Amanuensis Monday - Estate of George B. Chilcutt

I don't know too much about my 2x great-grandfather George B. Chilcutt and was hoping to find some information in the Maryland probate records. He was born in October 1854 in Maryland and married my 2x great-grandmother Kate Covey on December 21, 1876. While it doesn't appear that he left a will, his estate papers are available on familysearch.org. The papers help to place his date of death sometime before or during December 1916. His estate was probated in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

A newspaper notice was placed in the Centreville Record on December 26, 1916 to alert any persons with claims against his estate to make their claims by July 30, 1917.

The newspaper notice reads as follows:

NOTICE TO CREDITORS.
Notice is hereby given that the undersigned has obtained from the Orphan's Court for Queen Anne's County letters of administration on the personal estate of
GEORGE B. CHILCUTT.
late of said county, deceased. All persons having claims against said deceased's estate are hereby warned to exhibit the same, with the proper vouchers thereof, to the undersigned on or before July 30, 1917, otherwise they may by law be excluded from all benefit of said deceased's personal estate.
  All persons indebted to this estate must settle at once.
  Given under my hand this 26th day of December, 1916.
KATE O. CHILCUTT
Administratrix
Ture Copy -- WM. T. BISHOP, Register
D30t4 Test -- WM. T. BISHOP, Register

In the estate papers, the newspaper notice was attached to a certification from the Centreville Record that the notice had been published for four successive weeks.

"THE CENTREVILLE RECORD PUBLISHING CO. hereby certifies that the notice to creditors in the case of the estate of Geo. B. Chilcutt a true copy of which is hereby annexed, was inserted in The Centreville Record, a weekly newspaper printed and published in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, once a week for four successive weeks, the last insertion being six months before the 30th day of July in the year 1917. The Centreville Record Publishing Co." The record was signed by Edwin H. Brown, Jr. President.

An appraisal of George's personal property was followed by a public auction to sell his personal estate. The auction was held "on the farm On Saturday, January, 27th, 1917, beginning at 11 O' Clock A.M."

The items sold were mostly farm equipment and goods. A brown mare was sold for $8 and a very old gray mule for $1. I think the Covey Chilcutt shown here is probably George and Kate's son. He bought a riding saddle for a grand total of 25 cents!

An account of the estate filed by Kate with the Orphan's Court showed that while the estate was appraised at $485.90, only 260.20 was raised by the public auction. Kate then made claims against the estate for funeral expenses and probate expenses.

The second page of the account shows that an allowance of $49.71 was given to Kate "as the surviving widow of the deceased with infant children of the deceased." The total amount charged against the estate was $225.70, leaving only $34.50 from the money raised by the auction. In the 1910 census, George and Kate were renting their farm, so I'm guessing that they didn't own any land. I'm wondering how Kate survived with the children. I haven't been able to locate her in the 1920 census yet. Some of the children were adults, so I suspect she may have been living with one of them.

Source: "Maryland, Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XXFD-S6F : accessed 20 Oct 2014), George B. Chilcutt, 26 Dec 1916; citing Queen Anne's County, estate number QA0000001204.

Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts.

Wordless Wednesday - Grandpa on a Tricycle!

This photo of my grandfather Robert F. Creeden was taken in Celina, Ohio. I would guess the year was around 1915.

Census Sunday - Covey family in Maryland and Delaware

In a previous post, I traced my 2x great-grandparents Kate Covey and George Chilcutt in census records, starting with the 1880 census. In this post, I'll try to trace Kate Covey's family in the census records. In the 1870 census, Kate was 9 years old and was living with her parents, Henry and Sarah Covey in District 3 of Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

Covey family in District 3, Queen Anne's, MD, 1870 census

Other Coveys living with the family are Allen M., age 13, Frank F., age 11, and Josiah, age 23. Maryland is given as the place of birth for everyone in the household.

I haven't had any luck finding the Covey family in the 1860 census. I found a probable match in the 1850 census, although the ages and birthplaces don't quite match. Henry and Sarah were living in Kent County, Delaware in the Milford and Mispillion Hundred. All birth places were given as Delaware and Sarah is 32 years old, while Henry is 35. In the 1870 census, both Henry and Sarah were 50 years old, so they didn't quite age 20 years. Henry was at the bottom of the census page, with the rest of the family on the next page.

Covey family in Kent County, Delaware, 1850 census

From Delaware marriage records, Sarah married Eli Pratt on April 19, 1836. She married Henry Covey on August 2, 1847. I think the Pratt children listed here are most likely from Sarah's marriage to Eli Pratt.

In the 1900 census, there is a Sarah Covey born in March 1818 living with George and Ariane Faulkner in Worton, Kent County, Maryland, District 49. She is listed as the Mother-In-Law and is widowed. She had twelve children and nine are still living. Ariane and George have been married 32 years, so that explains why Ariane isn't in the 1870 census with the Coveys.

Sarah Covey in Worton, Kent County, MD,1900 census

From the census records I've found so far, probable children for Sarah are Ann E. Pratt, William H. Pratt, Eli C. Pratt, Joseph Covey, Henry C. Covey, Robert G. Covey, Allen M. Covey, Frank F. Covey, and Kate O. Covey. Josiah Covey, age 23 is also living with the family in 1870, but not in 1850, so he may be some other relation. From the 1900 census, Sarah also had a daughter named Arianna. I'm still hoping to find the 1860 census to fill in some of the gaps.

Sources:

• Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line] Year: 1850; Census Place: Milford and Mispillion Hundreds, Kent, Delaware; Roll: M432_52; Page: 146B; Image: 298.
• Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]Year: 1870; Census Place: District 3, Queen Annes, Maryland; Roll: M593_593; Page: 406A; Image: 257; Family History Library Film: 552092.
• Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line] Year: 1900; Census Place: Worton, Kent, Maryland; Roll: 625; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0049; FHL microfilm: 1240625.
• Ancestry.com. Delaware Marriage Records, 1744-1912 [database on-line]. Original data: Public Archives Commission, Delaware Public Archives. Marriage Records, 1744-1912. Dover, Delaware: Delaware Public Archives. Record Group # RG 1325; Subgroup # 003; Series # 004.

Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by Colleen Pasquale of Leaves and Branches.

Census Sunday - Hannah Creedan in the US 1880 Mortality Schedule

The US census included mortality schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1885 that provided information on those who had died in the year prior to the enumeration. This can be a valuable source of information since it can be hard to find obituaries or death records for those time periods.

Hannah Hoover Creedan was the second wife of my 3x great-grandfather Patrick Creedan. She died in 1879 in Clinton County, Ohio and is listed in the 1880 Mortality Schedule for Clinton County.

The number in the far left column matches the number of the family in the 1880 population schedule. The next columns list the name of the deceased, age at death, sex, color, and whether single, married, or widowed/divorced.

Hannah's place of birth was Ohio. Her father was born in Baden and her mother in Pennsylvania.

Hannah's occupation was given as "Keeping House" and the month in which she died was October. The cause of death was consumption. Since Hannah was 58 in October 1879, that places her date of birth somewhere between October 1820 - October 1821.

The last columns list the number of years the deceased was a resident of the county, place the disease was contracted if somewhere other than the county, and name of the attending physician. This appears to say that Hannah was a resident of Clinton County for 50 years which would indicate she was born somewhere else in Ohio. If this is correct, her family moved to Clinton County in 1829.

Source: Ancestry.com. U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 [database on-line]. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Non-population Census Schedules for Ohio, 1850-1880; Archive Collection: T1159; Archive Roll Number: 102; Census Year: 1879; Census Place: Wayne, Clinton, Ohio.

Census Sunday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by Colleen Pasquale of Leaves and Branches.