The estate settlement of Baltser Heeren of Adams County, Illinois, was admitted to probate in 1867 and didn’t finish up until almost 1870. Heeren left his estate to children of his apparent brothers and sisters. Tracking those children has been an ongoing project of mine, including an heir Trientje Sartorius, wife of John Sartorius. Their residence is not given in the probate file.
Trientje and John are only mentioned once in the entire file–when they receive her share of the estate. In the will, Trientje and her sister are simply listed as “children of Metha Garrels.” They are not named. I’ve had difficulty locating Trientje and have decided that instead of focusing on her, I’m going to focus on her mother and and on her sister with the thought that the Sartorius last name could be wrong for Trientje and her husband John. There were other Sartoriuses who were also beneficiaries under the will and it’s possible that the clerk wrote down the name Sartorius incorrectly for the John who married Trientje. The other Sartoriuses mentioned are siblings and they did not have a brother named John.
It is always worth considering that the clerk made a mistake. Instead of beating your head against the wall, ask yourself whether that’s a possibility or not. It’s reasonable in this case since John and Trientje are only mentioned once. If they had been mentioned repeatedly in the file with the last name of Sartorius, the chance of it being wrong would be less.
And it may turn out to be right. But changing my focus may help me find all of them.
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