Wills and Deeds
I had been reading about the value of probate records and deeds in genealogical research, but didn't know where to begin. I was looking for a volunteer to find an obituary from Oneida county; what I found was a very reasonably priced researcher that knew how to find probate records and deeds in Oneida and Herkimer and other nearby counties. Nancy J. Silkey, a wonderful lady from Syracuse, has been such a help in obtaining many pages of records from the Oneida and Herkimer county courthouses. I am putting them on my Wills and Deeds page on my website, as I get time to transcribe them. Her and her husband made good use of their digital camera during a recent trip to Herkimer County, and sent me a disk of many images of Coffin family Wills.
One Will and probate file was of particular interest, that of Joseph R. Coffin. Joseph was born in Newport, Herkimer county, NY in 1818, and died there in 1872. His first wife, Mary Ann Rathbun, died childless in 1851; he married Sally Wilson the following year. They had one daughter, Lucy, but she died in 1866 as a thirteen year old girl. When Joseph made out his will, with no children to claim his estate, he named all 22 of his nieces and nephews, and to which family they belonged. When his wife Sally died in 1891, his estate was not yet settled, and so the probate papers list again all of his nieces and nephews (or their heirs if they had died), as well as the city where they were living in 1892. What a tremendous help in finding the descendents of Joseph Sr. and Matilda (Cummings) Coffin.
Of the deeds, perhaps the most interesting is the partitioning of the estate of Edward Coffin in 1824. It describes how his 200 acres, on the west side of West Canada Creek was sliced into seven equal pieces, and divided among his sons and their wives, which are all named in the deed. Later deeds tell how they sold off their portions to one another, or to other persons, or deeded them to their children. I look forward to taking a trip across the United States and visit the areas where my Coffin family relatives have lived for the last 200 plus years.
I had been reading about the value of probate records and deeds in genealogical research, but didn't know where to begin. I was looking for a volunteer to find an obituary from Oneida county; what I found was a very reasonably priced researcher that knew how to find probate records and deeds in Oneida and Herkimer and other nearby counties. Nancy J. Silkey, a wonderful lady from Syracuse, has been such a help in obtaining many pages of records from the Oneida and Herkimer county courthouses. I am putting them on my Wills and Deeds page on my website, as I get time to transcribe them. Her and her husband made good use of their digital camera during a recent trip to Herkimer County, and sent me a disk of many images of Coffin family Wills.
One Will and probate file was of particular interest, that of Joseph R. Coffin. Joseph was born in Newport, Herkimer county, NY in 1818, and died there in 1872. His first wife, Mary Ann Rathbun, died childless in 1851; he married Sally Wilson the following year. They had one daughter, Lucy, but she died in 1866 as a thirteen year old girl. When Joseph made out his will, with no children to claim his estate, he named all 22 of his nieces and nephews, and to which family they belonged. When his wife Sally died in 1891, his estate was not yet settled, and so the probate papers list again all of his nieces and nephews (or their heirs if they had died), as well as the city where they were living in 1892. What a tremendous help in finding the descendents of Joseph Sr. and Matilda (Cummings) Coffin.
Of the deeds, perhaps the most interesting is the partitioning of the estate of Edward Coffin in 1824. It describes how his 200 acres, on the west side of West Canada Creek was sliced into seven equal pieces, and divided among his sons and their wives, which are all named in the deed. Later deeds tell how they sold off their portions to one another, or to other persons, or deeded them to their children. I look forward to taking a trip across the United States and visit the areas where my Coffin family relatives have lived for the last 200 plus years.
posted by mycoffinfamily | 7:38 PM
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