Posts in June 10, 2020

When a relative died in Missouri in the 1860s, all his personal property was ordered sold to pay bills and to settle up his estate. It was inventoried and appraised before the auction. When comparing the sale values with the appraised values, I noticed that what the widow purchased went for pennies on the appraised value while the other items went for relatively close to what they had been evaluated at. It was not difficult to see what had happened. The law said there had to be an appraisal and there had to be a sale. The law said nothing about the neighbors shooting dirty looks at anyone who made a bid against the widow. The procedure was followed, but the widow was not forced to really pay […]