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Monday, February 16, 2015

MATRILINEAL MONDAY Dolly Doty Asks for Letter of Administration 158 Years Ago Today



John Doty passed Jan. 27, 1857 when 66 years old. 3rd Great Grandfather left a widow, 8 living children and a 125 acre farm in Wawayanda, Orange Co., New York.

His widow, Dolly, resided on the farm with 3 unmarried adult children--John, Albert and Arminda. I don’t know if the eldest son, Jefferson, was living at home when his father died. His was a carpenter living in Port Jervis, New York in 1855. No doubt the Doty brothers kept the farm running.

Life goes on. Bills must be paid and Great Grandfather didn’t prepare a will. Great Grandmother needed take over the farm’s finances. Dolly and William E. Mapes petitioned Orange County, New York Surrogate Court Feb. 16, 1857 to be appointed Administratrix and Administrator of John Doty’s estate.

Orange County, NY Letter of Administration of John Doty's estate


Orange County, New York Surrogate Court
Administrations
Liber I, page 239

Surrogate Judge Jno. C. McConnell granted the Letter of Administration to Dolly and William E. Mapes. The petition identified William as a friend but he was also Dolly’s son-in-law.

The day’s proceedings were recorded in Court Minute Book, Vol. F, pages 83-84. A transcription follows the images.

Orange County, NY Surrogate Court Minute Book Vol. F, page 83


Page 83 (bottom of page)

Orange Co., NY, Surrogate Court Minute Book Vol. F, page 84

Page 84 (top of page)

Surrogate’s Court – At a Surrogate court held at the
      Surrogate’s office in the village of Goshen in and for
      In the County of Orange, on the sixteenth day of
      February one thousand eight hundred & fifty seven

Present, John C. McConnell, Surrogate
in the matter of the administration
of the goods, chattels & credits
               of
John Doty deceased

On reading and filing the petition of Dolly Doty, the widow of John Doty, late of the town of Wawayanda in the county of Orange, deceased, on the [___?___] day of February 1857 praying that Letters of Administration of the goods, chattels and credits of the said deceased be granted to her and William E. Mapes; and this on reading and filing the bond of the said Dolly Doty & William E. Mapes, executed by them with two competent sureties pursuant to the statute; and this court being satisfied that the said Dolly Doty and William E. Mapes are in all respects competent to act as the administrators of the goods, chattels & credits of the said deceased; it is ordered that the prayer of said petition be granted and that Letters of administration of the goods, chattels & credits of said deceased issue to the said Dolly Doty & William E. Mapes in pursuance thereof – And it is further ordered, on the application of Dolly Doty and William E. Mapes for the appointment of two disinterested persons to estimate and appraise the personal estate of said deceased, that said Joseph Davis and David Hoyt be such appraisers.
  

In administration proceedings, it was customary for a bond to be posted by 2 or 3 individuals guaranteeing the administrators perform their duties. The court minutes refer to a ‘bond executed by two competent sureties’ but I don’t know their names.



Another trip to Orange County Surrogate Court will hopefully reveal more details about the administration proceedings.


You might also like previous posts about John and Dolly Doty:


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