Whether the deceased died with or without a will, if he left estate (property either real or personal) there should have been a probate--in theory. In practice, however, we often find that for small estates with only personal property, there are no records. Other families never got around to doing the paper work. Often what we find is evidence decades later in deed books describing what I call silent inheritance of land (this is not a legal term), through primogeniture, family agreement, or assignment.

Each step in the probate process generated paper. Appearances and actions at the...

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