02 April 2014

Guardianship for Child Does Not Mean Parents are Dead

Your relative leaves his grandchildren $200 each in his 1824 will, naming an apparent neighbor as their guardian, pending approval of the court. You cannot assume that the parents of the grandchildren are deceased. It could very well be that the grandfather did not trust the father of the children to "do right" in regards to the children's inheritance and naming the guardian served as an "end run" around the son-in-law.

1 comment:

  1. Very True. My 3 great grandfather had guardianship in 1842 of 6 children. Their grandfather Richard Bradley left money. Then two years later, A older brother was guardian of the two minor children. Every researcher thought the father died. But found him on the 1860 census living with one of the children

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