July 13, 2023
“Someone Else Who Intrigued Me“
This photo made me smile this
week. Mother and daughter, Mary and Amy Davis, on
vacation in Maine. If you went to the 2016 reunion,
you met them. Amy was supposed to sing in our choir, but she had a frog in her
throat.
New this week are Kristy Griffith and Emily
Nolte.
I know who Kristy Griffith is and where she
fits in the family tree, but I can’t really tell you anything about her. Maybe
she will pop in and tell us a bit about herself. Kristy is the daughter of
Gerald and Janet (Holmes) Griffith and the sister of Victoria Lise Griffith. She
is in the Peter Ketchum Holmes line. Her middle name is Eleanor, which makes me
wonder if she was named for her Aunt Eleanor (Holmes) Wilson.
I have met Emily Nolte and she is one of those Nolte
kids! One of four. Emily is the daughter of Ralph and Janet (Minella) Nolte.
She is the Mom of Angela and Raphael who were much younger when I met them but
I wonder if Angela might have graduated this year. It was so much fun meeting
her at an early reunion. The Noltes fit in anywhere just like fingers in a
glove. Emily, like my cousin Jennifer, inherited a head full of curls from
somebody. Same hair DNA.
~
My hearty gratitude to David Fraser this week.
Dave is the president of our genealogical society and the editor of Generations.
He sent me my third article that is set up in the magazine for the next issue,
for my perusal. He found an error in it – good eye. He said, “Your series of
articles have shown there’s lot to be gleaned from will and probate documents!”
Being a quiet man of few words, I take much encouragement from his comment.
~
My genealogy goals for
this week were:
- Chronicle several times, and publish on Thursday
morning.
- Keep researching and writing about Daniel
Holmes for the “Where There’s a Will” article.
- Begin writing my next article for Generations,
which is about the will of our immigrant ancestor, Edward Ketchum. Its
main feature is its lacune.
- Continue indexing old New Brunswick
obituaries and death notices for the NBGS website project.
- Distribute a copy of Uncle Billy’s guest
book to anyone who might be interested.
- Spend a bit of time on Moore family
research.
- Try to reinstall Family Tree Maker.
I sent a
copy of the guestbook to Annmarie, as well as to my friends of Portage Vale. I
heard from the engineers at Family Tree Maker. They told me I didn’t wait long
enough. I doubt they even read what I said. And I completed Daniel’s will
article for News and Notes. It makes me sad, in a way. I reviewed Edward
Ketchum last evening, and plotted a tentative outline.
I didn’t
have lots of time for genealogy this week – needed to do some other things.
Bill and I went for a paddle on Silver Lake. That clears our heads of the same
ol’ for a while. The lake has a beautiful channel that we can only get to when
the water level is high. The water level is high, and we were able to glide
through easily. After all our rain, it is so verdant. The photo shows the
opening to the channel.
~
To all
interested readers, and especially editors, here is my draft article for News
and Notes, which is the Reader’s Digest version of what I will send
to Generations in a few months.
I’d appreciate your critique and please point out the faux pas that I
missed or some clearer sentence structure. The footnotes don’t take well to
copy and pasting.
Where There’s a
Will
Daniel Holmes
1813 – 1883
HOLMES – At the
residence of Abner Jones, Esq., Petitcodiac, on the 23rd of March,
Daniel Holmes,
in the 69th year of his age. Our brother was long and deservedly
known as a good
citizen and a humble christian. And, during his severe and
protracted
illness, manifested patience and resignation to the Lord’s will.
His end was
peace.
~ George Seely
Footnote:
Christian Visitor.
Saint John, NB. July 25, 1883.
https://newspapers.lib.unb.ca/serials/59/issues/9806/pages/73621
Where there’s a will, you will often glean information about the person who wrote it, especially if it includes an inventory and the probate. You might learn or confirm their children’s names or those to whom they leave their worldly goods. Their inventory gives you a glimpse of their home. Old wills, collectively, help to tell our history. This is the seventh and last article I will write for this series for News and Notes and Generations, but certainly not the last probate that I will dissect.
From
Connecticut to New Brunswick; from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth:
so much history happened between the death of my immigrant ancestor, Francis
Holmes, about 1675, to the death of Daniel Holmes in 1883. And yet, the
probates were much the same. I learned to read the secretary handwriting style of
the colonial wills; I struggle to read the handwriting style of the lawyers of
the 1880s. Most of that is due to the style of pen and ink, their use of
abbreviations, and generally poor or hasty handwriting.
I left a lot of
blanks in Daniel’s transcription. Some are a word here or there, and one is an
itemized list of expenditures from a few pennies to a few dollars. Although I
wish I could get every word, I’m satisfied that I have an excellent overview of
the probate of the estate of my ancestor, Daniel Holmes (1813 -1883), born in
or close to Amherst, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, and died at his home that
was situated about halfway between Petitcodiac and Salisbury in Westmorland County.
I believe I have transcribed the actual will correctly. If I didn’t already
have a solid knowledge of the children of Daniel and Charlotte (Hoyt) Holmes, I
would never have been able to figure out their names from this faded
140-year-old will.
What should I
write in my seventh article, I wondered? I decided to focus on people, places,
and things, with an overview of what you might expect to find in your
ancestors’ wills.
There are a
variety of people involved in the probate of the will. Sometime before he or
she died, the decedent may have made a will. If they did not, they died
intestate – and the responsibility of executing the will and distributing the
assets would be decided by a probate court. A will might be long or short. That
would depend on circumstances: their health at the time they made it; how many
heirs they wanted to leave something to; how much worldly goods they had. Most
of the time they left their estate to their spouse and living children, but not
always. Why wouldn’t they? Perhaps they had given an inheritance to some of
those people already. If so, this might but not necessarily be stated in the
will. Perhaps they were not close to family members or had a feud with one or
some of them. Some men left an inheritance to their wife, but stipulated that
it was to last until she remarried. You might also find an anomaly tucked in
there – something odd or unexpected. Daniel’s last will and testament was
straightforward.
The heirs may
be family, but not necessarily. The decedent may leave all or a portion to
someone outside the family or to an organization. Generally, the relation is
stated – to my beloved wife, my sons and daughters, my brothers or sisters, my
friends, etc. Daniel’s beloved wife, Charlotte Hoyt
Holmes, as well as two of his twelve children, predeceased him.
The writer of
the will generally names his or her executors – the person or persons he wants
to carry out their final wishes. If that person or persons predecease him, the
court would name an executor(s). Daniel chose his son,
Charles R. Holmes, and his son-in-law, Abner Jones, as his executors.
With a probate
comes a legal team: the judge of probate, lawyers, and sometimes the clerk. In
the case of Daniel Holmes, as is likely in most cases – the judge designates people
to do things for him. He chose two neighbours to take an inventory and appraise
Daniel’s possessions, both real and moveable. He had station agents post
petitions in the Salisbury and Petitcodiac railway stations. He had a Moncton
newspaper representative publish a citation to be printed three times in a row.
I have always
felt sympathy for the appraisers. These people are probably personally
involved, knowing the family well. During the family’s time of grief, they must
enter their house and go through their belongings, making a list to submit to
strangers.
When citations
go to the newspapers, people have a chance to seek what is owed them by the
decedent.
By studying the
people mentioned in the will and probate, you may find the names of family
members that you have been looking for. You might want to take the time to
identify their neighbours, for ofttimes, the children married into neighbouring
families. Use census records to see the relationship of your family to the
neighbours. I even found studying the names of those in the legal positions
interesting, and googled them all to learn a bit about them.
In the
execution process of the will of Daniel Holmes, the probate involved four
places: Petitcodiac, Salisbury, Dorchester and Moncton. Most of the legal team
was in Dorchester; this was the county seat in the 1880s. The weekly newspaper
the judge chose was in Moncton. Daniel lived on the Old Post Road on the
outskirts of Petitcodiac, of the parish of Salisbury. Citations were posted at
the railway stations of Petitcodiac and Salisbury. If you want to know your
ancestor’s life, you should learn about his places. The executors, Charles
Holmes and Abner Jones, had to travel to the court in Dorchester to do the
business of probating the will. How did they travel? By train? Perhaps they
took the train from Petitcodiac or Salisbury through Moncton, Painsec Junction
(close to where I live), Memramcook, and on to Dorchester, and back. That
detail, however, is not mentioned in the probate.
A typed
citation from A. E. Oulton, Judge of Probate for the County of Westmorland to
the Sherriff of the County of Westmorland, or any Constable within the said
County: “Whereas Charles R. Holmes and Abner Jones, Executors of the last will
and testament of Daniel Holmes, late of Salisbury in the said County, Farmer
deceased, have filed and account of their administration in the estate
of the said deceased, and prayed that said account may be passed in due form of
law; You are therefore required to cite the said Charles R. Holmes and the said
Abner Jones, and all others interested to appear before me at a Court of
Probate, to be held at my office in Dorchest-er within and for the said County,
on Tuesday the thirty first day of August next at twelve O’clock noon to attend
the passing of said account, &c.”
By using maps
and learning the geography of the area where your ancestor lived, you will get
a feel for their place. How close did they live to their children? How could
they travel from one place to another in 1880s New Brunswick? From studying the
geography, I know that they could have traveled the approximate eighty miles
from the River Glade area to Dorchester by train. But, they did have to shoe a
horse. The shoeing cost $.80. Maybe they used Daniel’s horse and carriage,
mentioned in his inventory, to travel to Dorchester as requested by Judge A. E.
Oulton. Obviously, they did not take the sleigh. When you study a probate, use
a map, preferably of the era of your ancestor’s death.
Oh, the things
you will learn about in a probate. In the will, the writer may list objects he
wants to go to specific people. Daniel left his organ and other household
furniture to his daughter, Hattie. Why? Because Hattie and her husband, Abner
Jones, and their eight children, moved into the homestead to care for Daniel sometime
after his wife died, and would remain there after his death.
You will find
most of the “things” in the inventory. In Daniel’s inventory, I find promissory
notes from his children and others. I also find goods and chattels – all of
which would likely be in a barn or outbuilding, as Hattie inherited everything
in the house: a horse, a sheep, two harnesses, a carriage, a sleigh. There was
one exception: a watch and chain valued at $60. I wonder who inherited that.
The inventory
gives you a picture of your ancestor’s life. There are several aspects of the
inventory: the real estate, the moveable estate, and perhaps the monetary
estate. Although the inventory is not
always recorded room by room or building by building, I like to group the
things by category: kitchen, hearth, bedroom, barn, etc. In Daniel’s case, I
verified what I thought I knew already: that he was an educated man and that he
carried out his business affairs carefully, having mortgages in place for the
large sums of money. From the inventory: “The above promissory notes marked A,
B, are secured by mortgage on real estate.”
Affidavit
– a written statement that someone makes after promising officially to tell the
truth. An affidavit can be used as proof in a law court.
Annex
– an addition to a document or report.
Citation
– an official request for someone to appear in a law court.
Petition
– a formal letter to a law court asking for a particular legal action.
Promissory
note – a legal document that contains a promise to pay a stated amount of money
to a stated person either on a fixed date or when the money is demanded.
The probate of
Daniel Holmes is on file at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Should
you wish to find your ancestor’s probate, send them an email, detailing your
ancestor’s date and place of death in New Brunswick. Send an obituary along if
you have it. It does take time. I received an offer to transcribe this probate,
but I declined, as it was something I wanted to do myself. There is likely a
cost to that, but it might be worth it to you. If you wish to see Daniel
Holmes’ probate, let me know and I will send you a copy.
When you find a
last will and testament and a full probate of your ancestor (or person of
interest), consider it a privilege. It may take time to become accustomed to
the handwriting, and as the years and centuries go by, handwriting styles
change. I urge you to take the challenge. It is a journey back into the life
and world of those special people who came before us.
~
I put a page of Daniel’s probate on the NBGS
Facebook group and gave my fellow genealogists a quiz. Those who responded had
fun with it. I will give you the same quiz I gave them:
I
am going to attach a page from the probate of my great-great grandfather,
Daniel Holmes of Westmorland County, NB (c.1813 - 1883). This is called a
petition. There are 34 pages. This is an easy one. There is no date on it, but
I assume it to be April of 1883. Click on document to enlarge.
- To whom was the petition addressed?
- Who made the petition (there were two people)?
- These two people had the same occupation. What was it?
- In what parish did Daniel Holmes live?
- What date did Daniel Holmes make his last will and testament?
- Who did Daniel Holmes name as his executors (there were two
people)?
- What value did the petitioners place on Daniel Holmes' estate?
- What kind of letters did the petitioners ask for?
- What is the last word?
~
How many
questions can you answer?
There will be a
chronicle next Thursday, and then I will take two weeks off to play with my
grandson. Sometimes, I forget to play. Play is good.
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