Nicholas Helmick's Estate

Reading through estate records are always interesting. You never know what you may come across; wills, heirs, court battles among relatives over a gun, receipts against the estate, and so much more.  In reading through Nicholas Helmick's 1844 Estate from Hancock County, Ohio I found all of the above.  Including a not so normal receipt.  A 6 ft long coffin, Nicholas must have been on the  tall side, and of course 5 pounds and 1/3  of cheese, I mean who doesn't buy cheese from a coffin maker?

Kelly



Ohio, Hancock County Probate, Nicholas Helmick; "Ohio, Probate Records, 1789-1996," digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org: accessed 22 December 2012); Probate Records, 1842-1852, No. 118-215, image No. 530-571.

Postmortem Photography

On December 13, 2012, the NGS Blog posted about Postmortem Photography.  You can check out their post at the link below.  Have you found any postmortem photos while researching?  I have bunches of actual cemetery photos, heck even that photo of my Great Grandparents standing next to their shiny new tombstone, but in all of the photos I have gone through I have only found one postmortem photo.  This photo was found, unlabeled among John Robert Roger's personal photos.  There was a whole slew of family and friends that sent John photos.  John lived in West Virginia most of his life. These young women and the baby could be related or not; no one has been sure.

Kelly



http://upfront.ngsgenealogy.org/2012/12/postmortem-photography-at-turn-of-20th.html