A handwitten Will

[GillianF]

OK, noted re Emma Larkin being a blood relative (if only very loosely to Elizabeth Ann Seaman who died aged 17) whilst Martha was not.  My real purpose is to find out where the money came from and why it took so long to probate.

It looks as though I will have to stump up the £10 for the Administration documents of 1904.  I'm not sure I can afford all three though - any advice which one to go for first as most likely to give me a clue?

[horselydown86]

I'm not sure I can afford all three though - any advice which one to go for first as most likely to give me a clue?

It's a gamble however you do it, Gillian.

It's possible that Elizabeth (widow of Abraham) was administrator of Abraham's estate, and that both Abraham's and her own estates came through by the same process.

Elizabeth Ann of the pianoforte is most remote to Emma, so her story could be most or least interesting.

Perhaps Abraham first, then Elizabeth Ann and Elizabeth the widow last if necessary.

If you haven't seen basic grants of administration before, they aren't sexy like a will.

For a straightforward grant, it won't have any significant information beyond what is in the Probate Index entry.

You are gambling your 10 pounds on the chance that an extra note has been added due to the grants to EL not being straightforward.  In my opinion that's a reasonable to good chance.

[GillianF]

Yes, my feeling was Abraham first and the closest relative to both Martha via Joshua and my ancestor.  Fingers crossed it turns up something!

[GillianF]

I now have the 1904 paperwork for the grant re Abraham.  It says that Abraham died intestate leaving his lawful widow and relict who died without having taken upon herself Letters of Administration for his Estate.  It goes on to say that Letters of Administration are to Emma Larkin his natural, lawful daughter and one of the next of kin.

So, that seems fairly clear although I am still left with the mystery of where/how Abraham acquired such a sum as nearly £600, why his widow never claimed it and ended her days in a workhouse and how Emma knew about it all in 1904 and decided to act.

[horselydown86]

So, that seems fairly clear although I am still left with the mystery of where/how Abraham acquired such a sum as nearly £600, why his widow never claimed it and ended her days in a workhouse and how Emma knew about it all in 1904 and decided to act.

Thanks for posting the update, Gillian.  As you say, it's fairly clear in relation to Abraham and his wife.  It might be interesting to know how Elizabeth Ann of the pianoforte fits in.

Six hundred pounds isn't a huge sum of money for a hard-working and sober carpenter in the 1860s.  There was a lot of building in the Victorian era.

You'll probably never know why the widow didn't claim Letters of Administration or how Emma L knew about it (beyond the obvious that she was the daughter).

The workhouse is probably because Elizabeth the widow needed medical care in her terminal sickness.  For most people in 1882 that meant the workhouse.

The other choices were the very few hospitals or private nursing in the home.  The only public social services which were generally available were administered through the workhouse.

[GillianF]

Elizabeth Ann with the pianoforte was a child of Abraham's half brother and although she died aged 17 she survived longer than her sibling and a half sibling.  Elizabeth Ann was ten years younger than Emma L and it's possible the girls knew each other.  I presume her estate at £200 ish was from the pianoforte or from her father or step-mother.

Emma L was not, so far as I know, unintelligent and she must have had something about her to go after these three estates and, presumably, on behalf of her siblings.


I take the point about the workhouse being a medical/nursing necessity in old age but it seems sad there was £600 plus she couldn't have accessed for some comfort in her last years.