Orphans Court Records

  The Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania of 1790 included Article V, Section VII which stated that the judges of the court of common pleas would compose an orphan’s court as necessary. As early as the year 1713, the General Assembly of the province of Pennsylvania had enacted Acts designed to safeguard the estates bequeathed to children by their deceased parents. It was a general custom for a widow to remarry, and also for a father to bequeath the bulk of his estate to his children. In order to ensure that a new stepfather did not steal the children’s inheritance from them, the orphans’ court was established.

  On 27 March, 1713 an Act for eƒtablishing Orphans Courts was enacted by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. The first section of that Act stated that:

The juƒtices of the court of general quarter ƒeƒsions of the peace in each county of this province, or ƒo many of them as are or ƒhall be from time to time enabled to hold thoƒe courts, ƒhall have full power, and are hereby empowered, in the ƒame week, that they are or ƒhall be by law, directed to hold the ƒame courts, or at ƒuch other times as they ƒhall ƒee occaƒion, to hold and keep a court of record in each of the ƒaid counties, which ƒhall be ƒtyled The Orphans Court; and to award proceƒs, and cauƒe to come before them, all and every ƒuch perƒon and perƒons, who as guardians, truƒtees, tutors, executors, adminiƒtrators, or otherwiƒe are or ƒhall be entruƒted with, or in any wiƒe accountable for, any lands, tenements, goods, chattels or eƒtate, belonging or which ƒhall belong to any orphan or perƒon under age, and cauƒe them to make and exhibit, within a reaƒonable time, true and perfect inventories and accounts of the ƒaid eƒtates..."

  Section III of the Act of 1713 stated that:

"When any complaint is made to any of the ƒaid juƒtices, that an executrix having minors of her own, or being concerned for others, is married, or like to be eƒpouƒed to another huƒband, without ƒecuring the minors portions or eƒtates, or than an executor or other perƒon having the care and truƒt of minors eƒtates, is like to prove inƒolvent, or ƒhall refuƒe or neglect to exhibit true and perfect inventories, or give full and juƒt accounts of the ƒaid eƒtates come to their hands or knowledge, than and in every ƒuch caƒe, the ƒame juƒtices are hereby required forthwith to call an orphans court, who ƒhall cauƒe all and every ƒuch executors and truƒtees, as alƒo ƒuch guardians or tutors or orphans or minors, as have been formerly appointed, or ƒhall at any time hereafter be appointed by the ƒaid court, to give ƒecurity to the orphans or minors, by mortgage or bonds, in ƒuch ƒums, and with ƒuch ƒureties, as the ƒaid courts ƒhall think reaƒonable..."

  The orphans court dockets for Bedford County are filled with entries in which guardians were named for minor children of a recently deceased man. Such records often provide ages of the children, which become valuable information to genealogists.

  The orphans court laws have not changed very much to the present time. If no executor/executrix was named in the will, or if the deceased died intestate (i.e. without having written and filed a will), then the settlement of the estate is forwarded to and handled by the Clerk of the Orphans Court. (If the county does not have a position of Clerk of the Orphans Court, the estate will usually be settled by the Prothonotary.)

  The court will name a man to serve as the estate’s Administrator (or a woman to serve as the estate’s Administratrix), to whom Letters of Administration will be granted. The estate will then be settled.

  In the case of the deceased dying without a will to direct the disposition and distribution of the estate, the Administrator is obligated to search out all known direct-line descendants, and the estate is divided evenly among them all. In the case of a child who may have died previous to the recently deceased parent, that child’s portion of the estate will be distributed to any children of the previously deceased child. For this reason, the estate records of intestate proceedings are very valuable and useful to a genealogist. As compared to a will, in which only a few of the children of the deceased might be mentioned (depending on the whim of the deceased), in an intestate proceeding all the children will be listed. And on top of that, if any of those children are already deceased, their children will all be listed, in order that the estate might be divided up fairly and evenly among the deceased’s survivors.