Reading through every bill paid by your ancestor’s executor or administrator might seem as fun as watching paint dry, but I learned:
- My great-grandfather was paid $2 in 1918 for setting posts on his deceased father’s farm
- My great-grandfather was paid $3 for hauling manure on his father’s farm
- The fire insurance on the farm in 1918 was $32.50
- A phone call made by the executor from Tioga, Illinois, to Carthage, Illinois, cost 20 cents–no mention of how long the phone call was.