For instance, there is an index of current property owners and the tax assessments on those properties. By inputting a surname, or a surname and given name, you can find the properties they own, the property assessment value, the tax assessment, and a mailing address for the owner. You can also input a street address or a property identification number. This database is fairly difficult to use because it is function key driven, not mouse driven. But it is extremely useful.
The Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk offices also have an index of San Diego county marriages from about 1960 to 2007. The information is sparse - names and date of marriage - but it can be very useful.
All of these records are records that can be accessed by the public. To obtain the actual record, you need to go someplace to obtain it, but a committed researcher, or any person, can find them and obtain them.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Colonial Probate Records - Estate Distributions
While working in the Rhode Island colonial probate records over the past months, I've noticed that very few estate inventories mentioned real estate - they all dealt with the personal estate. The wills did mention the real estate, and most of it went to the oldest son.
I was reading the book "The Family Tree Solver" by Marsha Hoffman Rising (Cincinnati, Family Tree Books, 2005) the other night, and she has included a table of the different types of estate distribution for each colony (which she obtained from the book "Inheritance in America: From Colonial Times to the Present." by Carole Shammas et al, New Brunswick, Rutgers University, 1987).
The table indicates that:Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia distributed estates according to "Primogeniture - the eldest son inherited all real property." All eliminated Primogeniture by 1791 (the book gives the exact years).
Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania distributed estates according to "Equal Distribution with a double portion to the eldest son."
Marsha's section on this subject noted that many individuals did not follow the practice of Primogeniture and distributed land to all sons, or even to all children, especially in New York, in German families, in areas that did not like English common law, and in times closer to the American Revolution.
So - there is my answer! Rhode Island was a Primogeniture state until 1770 (except for between 1718 and 1728). I did not know that.
Let me plug Marsha's book also - this book is one my five favorite genealogy resource books - because she uses real examples from her research to illustrate her points.
I was reading the book "The Family Tree Solver" by Marsha Hoffman Rising (Cincinnati, Family Tree Books, 2005) the other night, and she has included a table of the different types of estate distribution for each colony (which she obtained from the book "Inheritance in America: From Colonial Times to the Present." by Carole Shammas et al, New Brunswick, Rutgers University, 1987).
The table indicates that:Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia distributed estates according to "Primogeniture - the eldest son inherited all real property." All eliminated Primogeniture by 1791 (the book gives the exact years).
Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania distributed estates according to "Equal Distribution with a double portion to the eldest son."
Marsha's section on this subject noted that many individuals did not follow the practice of Primogeniture and distributed land to all sons, or even to all children, especially in New York, in German families, in areas that did not like English common law, and in times closer to the American Revolution.
So - there is my answer! Rhode Island was a Primogeniture state until 1770 (except for between 1718 and 1728). I did not know that.
Let me plug Marsha's book also - this book is one my five favorite genealogy resource books - because she uses real examples from her research to illustrate her points.
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