User:Pipkincm/Sandbox

I'm thrilled that the FamilySearch wiki is available. Thanks for allowing me to contribute. Please be patient as I continue to learn.

These are the items that I found on the wiki that either I want to edit/create or that I'll suggest someone else gives attention to. If you've been asked to collaborate, please review the topic of interest and add to the "discussion" tab.

= Probate Records =

Suggested Text for State Topic Pages
[insert an image]

Record Synopsis
Probate encompasses all matters and proceedings pertaining to the administration of estates, whether there is a will (testate) or not (intestate). Various types of records are created throughout the probate process. These may include, wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. These documents are extremely valuable to genealogists and should not be neglected. In many instances, they are the only known source of relevant information such as the decedent’s date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their places of residence. They may also include information about adoption or guardianship of minor children and dependents. Probate records in [state] have been recorded by [name of courts].


 * For further information, see Probate Process.
 * An excellent list of documents related to probate can be found on Ancestry.com’s wiki. [link]
 * Glossary of terms [link to article]
 * Cautions [link to article or simply mention that records can be filed in more than one cabinet/ledger/packet and in different county offices; that those named in the will aren’t necessarily related to the testator; and that a wife is not necessarily the mother of the children named]

Jurisdictions
[If necessary, insert a table of jurisdictions and time periods; a map, if necessary]

Obtaining the Records
Repositories  (local, regional, national—as applicable)

Indexes 

Web Sites 


 * Anne Roach, Courthouse Records Overview (35 minute online video) FamilySearch Research Classes Online, 2010.
 * Sampubco A gateway to Indexes of Will, Guardianships, Probate Records, and Letters Testamentary
 * The USGenWeb Project A cooperative volunteer effort with links to resources in each state and county.

Probate
Probate records are court records created after an individual’s death that relate to a court’s decisions regarding the distribution of the estate to the heirs or creditors and the care of any dependents. You may find the names of married daughters or other relatives and their residences; or information about the adoption or guardianship of minor children and dependents. Probate records do not always give an exact date of death, but the death usually occurred within four months of probate. These documents are important to family history researchers, because they usually exist for time periods before civil birth and death records were kept.

The [court] has responsibility for the probate records of [name] County.

The following [name] County probate records have been indexed or abstracted:

Glossary (draft)
(The Iowa Probate page provides wikipedia links to some of these terms)

Accounts -

Administration - Gives authority to the administrator to settle the estate.

Administrator (-trix) -

Administrator cum testamento annexo (administrator cta) -

Administrator de bonis non(administrator dbn) -

Affidavits -

Affinity -

Agnate-

Appearance docket -

Appraisal -

Attest -

Beneficiary -

Bequeath -

Bequest -

Bond -

Bondsmen -

Calendar -

Case file -

Codicil -

Committee -

Consanguinity -

Conservators -

Contest (will) -

Coverture -

Curtesy -

Decedent -

Degree of relationship -(see Greenwood p 317)

Depositions -

Devise -

Distributions - The manor in which the deceased's possessions are allocated.

Docket -

Dower rights - The rights that a non-owner spouse has in the real property.

Entail -

Escheat -

Estate -

Estate file - The file containing information about the property left by the deceased to be dispersed between the surviving heirs.

Femme sole -

Guardian -

Guardianship - The court appointment of an adult to take care of the child or the child's property.

Heir -

Holographic will -

Imprimis -

Infant -

Intestate - When an individual dies without leaving a will he or she is called "intestate."

Inventory -

Issue -

Legatee -

Legator -

Letters of Administration -

Lineal -

Locus sigilli (L.S.) -

Loose papers -

Majority -

Minor -

Next friend -

Noncupative will -

Notices -

Partition -

Per stirpes -

Petition -

Primogeniture -

Probate -

Probate case file - These are all of the various papers that have been created throughout the probate process. These are bound together and archived by case number; they are also called case files, estate files, or probate estate papers.

Probate fees -

Probate packet -

Prove -

Publication -

Receipt -

Register of wills -

Register -

Relict -

Settlements -

Sale bills -

Sine prole (s.p.) -

Sureties -

Surrogate -

Testament -

Testamentary -

Testate -

Testator (-trix) -

Travail -

Trustee -

Videlicet (viz) -

Widow's allowance -

Widow's election -

Will -

Witness - 

= US Land and Property =


 * Explain federal land tract books and how to determine which film to search using a combination of Hone's county boundaries and the FHL catalog entry.
 * Timelines.
 * Include both "general tips" and "state tips" within each state.

= Colorado =


 * Note that the state Archives has an incomplete divorce index, probate and tax indexes for some years/counties, and State Pennitentiary Index 1871-1973.
 * Add "occupations" topic and "mining" article.

= Articles =


 * Link "legal ages" page to land, military, court, immigration, and vital records pages.
 * Mining
 * Northern Liberties, Pennsylvania