Document A.223 · probate · transcription: partial
Probate case file no. 625, District Court of Clarke County, Iowa - "Estate of Isreal Cooper, Deceased", Box 20; papers of the December Term 1889, including the guardian ad litem's answer captioned W. A. Cooper, admr., vs. Elizabeth Cooper et al. DGS 7596055, images 1844, 1875-1877 of 2056 (case images 1 and 32-34 of 158).
A.223: Probate case file no. 625, District Court of Clarke County, Iowa…People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISRAEL COOPER DEC'D. | deceased | Israel Ezra Cooper 1826–1888 | probate: Dec 1889, Clarke County, Iowa |
| ELIZABETH COOPER, WIDOW OF DEC'DNT | spouse | Elizabeth Y. (Masters) Cooper 1832–1900 candidate | |
| WILLIAM O. COOPER | child | William Oliver Cooper 1859–1945 candidate | |
| ELIZABETH FINBRACHE | child | ||
| NETTIE SERVICE | child | ||
| BENJAMINE F. COOPER | child | ||
| OTTO COOPER | child | ||
| HARRY COOPER, MINOR | child | ||
| MELISSA J. BISHOP | child | ||
| JESSIE COOPER | child | ||
| W. A. COOPER, ADMR. OF THE ESTATE OF ISRAEL COOPER DEC'D. | administrator | ||
| JOHN CHANEY | guardian-ad-litem | ||
| John H. Jamison[?] | clerk |
Transcription and notes
Data from the document
Image 1844 (case image 1) - the file cover, manuscript on a printed form
BOX No. 20 DISTRICT COURT, CLARKE COUNTY, No. 625 Probate. ESTATE OF Isreal Cooper ... Deceased.
Image 1875 (case image 32) - docket endorsement, manuscript
District Court No 625 W. A. Cooper Administrator vs. Plaintiff Elizabeth Cooper Et al Defendants Petition Filed Nov 18th 1889 John H. Jamison[?] Clerk
Image 1876 (case image 33) - typed party caption and opening recital
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF CLARKE COUNTY, IOWA, DECEMBER TERM, 1889.
W.A. COOPER, ADMR. OF THE ESTATE OF ISRAEL COOPER DEC'D., VS. ELIZABETH COOPER, WIDOW OF DEC'DNT, ELIZABETH FINBRACHE, NETTIE SERVICE, WILLIAM O. COOPER, BENJAMINE F. COOPER, OTTO COOPER, HARRY COOPER, MINOR, MELISSA J. BISHOP AND JESSIE COOPER.
COMES NOW JOHN CHANEY, WHO HAVING BEEN DULY APPOINTED GUARDIAN AD LITEM, BY THE DISTRICT COURT OF CLARKE COUNTY, IOWA, FOR THE DEFEND- [continues beyond the band read]
Image 1877 (case image 34) - docket endorsement, manuscript
No 625 Probate W. A. Cooper vs Elizabeth Cooper Et al Answer of [Harry?] Cooper, minor, by guardian ad litem Filed Dec [3?] 1889 John H. Jamison[?] Clerk
[?] marks what the reading did not resolve. The given name on the answer docket and the
clerk's surname are both uncertain and carry todo t2; the typed caption on image 1876 is clean
throughout and is the authority for every name in subjects:.
What the caption does and does not say
It does not state a relationship. No word in the four images read calls any defendant a
son, daughter or heir, except WIDOW OF DEC'DNT for Elizabeth Cooper. The grouping of the
other eight as defendants in an administrator's suit is the ordinary form for heirs at law, but
the document itself does not say so, and nothing here should be cited as the document calling
them children. That is why the role: child rows carry the relationship the catalog assigns
while [p.1698]'s row, the only one with a p-link, is marked provisional.
The index date disagrees with the page, and the page is what was read
Ancestry's card-index record for case 625 gives Probate Date 12 Oct 1874 and
Inferred Death Year Abt 1874. Every paper opened here is of November and December 1889,
and Inferred Death Year is the collection's own arithmetic rather than a field read from any
page - the same class of value as collection 1265's "Estimated Age", which this catalog has
already been caught by once.
The discrepancy is recorded, not resolved. Two readings survive the four images: that the index card for case 625 carries a date this entry has not looked at, or that Box 20 holds papers of more than one matter and the indexer dated the case from the earliest of them. The card itself is on a different reel - DGS 7596347 - and has not been opened; that is todo t3. Until it is, nothing in this catalog should cite 1874 as a date for anything.
Identification
The argument that this is [p.204] Israel Ezra Cooper's estate, and what the nine names do to
his children: roster, is a claim about a person and lives in
p.204 under the connections-as-claims rule,
not here. This entry records only what the four plates say.