My most fascinating family find from April 2016 was: Finding the will of Elizabeth Auble (1814-1899), who never married and had no children.
I have written these posts to date about the finding the will, analyzing it, and searching for all of the heirs mentioned in the will:
* Making Progress on My Auble Cousins - Post 1: Finding Elizabeth's Will (25 April 2016).
* Making Progress on My Auble Cousins - Post 2: Transcription of Elizabeth Auble's Will (28 April 2016)
* Making Progress on My Auble Cousins - Post 3: Identifying Elizabeth Auble's Heirs (29 April 2016)
* Making Progress on My Auble Cousins -- Post 4: The William Auble Challenges (3 May 2016)
* Making Progress on My Auble Cousins -- Post 5: The Sophia Auble Challenges Part 1 (5 May 2016)
* Making Progress on My Auble Cousins -- Post 6: Solving the William Auble Challenge (6 May 2016)
It seems counter-intuitive at first glance - why would a will or probate record be of much value if the testator did not have a spouse or any children? Actually, the will or probate record of a childless person is very helpful, because the heirs-at-law are usually the person's siblings and their descendants, and in some cases, the heirs-at-law may be the person's parents siblings and their descendants.
Elizabeth Auble's will is an excellent example. In Post 3 on the list above, I identified each heir and described their relationship to Elizabeth, if known. The will mentioned six of Elizabeth's siblings, and several of their children and grandchildren. Before this will, I did not know that William Auble, Sophia Auble or Nathan Auble were siblings of Elizabeth's. In the process of analyzing the will, I have been adding descendants for all of the siblings of Elizabeth Auble using classical genealogy research techniques in online resources.
Since my ancestor was Elizabeth's brother, David Auble (1817-1894), who is my second great-grandfather, the descendants of her siblings are my relatively close cousins - second great-grandchildren of other siblings are my third cousins. They should share a significant portion of their autosomal DNA with me.
The will also mentioned a number of other persons as heirs without identifying a relationship. They may be family friends, colleagues, neighbors or distant relatives. I will try to identify how these persons are related to or are acquainted with Elizabeth Auble.
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Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver
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