I'd like to share another probate record concerning William Wesley Rardin with you today. This time it's a Petition to Sell Real Estate.1
The petition is dated 24 December 1858, which is only about two months after Daniel B. Webster was appointed as William's guardian. In 1858, William was about ten years old.
Transcript of the Petition to Sell Real Estate
In the Matter of Daniel B. Webster }
Guardian of Wm Wesley Rardin } Petition to Sell Real Estate
vs }
Wm Wesley Rardin (a Minor) }
This cause came on to be heard and no person appearing for the Defendant; and the court being satisfied that the Defendant has been duly notified of the pending and prayer of petition, and that it will be for the benefit of said Minor to sell the Real Estate in said Petition mentioned. On a Counsel for Petition it is ordered that George S. Simpson, Peter Grovsenor & S. W. Foreman, being first duly sworn according to Law, do upon actual view of the premises, appraise the Real Estate in said petition mentioned as the property of Wm Wesley Rardin: described as follows to wit; one undivided 1/2 of 1/2 of 3/4 of Section No 23. Town No 6. in Range No 12 in the Ohio company's purchase, in the County of Athens and State of Ohio. And of their proceedings make due return forthwith to this Court.
Calvary Morris Prob JudgeThis document is very interesting. I didn't know William had any property to sell. Where did he get this property? Did he inherit it? If so, from whom? I didn't see anything about property being given to William by his maternal grandmother, Mary (Tyler) Webster, in her will. Why was it necessary to sell William's property at the time of this petition? It stated that it would be for his benefit. Where were his parents? If they were alive at this time, were they having financial difficulties? Were they unable to support William? Did they have a say regarding this petition to sell William's property? Did they agree with the decision to sell the property?
As you can see, I have lots of questions. I still don't know for sure when William's parents, Moses Rardin and Samantha (Webster) Rardin, passed away. I've found conflicting evidence regarding Samantha's date of death, which I will share in a future post. There are other probate records regarding William Wesley Rardin which I will also share in future posts.
Thanks for reading!
Jana
When my 2x great grandfather died a guardian was appointed for the children. His widow petitioned the court for permission to sell property to pay debts. The guardian represented the children.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Very interesting! In the petition I shared it seems William's guardian was not technically representing him because the petiton says "Guardian of Wm Wesley Rardin vs Wm Wesley Rardin (a minor)" and that no person came to represent the Defendant (William). I don't really understand that.
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
It might be legalese and not be a literal meaning of the words in that order. You have the legal description of the land. What can't you find? Perhaps find the local abstractor and see if he can find it for you. According to this map those coordinates are not in Athens County but in Chesterhill. Do you know when Athens County was formed?
Deletehttp://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/Browse/OH/OH_Chesterhill_224397_1906_62500.jpg
Find the town of Broadwell. The T7N and T6N are right on the R12W line. This happens to be a 1906 map. The townships are not in the typical 36 township format. I haven't taken the time to really look at other maps but if you want to discuss this with me I will try to be more help. Do you know how to read the plat map coordinates?
1/2 of 1/2 of 3/4 of Section No 23: of the 3/4 of Sec. 23, they are saying he owns 1/4 of the 3/4. These directions don't say N,S,E, or W so I don't know if this is the right township since it's T North and R West. It's possible your legal description is T South and/or R East but it's not clear.
More maps:
http://www.oldmapsonline.org/?utm_source=Copy+of+April+9%2C+2015+newsletter&utm_campaign=Growing+Pains&utm_medium=email/en/Ohio#bbox=-82.298476,39.18056000000001,-81.7218080032037,39.556574&q=&date_from=0&date_to=9999&scale_from=&scale_to=
Chester Hill is in Morgan County. To the NE of Athens Co.
DeleteI found it! I need to send you a screen shot.
DeleteHere's the Ohio Company Purchase
Deletehttp://www.mapofus.org/_maps/atlas/1866-OH.html
Wow! Thank you!
DeleteInteresting. I would guess that William's father was dead; otherwise, there should not have been a reason for a guardian unless, of course, Moses was insane or otherwise incapacitated. One reason to sell the land could be that they did not live close to the inherited land. Also as a minor, he probably could not farm the land or make improvements on it whereas selling it would allow the guardian to invest the money more profitably.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Wendy!
DeleteI wish I could find William's land. I tried to but failed. Maybe I didn't try finding it the right way. Anyway, about Moses, I've seen several family trees on Ancestry.com that have Moses' date of death in 1881. But, I need to verify that before I believe it.
Thanks for stopping by!