Genealogy Jottings

 This week the probate file for my great-grandfather’s first wife, Nancy Jane Dudley Reed, arrived in the mail. It held a couple of surprises. First of all, the family waited over 20 years to probate her estate. Why? I am guessing it was because they finally wanted to sell her Kansas land (location unknown to me) and could not do so until they cleaned up the chain of title. Since Nancy died as a resident of Illinois, that is where I found her probate record. Luckily, it gives me the land description in Kansas. I am intrigued to find that her land lies not in Neosho County, KS where Nancy and Sam lived as newlyweds in southeastern Kansas, but in western Trego County. Now I wonder how she acquired a tract so far away and whether she ever visited it. I am off to search some Trego County land and probate records to find out more.

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