A Tombstone Transcription in an Estate File

This is an interesting receipt that was found in the estate file for Belinda Newman of Linn County, Iowa. 

It is for her tombstone.

Contract for tombstone of Belinda Newman, obtained from estate files of Linn County, Iowa. Digital image made from microfilmed copy of files held by Family History Library.

The inscription as indicated in this contract is right as I've seen the stone myself. Unfortunately I don't have a photograph. There is a willow above the inscription--the word "Willow" itself is not actually on the stone. Since the contract has the height and thickness of the stone I'm curious to see how the actual stone compares with this description.

David A. Newman likely is the one who provided the information for the stone as he is the one who signed the contract. David was Belinda's son and one of several children of Belinda who lived in Linn County, Iowa.

David's knowledge of his mother's date of death is probably first hand as he was living in the same county as she was when she died. There is a slight concern that the information was being given over a year after she died. 

One more reason to look in those probate packets--you may find tombstone inscriptions for stones that no longer exist.

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I'm a strong believer in citations and in my work (and in Casefile Clues) I cite material in the spirit of Evidence Explained. Here on the Rootdig blog, I have a different philosophy. Posts made here have enough information that the reader could locate where the material was obtained.

Galvanic Battery Will Cure You

Until I read through estate settlement of Melinda/Belinda Newman in Linn County, Iowa, I had never seen a galvanic battery in an estate inventory.

This advertisement, located on Genealogybank.com, indicated (as one of our blog respondents mentioned) that the battery was probably used as a "cure" for that which ailed a person.

Date: Monday, August 12, 1850  

Paper: Springfield Republican (Springfield, MA)   

Page: 2  obtained on 

Genealogybank.com

A blog reader even posted a link to pictures of these devices.

It's not often we get proof of our ancestors trying to use "cure-alls." Just goes to show that one never knows what one will discover.

My Oldest Brother is About Fifty

Often we can predict with some certain what information will be contained in a record.

And other times we cannot.

The image in this blog post is part of a petition to begin the process of administration upon the estate of Melinda/Belinda Newman who died in Linn County, Iowa, in 1867. I neglected looking at the records for years because I really didn't think that her probate file would provide me with any significant information. 

The form of this document was unexpected. A listing of her heirs was no surprise. To find their approximate ages was.

Melinda's husband Augusta died in White County, Indiana, in 1861. Many of her children had left Indiana by then and within a short time after her death, she moved to Linn County, Iowa. I had concluded she lived with a child and that she would really have no estate to probate. I also assumed that she did not purchase any real estate.

She owned a little farm and actually had one of her sons build her a home on the property--all of which is documented in the estate file.

And there's a few other neat details as well.

Stay tuned.