Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Mining Cornelius Feather's Probate Records for Genealogy Nuggets

I found the probate records for Cornelius Feather (1777-1853) in the Mercer County, Pennsylvania, probate records in the Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994 record collection on FamilySearch recently.

There are four documents in the Proceedings Index for Cornelius Feather, and I have transcribed all of them:

*  Administration Citation (Mercer County, Orphans Court Dockets, 1850-1858, Vol. D-E, page 110)
*  Petition for Writ of Partition (Mercer County, Orphans Court Dockets, 1850-1858, Vol. D-E, pages 148-150)
*  Proof of Contract of the Sale of Real Estate (Mercer County, Orphans Court Dockets, 1850-1858, Vol. D-E, page 171-172)
*  Account of the Estate (Mercer County, Orphans Court Dockets, 1850-1858, Vol. D-E, page 221)

The Administration and Account records are standard form and there is no genealogical information in them that is not in the Petition and Proof of Contract documents.

Here are the items of interest that I found in the Petition for Writ of Partition.  I have highlighted items that were new to me in RED:

*  John Feather was a son and heir of Cornelius Feather
*  Cornelius Feather died intestate, before petition dated 20 August 1855
*  Cornelius Feather's wife survived him, but was deceased by 20 August 1855.
*  George Feather was a son and heir of Cornelius Feather
*  Mary Feather (married name Mary Milner) was a daughter of Cornelius Feather, and was deceased by 20 August 1855
*  Mary (Feather) Milner had two children, Cornelius A. Milner and Esther Ann Milner
*  Cornelius A. Milner was at least age 21 and an heir-at-law of Cornelius Feather by 20 August 1855
*  Esther Ann Milner was a minor (not yet age 18) and an heir-at-law of Cornelius Feather by 20 August 1855.
*  Sarah Feather (married name Sarah Carringer, wife of Henry Carringer) was a daughter of Cornelius Feather, and was deceased by 20 August 1855
*  Eliza, David J., George W. Cornelius A. and Mary Carringer are of age as of 20 August 1855, and are heirs-at-law of Cornelius Feather.
*  Sarah, Henry, Loisa M, Matilda S. and Harvy M. Carringer are not of age as of 20 August 1855 and are heirs-at-law of Cornelius Feather.
*  Cornelius Feather died seized of land in Salem Township in Mercer County, being 6 acres, bounded North by John Hurry's heirs, East by General Irvin, South by Irvin and land sold to Charles Milner, and West by J. Russell.
*  Charles Milner was guardian of Esther Ann Milner on 11 October 1855
*  Henry Carringer was guardian of his minor children on 11 October 1855.
*  D.W. Findley was guardian ad litem of the Carringer minor children on 21 November 1855.
*  The land in Salem Township was sold at auction to Peter Henry for $1,060 on 18 August 1856.
*  The heirs-at-law (John Feather, George Feather, children of Mary (Feather) Milner, and children of Sarah (Feather) Carringer) each received $89.95 in the distribution on 19 April 1858.

Here are the items of interest that I found in the Proof of Contract of the Sale of Real Estate.  I have highlighted items that were new to me in RED:

*  Cornelius Feather of Salem Township died intestate on 1 April 1853.
*  John Feather resided in Perry Township as of 20 August 1855.
*  Cornelius Feather was seized of 5 plus acres of land in Salem Township, Lot 963 of the Fifth  Donation District, on 18 April 1850.
*  Charles Milner bought this land for $100 on 18 April 1850, paying $55 in the Spring of 1850, and owed $45 plus interest when Cornelius Feather died.
*  Charles Milner paid the balance to the administrator of Cornelius Feather's estate, and the Court ordered the administrator to convey the deed to Charles Milner on 20 August 1855.

From other records, I knew that John, George, Mary and Sarah were children of Cornelius Feather and his first wife (name unknown).  I knew that Sarah had married Henry Carringer, and had those 10 children.  I knew, from cemetery records, that Sarah (Feather) Carringer died in 1848.

I did not have Cornelius Feather's death date, nor the death date of his second wife (first name Mary from 1850 census, who was dead by August 1855).

My family tree had two husbands for Mary Feather - Dennis Harbaugh (married 1837) and Charles Milner (married ????).  However, Mary (Feather) Harbaugh was still living in 1860 according to census records, so she cannot be the deceased wife of Charles Milner in 1855.  I did not know the names of her Milner children, and still don't know their birth dates (other than Cornelius Milner was at least age 21 in August 1855, and Esther Ann was not yet age 18 in August 1855.

My hypothesis is that the probate of the estate of Cornelius Feather was delayed until his second wife died.

These documents, taken together, support my conclusions that Sarah (Feather) Carringer was a daughter of Cornelius Feather, and that my David J. Carringer (1828-1902) was a son of Henry and Sarah (Feather) Carringer.

With the definition of the land sold to Charles Milner in 1850, I can probably find the approximate location of the Cornelius Feather lot that was sold at auction in the estate proceedings.

I need to look for guardianship records in Mercer County for the Milner child and the Carringer children.

I need to search for and find land records in Mercer County (and perhaps other nearby counties) to document any land transactions between Cornelius Feather and his children (or their spouses).  I will wait for the Pennsylvania Land Records to become available in digital format on FamilySearch (hopefully soon!).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/02/mining-cornelius-feathers-probate.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

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