14 June 2011

Caroline Hughes probate and will

Caroline Judith Hughes, who I believe was Caroline Weiss, died on May 6 1905. I sent away to the UK in May for her will and probate. It arrived the other day.

I must admit that I was hoping that it might shed light on whether she was in fact Caroline Weiss, by perhaps leaving something in her will to one or some of her siblings as well as her children. Unfortunately it mentioned nothing of her siblings. Probate was granted to her daughter Marion Constance Hughes, and she also bequeathed all her "real and personal estate" to her said daughter. The Probate states that Marion was a spinster. The gross value of the estate was £267-8-4 (no leasehold) and the net value of her personal estate was £37-8-4.

It does suggest to me that unless she was for some reason estranged from her other children, they must have all died young, for Marion is the only child she provided for. Considering I haven't found any trace of the other children apart from at a young age I think we can assume that they did die young and Marion was her only surviving child.

That Marion was a spinster, aged 34, at the time of her mother's death, makes it somewhat likely that she never married, nor had any children of her own. And so there the line died out. One of the reasons why Caroline Weiss has remained hidden for so long.

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