Are You Using Newspapers in Your Burned Counties?

Date: Thursday, January 8, 1801  

Paper: Federal Gazette (Baltimore, MD)

 - obtained on  Genealogybank

The county from which this comes is not a "burned" one, but it makes the point very well and, as readers know, I only blog about my my own research.

This estate notice comes from Baltimore County, Maryland, where the estate of Thomas Galloway was settled up in 1801. If there were no records of Thomas' probate, notices in the newspaper would help me to obtain some of that information. Of course, the newspapers would not replace the probate file, but researchers know that courts are required to give notice of various parts of the settlement and newspapers are one way that they do that.

From the standpoint of this specific case, I'm going to have to determine if this is Thomas the father or Thomas the son. I'm not certain just on reading this notice quickly.

It does indicate that only the personal estate is being settled by Aquila Galloway--so Thomas had no real estate or for some reason it's not being included in this administration. That seems like it would be somewhat odd.

Thomas either had no will or no valid one as Aquila is listed as an adminstrator instead of an executor.

Chances are the county records from the Orphan's Court would answer those questions.

But don't forget that in burned counties that newspapers may be crucial to obtaining more information. And remember--not all burned counties are as burned as people think.

Note-we don't provide precise Evidence Explained citations on this blog. However, we do provide enough information so that readers can obtain the image themselves if they so desire--the date and location of publication along with the website (in this case  Genealogybank).