Administrations

[Hollytree]

I expect this question has been answered before, but I just haven't seen it!

All of us seem to be finding things of interest on the Ancestry probate calendars......I have found some unexpected family leaving money, and I have not looked in the past for their name on the microfiche.

My ggrand mother whose 2nd marriage I have never found, and I have come to the conclusion that she never married....was left by an administration, money from the estate of her 1st husband who died in Bath in 1877. His affairs/money etc.,was settled by this administration in 1896.........'to the widow'. She, by this time (1896) had two children by her 2nd 'husband' and presumably respectably settled in the community......

Would the settlement in 1896 to the 'widow' imply that she was the widow, and not remarried, and would ordering the admon reveal any more information?

In hope!:smile5:

Anne

[Peter Goodey]

What's the name? I would want to see the actual entry before commenting.

[Neil Wilson]

Surely ....'to the widow' would mean to the widow of the person who died.

Noticed that you had put husband in ' ' can I assume that you haven't found this marriage certificate?

[Peter Goodey]

Surely ....'to the widow' would mean to the widow of the person who died.

But is that what is actually says? That's why I want to see it. "Widow" may just be her status (a widow) not necessarily a statement that she is the widow of the deceased.

[Hollytree]

What's the name? I would want to see the actual entry before commenting.

Elizabeth Warren married Thomas Flagg, June 3rd 1873 at the parish church of Widcombe, Somerset. Thomas died 25th August 1877, a signal man at Beechencliffe, Bath. When her daughter was born in 1881 and when my grandfather was born in 1885, on both of their birth certs she gave her 'previous' name as Flagg. I have never found a second marriage in either her maiden name as Warren, or Flagg to George Young from 1877 onwards........ If you look at the admins for 1896 Thomas Flagg you'll see the phrase to 'Elizabeth Flagg, widow'. And as I said by this time she is with George YOUNG at Combe Down.

Thanks

Anne

[Peter Goodey]

What it actually says is "Administration...to Elizabeth Flagg widow". That in itself just says that Elizabeth Flagg is a widow, not that Elizabeth Flagg is Thomas Flagg's widow. However your knowledge of the family tells you that it is.

So far as the probate process is concerned Elizabeth Flagg is clearly the legal widow and if you haven't found a second marriage there probably wasn't one.

The job of an administrator, by the way, isn't to pocket all the loot, it's to wind up the estate in accordance with the law. In this case, as she was the widow she would actually get all the money after paying off any debts. I hope this clarifies matters.

[Hollytree]

Thanks, I understand the role of an administrator. I did wonder if she might have had to prove she was the legal widow and maybe that was why there is no apparent marriage, because as far as I can tell, there was no reason why George Young and Elizabeth Flagg(Warren) did not marry........both were widowed at about the same time as one another. Not a rich family, but baptised the first child, appeared in Bath Directory, and lived a normal respectable life. But finding this unexpected administration so long after Thomas Flagg's death surprised me. I think I will send for it, just if nothing else, to satisfy my curiousity!

Thanks Peter

Anne