Document A.97 · will register copy · transcription: verbatim
Will of "Croel" (Crowell) Richards of Orleans, Orange Co., Indiana — probate book p. 291; made 20 February 1875, proved 16 January 1877.
- repository
- Orange County, Indiana — Circuit Court probate record
- identifier
- Book p. 291 (the facing p. 292 is the unrelated will of Hiram T. Lindley)
- date
- 1875-02-20
What is transcribed: The complete will and the clerk's attestation. The facing Lindley will is out of scope.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croel Richards | testator | Crowell Richards 1813–1877 | residence: Orleans, Orange Co., Indiana death: between 20 Feb 1875 and 16 Jan 1877 |
| William Richards | child | ||
| Kate Richards | grandchild | ||
| William Richards | grandchild | ||
| William L. Reed | executor | ||
| Francis Wilson | witness | ||
| Moses F. Dunn | witness | ||
| John R. Simpson | official |
What this document records
The dates were both wrong
BOTH DATES IN THIS ENTRY WERE WRONG, AND THE DOCUMENT SAYS SO PLAINLY. It had recorded "Signed 20 Feb 1877; proved before the Clerk of the Orange Co. Circuit Court 16 Jan [1878]" — with 1878 supplied in brackets, i.e. guessed. The attestation reads: "Be it remembered that on the sixteenth day of January A.D. 1877, Francis Wilson… personally appeared… and… testified… That on the 20th day of February A.D. 1875, he saw the said Croel Richards sign his name to said instrument." ⇒ made 20 February 1875, proved 16 January 1877. The will therefore predates his death by nearly two years, not two months; and nothing was guessed.
The two legatees are a grandchild and a grandson
THE TWO GAPS IN THE OLD TRANSCRIPTION ARE FILLED, AND THEY CHANGE WHO THE LEGATEES ARE. The entry read "Kate Richards, daughter of my son [—]" and "William Richards, son of my [—]". The page reads "Kate Richards, daughter of my son William" and "William Richards, son of my son William Richards". ⇒ both $500 legatees are grandchildren, both children of the same son William — and the entire residue goes to that son William. So the will provides for one son's household in three parts and names nobody else at all.
It names no other children
No wife, no other son, no daughter. The document does not say he had none — a will that provides for one line says nothing about the others — and this entry asserts nothing beyond what is written.
Do not conflate the two croels
There are TWO Croel Richardses a generation apart. This testator is Crowell Richards Crowell Richards, son of Anna (Cooper) Richards Anna (Cooper) Richards and grandson of Daniel Cooper Jr Daniel Cooper Jr. Not the younger Croel Richards b. 1842 ([L.4] gen-5 cid 171, son of Israel Israel Richards) — a nephew and namesake. Crowell / Croul / Croel are one name in the Orange Co. records.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, the two corrected dates, the two filled name-gaps, and the two Croel Richardses
are all in the source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated here.
The will [verbatim]
Last Will of Croel Richards.
Know all men that I Croel Richards of Orleans, Orange County, do hereby make and publish and declare this to be my last will and testament in the following words, to wit:
I. I give and bequeath to Kate Richards, daughter of my son William the sum of Five Hundred Dollars.
II. Item. I give and bequeath to William Richards, son of my son William Richards the sum of Five Hundred Dollars.
III. Item. All the residue and remainder of my estate real or personal, after paying my debts if any and funeral expenses, I give, bequeath and devise to my son William Richards absolutely and in fee simple.
IV. Item. I hereby appoint William L. Reed of Orleans, Orange County, Indiana, to be the executor of this my last will and testament.
Croel Richards.
Signed by Croel Richards in our presence, and signed by us in his presence and in the presence of each other, and with his knowledge and at his request; and at the same time he declared the same to be his last will and testament, and as such signed his name thereto, after hearing the same read over. Francis Wilson · Moses F. Dunn
The clerk's attestation [verbatim]
The State of Indiana, Orange County, ss:
Be it remembered that on the sixteenth day of January A.D. 1877, Francis Wilson one of the subscribing witnesses to the within and foregoing Last Will and Testament of Croel Richards, late of said County, deceased, personally appeared before John R. Simpson Clerk of the Circuit Court of Orange County, in the State of Indiana, and being duly sworn by the Clerk of said Court upon his oath declared and testified as follows, that is to say; That on the 20th day of February A.D. 1875, he saw the said Croel Richards sign his name to said instrument in writing as and for his last will and testament; and that this deponent at the same time heard the said Croel Richards declare the said instrument in writing to be his last Will and Testament, and that the said instrument in writing was at the same time at the request of the said Croel Richards and with his consent attested and subscribed by the said Francis Wilson and Moses F. Dunn, in the presence of said testator, and in the presence of each other as subscribing witnesses thereto; and that the said Croel Richards was, at the time of the signing and subscribing of said instrument in writing as aforesaid, of full age, that is, more than twenty-one years of age, and of sound and disposing mind and memory, and not under any coercion or restraint as the said deponent verily believes, and further deponent says not. Francis Wilson.
Sworn to and subscribed by the said Francis Wilson before me, John R. Simpson Clerk of said Court at Paoli the 16th day of January 1877.