Wills, deeds, and other legal documents may list all the children of a specific individual. Don’t assume that they are listed in order from oldest to youngest. They may be–or they may not be. Try and use other records to estimate the years of birth for at least some of the children. That may give you a better perspective on whether they are listed in birth order or not.
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2 Responses
In The Netherlands, a will will only mention the children still living at that time, or the ones that died, leaving issue. I’ve found an additional child, a couple of times, in an earlier document (for example, in the will of the oen that died). So you can’t even assume a will will list all the children.
That’s a good point. Intestate estate settlements in the US (when there is no valid will) will only mention surviving children or ones who left descendants.