Junior Is Not Always the Son and Probably Why There is No Probate

In the absence of other information, genealogists are usually advised to conclude that "junior" and "senior" does not immediately indicate a son/father relationship. Usually what is safe to conclude from a junior and senior notation is that senior was in the area first or is older than junior.

Of course, one may find proof of the relationship in virtually any record.

This 1802 assignment of an interest in a piece of real estate confirms that John Demoss Junr. of Harford County, Maryland, was the son of John Demoss. Unfortunately John Demoss the father is not referenced as "senior" in this document, but it would be reasonable to conclude that he is the senior, unless records indicate to the contrary.

John Demoss' assignment of this property in 1802 indicates that he was alive on the date of the assignment. In fact, it is the last document on which his name appears. His transfer of his property rights may also indicate why no probate or estate settlement can be found for him. It may be that after this interest was transferred there was no real property in which he still had an interest.

Tax records for Harford County, Maryland, would confirm or deny this. I'll have to add those records to my research list.


Source:

Robert Barnes' Baltimore County Families 1659-1759 is free on World Vital Records for the next seven days.

The image in this posting is for Lewis Demoss--my ancestor. The daughter listed as "Pine" is now thought by some researchers to actually be "Jane." At some point in the transcription, the handwriting was misread--which is why it is imperative to trace things back to the original as much as possible.

And when downloading a page from a book, always make certain that the sources or other explanatory material are downloaded as well. In this case the sources of the entry for Lewis Demoss are indicated in the parenthesis at the end of the entry.

World Vital Records has several databases that are free for the first seven or so days of their inclusion on the site.

BYU's Family History Archives

The Family History Archive at Brigham Young University has digitzed a number of family histories and placed them on their website.

I found one book that I already had used years ago, but it is nice to know I can easily access it if I want to refer to pages that I did not copy originally.

• DeMoss Family In America, by Edith Caughron

A clip from page 19 of the DeMoss Family in America is a part of this post (John DeMoss born 1718 is my ancestor). Of course, be certain to doublecheck anything you find in a published family history. These are excellent resources, but they are still compiled sources. The images are full-text searchable and pages can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat. No membership or account is required to use the site.