A minor child who inherited property may have had a guardian appointed to oversee the estate in which the child had an interest. The guardian of the estate may not have been the mother of the child.
The guardian of the estate may not have been the individual who had physical custody of the child. A parent was the natural guardian of the child’s person. This was often the mother if the father died while the child was a minor. I was reminded of the difference between the guardian of the child’s estate and the guardian of the child’s person when I came across an obituary for a relative.
My great-grandfather’s sister and her husband died of the flu in the early 20th century in the United States. They owned a farm and the paternal grandfather was appointed guardian of the child’s estate. An obituary of a maternal uncle indicated he and his wife had raised one of the children–thus having custody of the child’s person. Other maternal relatives raised the other two children.
How well this worked out is not known, but it appeared that the father’s dad oversaw the money and the mother’s siblings oversaw the children. But just because paternal grandpa was the guardian of the estate of the children did not mean that they lived with him.
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