…from you. If you can’t immediately think of several ways a specific ancestor was different from you, it could be creating problems for your research. Some ways are relatively easy to potentially see: occupation, educational level, religious practice, probable political belief, general lifestyle, health practices, etc. Think about it.
State statute dictates how the estate of a deceased person who dies without a will is to be disbursed among the heirs. That process can be complicated if the deceased person dies without leaving any descendants of their own. That process can change slightly over time. It is important to know what laws were in effect at the time an estate was being settled. John Trautvetter died in 1937 in Illinois leaving no children and his mother and six siblings as his heirs. Contemporary statute gave his mother a double share compared to his siblings. For that reason the estate was divided into eighths, with his mother to receive two of those shares and his six siblings to each receive one share. The estate was to be divided […]
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