Killick / Balcomb

[rosie99]

Thank you so much for the suggestion rosie99. I didn't realise how easy and cheap it was to request a copy of a will. Done! Fingers crossed when it's available it'll give me some useful information. I really appreciate your time and suggestions.

They certainly are cheap.  . I ordered 2 the other day, one arrived the next day.  I am still waiting for the other but it is a 2020 death.

[manukarik]

Thanks for checking josey! Norris' age is about right, but the surname is wrong. Although Hartfield is apparently only about 2 miles from Withyham. Will keep looking!

[josey]

Yes, I know the surname is wrong, but Norris Osborn does not exist in any other records that I can find. N W K may have assumed or been given the name for some reason; and area of birth close. He may have been looked after by an Osborn family after Elizabeth married or died.

[manukarik]

OK josey, I get your reasoning now. The age is right and at the time children went to work early on. Weird that he didn't stay with his father. His maternal grandparents were dead by then and with Thomas having remarried, maybe it was easier to put Norris out to work to earn his own keep. Particularly as Thomas and his new wife went on to have a child of their own.

[manukarik]

Do you have a copy of the will of Thomas Norris Balcomb

Thanks for the suggestion rosie99. Today I received a copy of the Letters of Administration and discovered that Thomas Norris Balcomb died intestate. The only reference is to Thomas' son from his subsequent marriage, who is referred to as "the natural and lawful son and only next of kin". If Norris was an illegitimate son, I guess that means he wasn't acknowledged". Back to the drawing board!

[rosie99]

Ernest Edwin Balcomb obviously did not consider that they were 'brothers' if he stated he was the only next of kin.  Perhaps he had no knowledge of him if he was living elsewhere after his mother died

[manukarik]

Ernest Edwin Balcomb obviously did not consider that they were 'brothers' if he stated he was the only next of kin.  Perhaps he had no knowledge of him if he was living elsewhere after his mother died

That's possible. Perhaps at the time (1896) illegitimate children had no right to succession?