In response to my look up offer, someone asked me about what's available in
terms of probate records in Jefferson Co. I can't give you the statuatory
description of when certain records started, but can tell you something about
what they cover.
There are also some other records discussed in case you can't find a will.
1. Wills. The early will books in Jefferson Co. include both wills and
intestate estates (the person died without a will.) Circuit Court Clerks
office (Jefferson Co. now has a separate room on the 2nd floor of the
courthouse with the old records.)
2. Probate order books. These include motions, sometimes settlements,
inventories etc. These start by the 1830s. Probate Order Books were separately
maintained from Civil Order Books (lawsuits) Court Clerk's office.
3. If you look at Jefferson Co. records, you might think the will books are
missing in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. In fact, the mid-century wills are
generally in the Probate Record books. Court Clerk's office
4. Complete (Probate) Record. These will often include everything about an
estate (but don't count on that being true with each estate.) These records
can include inventories, both appraisals and record of sale of possessions,
guardianships of minor heirs, and if you're lucky, final settlements listing
heirs. Court Clerk's Office.
(Since Settlements often list people as heirs, not ch ildren, watch for
distributions in w hich heirs receive an equal amount--the decedent had a wife
(who generally got a third,) and the children split the residue equally. With
no wife, the children s plit equally, then watch for shares split for ch
ildren of heirs who died before a particularly decedent.
There are some tricks in Jefferson Co., besides the fact that some wills are
in probate books, not will books. They kept renumbering so there's a Will Book
A in 1811 from the beginning of the county and then a Will Book A about the
middle of the century. The Probate and Complete Probate Records are also not
labelled consistently.
Some Proxies for Probate and Will records.
1. Powers of attorney. These appear to have been largely recorded in the 2nd
half of the 19th century in Jefferson Co. in books labelled Miscellaneous
Records. These start about 1878. In many cases these include sales of land of
a decedent by heirs. They also include leases, several between family members.
Recorder's Office.
2.Deeds. Watch for the heirs as a group either making a sale of property,
(sometimes many years later) sometimes you'll find them as a quit claim deed,
signing over property to one particular heir. Sometimes individual deeds may
be executed. For example, with my ancestor William Hankins 1788-1864, his will
simply refers to his children, no names given. But after his death, I started
finding deeds from apparent children signing over 1/9 undivided interest in
his estate to William Wilkins who had married Hankins youngest dau. In other
words, he had nine heirs who survived him or survived to have children. In two
cases, children of decd children sold their interest, so we had one group of
heirs selling the 1/2 of 1/9 (a child who predeceased William had two
surviving children) and another group each selling 1/5 of 1/9 (a decd child
had five children.)
3. Guardianship Books. There's (or was) a separate set of guardianship books
in the Circuit Court Clerk's office. I was told at one time the county might
have given these to the Indiana State Library. They may duplicate guardianship
entries in the probate records, but I'm not sure.
4. Will Books in the Recorders Office. There was a brief period in the early
part of this century when some wills were filed here. Why I don't know and I
don't know if they duplicate wills in the Court Clerk's office.
5. Civil Order Books. It's worth checking in case somebody sued over the
estate, but often there's a corresponding probate record or will anyway. In
case of my ancestor Stephen Green, most of the heirs sued Stephen Jr. claiming
he got the old man to sign over most possessions by getting Sr. drunk. It's
great reading, but didn't add much to my knowledge of the family tree. Court
Clerk's office.
6. Partition Records. These seem to have existed only for a short time, but
obviously reflect partitions of estates and I suspect when prompted by a suit
by heirs. Recorders Office.
7. Mortgage Records. Great for historical research and r(esearch about church
trustees up until 1878.). A lot of these simply correspond to a deed in which
someone bought land and financed it. I have found where various people sold
businesses and borrowed money. Good for filling in detail about ancestors who
needed loans, but not much help in extending a line. Recorders Office.
8. Sheriff's Sale Record. Many Sheriff's sale deeds are in the regular deed
books. But there are some separately labelled books of this type. Recorders
Office.
Great if you can't figure out how come you can't find your ancestor selling
the farm. (Sheriff's deeds are often indexed under the name of the sheriff as
grantor, not the name of the person losign the property, so it's hard to find
these.)
9. Tax Title Deeds. If your ancestor lost land for not paying taxes, then
towards mid 19th century, they started putting the deeds in these books. The
best info. here is being able to find out why you can't track the farm.
Sometimes the dates of delinquent taxes involved will give a clue about when
the person died. County Auditor's Office.
10. Soldier's Discharge Records. These pop up sometime after the Civil War.
(mainly Civil War Soldiers from my experience in reading them). They tend to
recite the person's name, age, place of birth, and dates of service and units.
Helped me track down when one of my families was still living in Ohio, judging
from the soldier's statement about his place of birth. Recorder's Office.
11. Commmissioners Records. Pretty dry, but an occasional genealogical gem. I
have found that some of the people who turned up in given families in the 1850
census without explanation were there because they were County Wards and the
families were being paid to take care of them, so it solved some frustrating
efforts to link these people together. The Commissioners Records also record
when a person received a license to have a store (until about 1850) or a
tavern. Great for historical research or if your ancestor was a merchant.
Auditor's Office
You'll find the state of records in other counties different. Ripley Co. has
a better consistency on books--it starts at A and continues with no
renumbering. On the other hand, when they remodelled the courthouse a few
years ago, they took the Complete Probate Records and put them in the attic.
Last summer, I was informed that these records were given to the Ripley Co.
Historical Society. I hope somebody can verify that this is true.