New York County Letters of Administration

[Lambendsor (aka IGS)]

Hi - I just found my ggg-grandparents on Ancestry Library Edition:

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NY Co Letters of Administration Index 1743-1875
name of intestate; Hawe, Marg
name of administrator: Hawe, Robert
when letters of Administration granted and recorded: 12 May 1866 [mis-transcribed as "1856"]
liber page bond book: 83-426-117
kept by NY Co. Surrogate's Court
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Now I'm wondering what new goodies could be revealed by pursuing this lead - and how to pursue it. Any advice or stories are welcome. Thanks.

[nutkin]

I do know it costs a bit of money to get. $90 I believe. I am not sure if worth the cost but you decide.

When anyone dies intestate (without a will), Letters of Administration may be issued authorizing a relative or other individual to settle the estate under the supervision of the county Surrogate’s Court. The Letters themselves contain minimal information of value, but for each of these estates the Court may have other papers relating to the estate proceedings, papers which may contain very useful genealogical data. (Source NY Genealogical & Biography Society)

Source of Ancestry- Database is an index to letters of administration filed in New York County, New York . A letter of administration is a legal document created usually in intestate estates (when a person dies without making a will), since no executor or administrator of the estate was named. The letter of administration names the person who is to be the executor or administrator of the estate.


Here is the link for the court-
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/1jd/surrogates/index.shtml

[Lambendsor (aka IGS)]

Thanks nutkin!

Do you know if one can go to the Surrogate's Court in person and make copies? I've heard it's possible, but after poking around online I'm still a little confused.

And have you - in your NY digging - ever pursued (or perused) such documents as these?

[Lambendsor (aka IGS)]

Since posting last night, I dug a little deeper and found some useful discussion on this topic on RootsWeb, so no need to reply. But thanks again!

[nutkin]

Could you share any good tidbits? I only know that it is expensive to get copies from the NY Surrogates COurt.  WHen I called it would cost about $90 to get the record I want.  DO you know an easier way?

[Lambendsor (aka IGS)]

I don't know if there's an easier way short of going to NYC and filing a request form and then waiting for them to retrieve the files - some are on hand and will arrive in minutes, but others take 2 or 3 weeks to get there from offsite storage. It's quite inexpensive, since you make your own copies at (I think) 25 cents a piece and you don't have to pay that enormous surcharge. But the waiting can be a real problem.

I THINK they're scanning/digitising a lot of their holdings, but who knows how long THAT process will take - or how much cheaper it will be to access (and make copies from) that kind of database.

I'll let you know what else I glean....