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 for the items that she needed.
Another relative died in the 1940s owning a small, heavily mortgaged farm, and a small home in the town a few miles away. The judge ordered the farm sold to pay the mortgage, but declared the home in town “of no value” and refused to order it sold. This allowed the widow to remain in her home, but that fact was never stated in the judge’s order.
Of course I don’t know for certain that the neighbors shot dirty looks at anyone who tried to bid against the first widow and I don’t know exactly what was going on in the judge’s mind when he declared the home of no value for the second. But I can comment about what I notice when I read these records and I need to remember that sometimes what may look strange is really someone’s attempt to find a workaround while staying within the sytem.
Try and look beyond the bare facts stated in the records. Sometimes the best story is the one that is never explicitly mentioned.
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