AmericaGen: Chapter 18 (Intestate Records)

Reference: Greenwood, Val, The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 4^th ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2017.

Intestate records are created when someone dies without a written will.  These records can be a great resource for genealogists, as they usually list all of the decedent's heirs. This one document can answer several research questions, as my example illustrates.

Celia Beck was the second wife of my third great-grandfather, Isaiah Sikes. They were married in Putnam County, Florida in 1868.¹ In the 1870 census, the household is composed of children from Isaiah's first marriage plus six-month old Sally, who was born in January of 1870. ²

Isaiah Sikes family in 1870

Abstract
Josesh Sykes, 64, M, W, Farmer, GA

Cely, 22, F, W, Keep House, Fla

Crawford, 21, M, W, Fla

Thomas, 14, M, W, Fla

Andrew, 12, M, W, Fla

Sally, 6/12, F, W, Fla, Jan [January]

In 1880, Thomas, Andrew and Sally (enumerated as Grace) are enumerated as a family unit, but without Isaiah or Celia.³ It is likely that Isaiah and Celia both died between 1870 and 1880, since Sally Grace is living with her older brothers.  I cannot find Sally Grace after 1880, and wondered if she died young.

The intestate record of Wilson Beck answered this question as well as giving me answers to questions I didn't know to ask. ⁴

Document from Wilson Beck's probate file, 1890

Abstract:

… Wilson Beck, late of the County of Putnam, and State of Florida, died on the 13th

day of November A.D. 1889, leaving heirs and legal representatives

surviving, to-wit, Mrs. Lucretia Rideought, nee

Lucretia Beck, William D. Stokes of

full age, Elizabeth Gill of full age, Elija

Stokes, infant, Henry Wilson Stokes about 17 years

old, children of Mary Stokes, nee Mary

Beck; Lucretia Sykes now Walker, about 19 years old,

Nora R. Sykes about 17 years old, children

of Celia Sykes, nee Celia Beck; Lizzie Beck

about 16 years old, James Beck about 14 years old,

Jared Beck about 9 years old, Elijah Beck

about 3 1/2 years old, and Melton Beck

aged about 6 years, children of Elijah N.

Beck, son of Wilson Beck, deceased.

This list of heirs includes Isaiah and Celia's surviving children, indicating that Celia died before her father's death in 1889. It's likely that she died before the 1880 census enumeration, but I have not found other evidence to support that claim. Notice, though, that Sally Grace is not listed as one of Wilson Beck's heirs, indicating that she, too, had died before 1889.  The question that I didn't know to ask were about two other children Isaiah and Celia had: Lucretia and Nora. This is the first document I found that named these daughters. They were born after the 1870 census and were not living with their older half-brothers in 1880 as Sally Grace was. Without this document, I would not have known about them.

In addition to documenting the relationship between Isaiah and his daughters, this record also narrows down Isaiah's death date. Nora was 17 in 1890, giving her a birth date of roughly 1873. This means Isaiah died between 1872 and 1880. Now I have a new research question: When was Nora Sikes born? Knowing this will help me narrow down Isaiah's death date even further.

Many times when an ancestor was married more than once, we tend to research only the spouse that was our direct ancestor. However, we can't really tell the complete story of our ancestor's life if we don't include the second (or third, etc.) spouse in the story. It was only through researching Celia Beck's life that I discovered the existence of two of Isaiah's daughters, giving a more complete picture of his life and helping to answer the question of when Isaiah died.

References

1. Putnam, Florida, marriage license  (1867), Sikes-Beck; digital image, Family Search, "Florida, County Marriages, 1830-1957," FamilySearch  (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 11 Oct 2016).

2. U.S. 1870 census, Putnam County, Florida, population schedule, Orange Springs, page 37 (handwritten), dwelling 64, family 62, Johesh Sykes; digiral image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed January 29, 2019, citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll 133.

3. U.S. 1880 census, Putnam County, Florida, population schedule, Precinct 11, ED 134, page 21A (handwritten), 91A (stamped), dwelling 80, family 80, Robt Seyles; Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed January 29, 2019, citing National Archives microfilm publication T9,  roll 131. Although it appears that the Sikes are enumerated with Robt Seyles' family, they may have lived in a separate household. Andrew is the first Sikes listed, and no relationship is stated. Thomas and Grace are identified as brother and sister, respectively. Other heads of household in this district are listed with no relationship given, leading me to believe that the enumerator forgot to fill in the dwelling and household number for the Sikes family.

4. "Florida, Wills and Probate Records, 1810-1974," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed January 29, 2019), entry for Wilson Beck, Putnam County probate file 481, Oath of Administrator (image 530 of 1300).