Monday, July 23, 2012

Amanuensis Monday - Petition to Approve Will of Alvina C. Seaver

Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme many months ago called Amanuensis Monday. What does "amanuensis" mean? John offers this definition:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The subject today is the list of heirs-at-law to the estate of Alvina Matilda (Bradley) (Lewis) Seaver, the third wife and widow of Isaac Seaver (1823-1901).  I posted the will transcription in 
Amanuensis Monday - the Will of Alvina Seaver (1848-1923), and the codicil transcription in 
Amanuensis Monday - the Codicil of Alvina M. Seaver.

Alvina (Bradley) (Lewis) Seaver died in Clinton, Massachusetts on 20 April 1923, testate, and her probate papers are in Worcester County Probate Records, Probate Packet B-80132 (accessed and copied at Worcester County, Massachusetts Court House in 1991).  The petition to approve the will and codicil, which includes a list of heirs-at-law, (typewritten entries underlined, handwritten portions in italics) is: 





The transcription is:

To the Honorable the Judges of the Probate Court in and for the County of Worcester :

RESPECTFULLY represents  Harold L. French
of Clinton in the County of Worcester
that Alvina M. Seaver
who last dwelt in Clinton in said County of Worcester, died on
the twentieth day of April in the year of our Lord one
thousand nine hundred and twenty-three possessed of goods and estate remaining to be
administered, leaving as her only heirs at law and next of kin, the persons
whose names, residences, and relationships to the deceased are as follows, viz.:

NAME .......................................... RESIDENCE .................. RELATIONSHIP
Frank A. Bradley ........................... Fitchburg, Mass. ............... brother
Jennie Brigham .............................. Clinton, Mass. .................. sister
Ida Belcher ................................... Boston, Mass. ................... sister
Leland H. Bradley ......................... Madrid, Iowa .................... nephew
Harvey V. Bradley ........................ Madird, Iowa .................... nephew
Hazel Bradley ............................... Madrid, Iowa .................... niece
Vivian Bradley Jennings ................  Madrid, Iowa .................... niece
Grace Bradley Brothbeck .............. Madrid, Iowa .................... niece
Beulah Bradley Lumman ............... Madrid, Iowa .................... niece

That said deceased left a WILL-- and one CODICIL -- herewith presented, wherein your
petitioner is named executor and wherein the testatrix has requested that your
petitioner be exempt from giving a surety on his bond.

Wherefore your petitioner prays that said will -- and codicil -- may be proved and allowed and letters testamentary issued to him, without giving a surety on his official bond, and 
certifies that the statements herein contained are true to the best of his knowledge and belief.

Dated this first day of May A.D. 19 23.
.................................................................. /s/ Harold L. French

Suffolk, ss. Subscribed and sworn to this first day of May A.D. 19 23.

Before me, Bertram H. Brooks Justice of the Peace.

According to my records, Harvey H. and Sarah (Palmer) Bradley had seven children, including Alvina, Jennie, Ida and Frank named above.  There were three other siblings - Katherine, Harry and Hendrick.  The two nephews and four nieces named above are probably the children of either Harry or Hendrick.  The married surnames of three nieces are provided.  I have not researched this family any further since they are not "mine" and I am not related to them (since Alvina was Isaac Seaver's third wife, and his widow).  
 
The list of heirs-at-law found in probate records in this time frame is an excellent resource for researchers who want to find extended family. If I wanted to contact living relatives of Alvina, I could do more research in census, vital, city directory, land, probate, newspaper and cemetery records to find them.  

The URL For this post is:

Copyright(c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

1 comment:

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith said...

Yes, Randy, I have a report like this from an xGreat-Uncle - who had no children of his own, but left a medium-sized estate - the list of "Heirs-in-law" has been fantastic in locating 'lost" families around the country. Co-incidently, it was in 1923, also, and in Illinois. It listed nieces and nephews in several states - likely not to be found with out this resource. Thanks for sharing.;-)