The Last Record of Thomas Kirk

When Licking County's courthouse went up in smoke in 1875, a lot of Thomas Kirk's recorded history was lost, including his probate file - a rare window into his socioeconomic status and family relationships.

Thomas - my fifth great-grandfather - died aged 68 on December 3, 1846 without a will, so the settlement of his estate likely generated a lot of paperwork (no doubt a pain for his heirs, but a goldmine for family historians if only the documents had survived the flames). The probate process would have inventoried and appraised all of his property (including possessions of the home and farm), tallied sales at auction to recoup funds to pay debts (if he had any), and stipulated who inherited what.

Although probates were lost, the minute books that detailed every action taken by Licking County's Court of Common Pleas miraculously survived the fire. When the court convened on March 13, 1847, it acknowledged Thomas' death intestate and appointed his son James as administrator of the estate.

Surviving land records showed that the settlement process continued into 1848 when Thomas' heirs at law (his eleven children with his first wife Sarah Bonar) began selling their shares of his 171.96-acre Monroe Township farm (located in the county's northwest). The last deed of sale was signed on April 14, 1849, when heirs Loyd and Jane (Kirk) Tracy and Hugh and Jane (Hartsock) Kirk jointly sold their stake in the property. They were delayed in finalizing their sale because they had moved to Crawford County, Illinois - over 300 miles west of Licking County, Ohio.

But when was Thomas' estate finally settled?

While it's fortunate that the court's minute books escaped the fire and have now been digitized, they're not indexed which required a tedious page by page review. The court clerk's chicken scratch spans many volumes and thousands of pages. I spent several months trawling through the books trying to decipher penmanship - hoping to find mention of Thomas. In the process, I learned a lot about the crimes and legal grievances of Licking County's early citizenry. I also learned that Thomas was a good citizen - never appearing in court accused of transgressions - who served as a juror and was even called as a witness in a murder trial.

Just when I thought my eyeballs couldn't take it anymore, I finally struck gold (call it the luck of the Irish)!

On October 23, 1850 - nearly four years after Thomas was "accidentally killed" - I found an entry for James Kirk, administrator of the estate of Thomas Kirk, deceased, "having filed accounts current with vouchers and the same having been published and noticed by the Clerk of this court in the Licking Herald, a newspaper according to law, and said accounts and vouchers having been examined by a Commissioner of this Court and found in all things legal and correct and reports being respectively filed by such Commissioners and examined and approved by the Court, the said accounts are hereby finally settled and ordered to be recorded to wit."

Licking County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas - 23 October 1850

With that notation, the court clerk recorded what was likely Thomas Kirk's last appearance in Licking County's records and wrote the final chapter on one of the jurisdiction's earliest settlers.

Citation:
Licking County Court of Common Pleas. Journals 1849-1852. Film 485309. DGS 8558259. Common Pleas Journal Book 1850. Journal page 234, Digital page 414. 23 October 1850. Digitized by FamilySearch. https://www.familysearch.org/.../3:1:3Q9M-C3Q2-LSGS-C...

Probate Records Hint At Family Heartbreak

My day job brought me back to beautiful Salt Lake City this past week.

It should go without saying that I added a day at the end of the trip, so I could visit the genealogy mothership and report for family history research duty.

Family History Library - Salt Lake City, Utah

Exhaustive Search 
I am trying to crack the genealogy enigma that is my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk. In particular, who were his parents and their ancestral origins?

Unfortunately, the existing records for Thomas are pretty spotty. In search of the tiniest of clues, I'm conducting an exhaustive search that includes an examination of the existing records for his children.

I pulled a handful of microfilmed probate records from Crawford County, Illinois - where, in the mid-19th century, at least seven of Thomas' 13 children moved to from Licking County, Ohio. As the minutes until the library's closing time ticked by, I cruised through seemingly endless reels of microfilmed history.

Piecing together family history from endless reels of microfilm.

Coffin and Trimmings
Among my first finds was the probate package for Thomas' son Greenberry Dorsa Kirk who died January 30, 1859. Greenberry, or G.D. as he was called in his estate settlement, was one of Thomas' seven sons who lived to adulthood.

G.D. Kirk's brother, James Kirk, served as the administrator for the estate, and "produced satisfactory evidence to the Court that he had given due legal notice to all persons having claims against said deceased [G.D. Kirk]."

Among the debts "duly established against the estate of G.D. Kirk" were $11 for a "coffin and trimmings" and $55 in medical bills. We know G.D. Kirk died when he was 37 years old, but we do not know the cause of his untimely death. The outstanding medical bills suggest that his cause of death required treatment. Perhaps he suffered an accident or lingering illness, but lived long enough to receive medical attention to the tune of $55.

Itemized debts for G.D. Kirk's estate, including $11 for coffin and trimmings

On February 22, 1862, the estate was finally settled. James Kirk reported that G.D. Kirk's estate was bankrupt and that he had to pay his brother's outstanding debts from his own funds.

"This day comes James Kirk Administrator of G.D. Kirk deceased and makes report as follows to wit that the widow by law obtained all the Estate of said deceased consisting of personal estate only, leaving nothing to pay on 1st class claims, but that he the said Administrator paid the said claims from his own private funds - receipts being herewith filed and the Court being duly advised declare the said estate insolvent and release the Administrator from all further trouble in the premises."

Final settlement of G.D. Kirk's estate and his gravestone (courtesy Larry Boyd)

G.D. Kirk's probate file gives us a small glimpse into what clearly was a difficult financial situation for his widow and children in addition to their already heartbreaking loss of husband and father.

Being Desirous of Settling My Worldly Affairs
I next found the Crawford County, Illinois probate package for Thomas' son William Kirk who died on October 31, 1888.

On January 7, 1889, William's son David Wilson Kirk filed his father's last will and testament with the probate court. The will named David as the executor.

William drew up his will on February 19, 1864, following the deaths of his siblings Rachel in 1852, Hugh in 1856, and Greenberry Dorsa in 1859 - all of whom died intestate.

Perhaps his siblings' untimely deaths and subsequent estate settlements without wills prompted William to proactively make arrangements - while he still had his health and mental faculties - to spare his heirs any unnecessary legal frustration.

William's will begins, "In the name of God amen, I William Kirk of the County of Crawford and State of Illinois being in good health and of sound and disposing mind and memory, and being desirous of settling my worldly affairs while I have strength and capacity do make and publish my last will and testament..."

An excerpt from William Kirk's last will and testament and his gravestone
(photo of stone courtesy of Larry Boyd)

Among William's final requests were that "my just debts and all expenses incurred during my last sickness and for my burial shall be promptly paid by my Executor as soon after my death as the same can concurrently be done." 

Was this request something desired after the insolvency of his brother G.D. Kirk's estate? In the end, William's estate paid out final claims totaling $846 - a sizable amount for the 19th century.

While neither probate package yielded clues about Thomas Kirk's ancestral origins, I did learn about the heartbreak Greenbery Dorsa's family suffered and the effort his brother William undertook to spare his family similar pain. 

Digitized Record Indexes Are Great, But They're Not Everything!

A rainy 4th of July holiday may upset patriotic Americans with a hankering for outdoor BBQs and fireworks, but I was perfectly content to hole up inside and dive into genealogy. God Bless the USA, my internet connection, and digitized probate records!

Dabbling in Other Family Lines
I don't know about you, but sometimes when I'm looking for a break from my very difficult research questions I set them aside and dabble with other family lines. That's how I landed on my Weeks family.

My fourth great-grandparents Thomas Weeks and Lydia Griffin completed a marriage bond in Perquimans County, North Carolina on January 19, 1829. The County is a tangle of similarly named Weeks family members, creating a difficult mess for genealogists to sift through and set straight.

Who was Thomas' father? Many online genealogies identify Wilson Weeks as the man, but I don't see evidence to confirm that, so the slot remains empty on my pedigree chart. I need more proof than, "Well, every other tree said it was him, so it must be him..."

Who was Lydia Griffin's father? Here the online trees are more reticent to name a candidate (I admire their reserved judgment). Perusing Ancestry.com's online trees you'll see that the role of father is largely yet-to-be cast. Most folks admit they just don't know. Although there are a few that name Willis Griffin as the man. Was he Lydia's father?

The name Willis Griffin appeared on Thomas and Lydia's marriage bond.

January 19, 1829 Marriage Bond for Thomas Weeks & Lydia Griffin
Perquimans, North Carolina

Willis Griffin was the surety or bondsman for the marriage, but the document does not specify his relationship to Lydia. Sure, the bondsman was typically a family member - father, brother or uncle - but which familial role was actually his?

Probate Records For Answers
This question led me to search for a probate record for Willis. Perhaps he left a will that named heirs and would specify a relationship to Lydia. I typed the name Willis into Ancestry.com's probate index and pulled up several promising record matches. But none of them mentioned Lydia, and without her I was unable to determine whether any of the Willis Griffins were the marriage bondsman.

I next turned to Lydia and Thomas. Could I find their probate records? Would they have any answers?

I knew that Thomas and Lydia moved from North Carolina to Indiana where they lived in Henry County at the time of the 1850 US Federal Census. Thomas was not enumerated in the 1860 census with Lydia. It appeared he passed away sometime between 1850 and 1860.

This should be easy enough. I typed "Thomas Weeks" into the Indiana probate search, and immediately had a match. A match in name only. This Thomas lived in a different county and the probate file was being processed in 1870. Too late.

Beyond The Digital Index
My initial concern was that Henry County was not part of Ancestry.com's digitized Indiana probate records. I browsed the collection to see whether it was among the included counties. Sure enough, Henry County was included. Maybe Thomas Weeks didn't have an estate to go to probate, and that's why there was no record.

I found a record set that covered the early 1850s and began thumbing through it. I was surprised - and relieved - that there was an index at the beginning of the book. However, I quickly noticed that Ancestry had not digitized the index. All the names were there written in hand, but they weren't digitally searchable!

Although not digitally indexed, Thomas Weeks was in the handwritten index of probate records.

Thomas' probate package was a gem that included his exact death date and location, as well as the names of his living children. If I had relied solely on the results of the digital index, my family history would have suffered sorely.

Starting to wise up, I next turned to Lydia (Griffin) Weeks. Lydia didn't appear in the 1870 census, so I speculated that she died sometime between 1860 (her last census appearance) and 1870. A keyword search of Indiana's probate records turned up a name match, but it was to her daughter of the same name.

In Lydia's case, I discovered that one record set included two different probate books each with their own separate handwritten indexes. The first book's index was digitized. The second book's index? You guessed it...not digitized! And who, do you think, was among the names on the second book's index? Yes! Lydia (Griffin) Weeks!

The Lesson To Be Learned
Like Thomas, her probate package provided her exact death date and location, and listed each of her surviving heirs. While neither Thomas or Lydia's probate packages identified their parents, the lesson to be drawn was imperative.

Digitized and keyword-searchable genealogy record indexes are great, but they're not everything! We must always browse the original record sets. Or we risk overlooking mission critical records.

Clearly, I need to take this lesson and apply it to the North Carolina probate records to make sure Willis Griffin hasn't been overlooked by the digital index. I may even give the much-loved Wilson Weeks a spin.