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William Elwood Part 1
We know that William Elwood died between Nov 10, 1830 and Feb 22, 1832 in Westmoreland County PA. (Franklin Township).Since the former date is the date he signed his last will & testament and the latter date is the date it was probated, it seems reasonable to assume his date of death was closer to the latter date not the former. Most wills are probated a short time after death. Unfortunately, the affidavit admitting the will to probate does not state an actual date of death. I have a copy of the will and probate affidavit which appear in Will Book 2 at page 257 Westmoreland County. Since I acquired them by mail so long ago I assume that there are no other probate records on file concerning his estate (inventories, releases, etc.)
He gives to his wife Jean all of his personal property as well as the prphets of the real estate (profits?). Son Robert got "all my Plantation" and various monetary bequests were made to William, Mary Adair, Thomas, Esther Mc Keever, George, James, John, and Jenny Christy.. Robert was named executor along with Matthew McKeever. The will was witnessed by James Christy Sr. and David H. Christy.
He prefaces each bequest to a male with the words, "my son", but never indicated the females as his daughter. I wonder why? Presumably the Christy's who witnessed the will were Jenny's in laws, maybe even one was her husband.
William signed with "his mark" as noted in a previous post. He may have been illiterate or simply infirm at the time.
Does the order of naming the children represent their order of birth? I assume William as namesake was the oldest. A county history states William was a "babe in arms" when his father came to Westmoreland County. If William were the oldest why would he leave the plantation to Robert or not to all equally?
Under English law real estate was left under primogeniture to the oldest son subject to dower right of the spouse.(which is kind of what Jean received for her life). I think the idea of leaving real estate to a spouse or all children equally is more of a modern concept. Therefore I do not think it unusual that one of the children receive the entire parcel, but why Robert and not William particularly if William was the oldest. I assume William was on his own and Robert may have helped his father farm the tract. Therefore, a bequest to him makes sense. Somewhere I read Robert owned property abutting this tract and sold it once he inherited the homestead. This supports my theory since he would have been in close proximity to his father. Maybe Robert was the oldest or maybe William just liked him best! He did name him as co executor with a brother-in -law, Matthew McKeever, not a brother which I thought unusual.
I also wonder how much is the $30 bequest to my ancestor (George) worth in today's money. The gifts appear to be more than a nominal amount. Two of the girls only got 5 dollars but Esther got fifty and her husband was co executor.
Why weren't the bequests to be paid for a year and where did the money come from if in fact they were paid. Jean got all the personal property and although the real estate was responsible for the debt I don't believe any was sold to pay the debts and bequests . Jean also got the income from the real estate.
Again if any one has any other probate information I would like a copy. Also I do not believe there is any probate record of Jean, since she apparently did not have any substantial property at the time of her death..
I don't believe we will ever be able to determine his exact date of death if there are no probate records. To my knowledge no one has located his grave. There is speculation that both are buried in an unmarked grave at Poke Run. This is plausible since he lived in close proximity and it is said that was the church to which he belonged. One descendant commented to Mrs Warden in her history that it is unlikely he would have been buried anywhere else.
If he is buried in Poke Run why no stone or maybe one was placed there and destroyed or damaged over time. The Poke Run Church records notes that I have don't mention any Elwood deaths before 1874. the researcher told be there are about 70 pages of church records from 1840-1869 which are difficult to read so she didn't have time.
In conclusion if any knows where William is buried or has other probate records or other information about William please post or send me an email. Likewise if you want a copy of his will or Warden's Elwood history let me know.
Bob Ellwood
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