A Receipt Viewed in Context

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This receipt is receipt was one of several was one of several contained in the case file packet for Bertha Janssen and Lena Janssen versus Bernhard Dirks etal. (Adams County Circuit Court Casefiles, Case 5228–heard and adjudicated in 1924). The case was actually a partition suit to settle up the land of Bernard Dirks who died in Adams County, Illinois over ten years earlier. The Janssen women and Bernhard were siblings. George H. Gerdes was one of their nephews and the son of Gesche (Dirks) Gerdes.

George H. Gerdes signed the receipt indicating that he had received his distributive share of $312.44 that was due him from the estate. There is no address for Gerdes on the receipt, but the receipt is witnessed by a man appearing to be a J. H (or G. H.) Kelly, President of the First State Bank of Gothenburg, Nebraska. It would be reasonable to conclude that Gerdes lived in or near Gothenburg at the time the receipt was signed. It is only dated December of 1924.

That’s not unusual considering the other receipts in the file. Three of them are included as an additional illustration. The receipts all appear to have been typed at the same time, most likely by a clerk or secretary working for the judge in the case. The receipt signed by Bernd Gerdes appears to have been altered to say January of 1925. The receipt signed by Wm. H. Gerdes has December crossed out and January and the “5” in 1925 written in.

Upon closer inspection, the “s” in Dirks on all four receipts appears to have been typed on the same typewriter.

It pays to view things in context.

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