One record or even a series of records can be entirely correct, entirely wrong, or somewhere in between. When one only has one record of set of records to use, it can be difficult to tell which is the case.
The 1869-1870 era probate of Michael Trautvetter in Hancock County, Illinois, indicated he had the following siblings who either survived him or left heirs of their own:
- George Trautvetter
- Hinrich Trautvetter
- Wilhelmina Kraft
- Ernestine Hess
The will of Adam Trautvetter, filed a few years earlier in Hancock County, indicated he was a member of this family as well by his mentioning of his brother George Trautvetter and George Trautvetter’s known son-in-law, John Herbert.
Records in the United States indicated that these siblings were born in the 1790s-1800s. As mentioned in other blog posts on this family, baptismal records in Bad Salzungen, Thuringen, Germany, were located for George (actually John George), Adam, and Michael. These men were sons of Erasumus and Anna Catharine (Gross) Trautvetter. Records for the other siblings could not be located and this was attributed to records that were difficult to read or the family not living in Bad Salzungen when they were born.
The probate made the relationships pretty clear.
When reviewing the materials from Wohlmuthausen, Thuringen, Germany, where the Trautvetter family lived during at least the approximate 1830-1855 time frame, it appeared that there were other siblings. The family book from the church in Wohlmuthausen suggests that there were two other children of Erasmus and Anna Catharine (Gross) Trautvetter: Elisabeth Margaretha and Elisabetha Magdalena. These two women appear to have been married and had several children of their own.
The question is “why are these women or their descendants not listed in the Michael Trautvetter probate?” Michael died intestate and his siblings became his heirs. If these sisters left issue (or were alive themselves) there should have been a reference to them in his probate?
At this point I don’t have an answer. I had always assumed the probate of Michael Trautvetter was complete. And it may still be. But I have more work to do.
I assumed the intestate probate of Michael included all his heirs.
Now I’m wondering.
Stay tuned.
2 Responses
Dear John, I would check the laws of Illinois to see if heirs living abroad can inherit in this situation. You don’t say where the other two women are living, i e, in the US or not. Some states only required an advertisement published in the newspapers of the state to announce a probate and the women living abroad would not likely seen the notification.
Elaine-
That’s what I’m wondering as well–if the sisters (or their surviving children) were alive and still living in Europe. What adds a little additional bit to this is that the brother George had returned to Germany permanently by this time. He is named in the probate as an heir, but his son George A. (signing as the attorney-in-fact for George) signed a receipt for his father’s share.