I have been sitting on this information that I came across before my vacation and I wanted to take some time to do some further vetting before disclosing it.
Edward McEntee (1795 - 1875) is my 3rd great-grandfather and I have been working for the past few months to verify that he may indeed be one of the sons of Charles McEntee (abt. 1768 - 1808). One piece of evidence that may bolster my theory is shown above in a clipping from the Auburn Bulletin on February 17, 1890. Here is the text as I have been able to transcribe it:
"THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK: To Edward McEntee, James McEntee and Thomas McEntee (brothers of Patrick McEntee), late of Aurelius, N.Y., deceased); Edward McEntee and John McEntee (nephews of said Patrick McEntee); the next of kin and personal representatives, if any, of Honor Reilly (a deceased sister of Patrick McEntee), whose names and places of residence are unknown, legatees and next of kin of the said Patrick McEntee, deceased;
Whereas upon the petition of William H. Barne, of Aurelius, N.Y., the last will and testament of the above named Patrick McEntee, deceased, dated the 16th day of July 1873, was on the 24th day of July 1888, duly admitted to probabtein the Surrogate's Court of Cayuga county, without notice to you: and whereas, Horace T. Cook, administrator with said decedent's will appeared, and how applied to Surrogate's Court for probate thereof as against you, and for a judicial settlement of his accounts as such administrator.
Therefore, you and each of you are hereby cited to appear in our Surrogate's Court, before the Surrogate of said county of Cayuga, at his office in the city of Auburn, on the 25th day of March, 1890, to attend the probate of said will as against you; to show cause why a decree should not be made establishing as valid and effectual as against you the probate thereof already had; to show cause why the accounts of said administrator should not be then and there judicially settled with the same force and effect as though you had been cited to attend to original probate of said will; and, if no cause be shown, then to attend the judicial settlement of the accounts of the said Horace T. Cook, as administrator of the goods, chattels and credits of the said Patrick McEntee, deceased, with the will of said deceased annexed.
If any of the aforesaid persons so interested in the estate of said deceased are under the age of twenty-one years, they will please take notice that they are required to appear by their general guardian, if they have one, or if they have none that they appear and apply for the appointment of a special guardian, or in the event of their neglect or failure to do so, a special guardian will be appointed by the Surrogate to represent and act for them in the said proceeding.
In testimony whereof, we have caused the seal of our said Surrogate's Court to be hereunto affixed. Witness Hon. Geo. B. Turner, Surrogate of the county of Cayuga, at the Surrogate's office, in the city of Auburn, this 7th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety.
GEORGE B. TURNER, Surrogate.
Frederick E. Storke
Attorney for Petitioner,
85 Genessee St., Auburn, N.Y." [1]
Is it possible that even though the Patrick McEntee who was the son of Charles McEntee died in 1878, that the will could still have been contested as late as 1890? If this Patrick McEntee is the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather, then perhaps it can be proven using the probate documents in the Surrogate's Court of Cayuga County, New York.
I am still not totally convinced though - here are some other problems with this piece of evidence and some other possibilities:
- My 3rd great-grandfather died in 1875 - would the administrator of Patrick McEntee's will not have known that?
- Why are the nephews of Patrick McEntee mentioned when he still had living offspring as of 1890?
- It is entirely possible that there is another Patrick McEntee from the Utica or Auburn area who is a descendant of Charles McEntee and not the brother of Edward.
So I have some work to do - and even if I need to discover a whole new branch of McEntees in the Utica area, it will still be worth it even if it doesn't help prove my theory.
Notes:
[1] Auburn Bulletin, Auburn, New York, February 17, 1890.
1 comment:
'Tis an interesting challenge you have here!
Whoever this Patrick McEntee is, he certainly had brothers that are named, a sister who is named, and trwo nephews who are named. The nephews are likely to be sons of a deceased brother.
The record doesn't say anything about children of this Patrick McEntee. The record states that Patrick McEntee wrote his will in 1873, and that it was presented for probate in 1888.
The court order is for these legatees to appear and claim their inheritance as Patrick's next-of-kin.
You really need to go find Patrick's will - you should be able to rent films of the county probate or surrogates court records from the FHL with the wills. Try to obtain all of the court records for the specific probate - there are usually documents that list heirs, ages, birth places, places of residence, etc. This case was probably wrapped up after 1890, and there is probably a record that names each heir, their residence, and what they received.
This is a really primo example of why we should research the whole family, all of the ones with the surnames, and then the collateral names as well, in the counties where our ancestors lived. You will eventually figure it out, but you need a lot more evidence to tie a ribbon around this little part of your (possible?) family history.
With the names given in the court record, you should be able to find the McEntee brothers in a family in the census records and determine if they are the ones that your Edward is related to.
Have fun -- Randy
PS - I absolutely adore and appreciate probate records like this.
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