Eric,

Thanks for the clarification. So there was an inventory of his estate. Good to know. And that certainly does kill him. Your theory of being buried at the school property makes sense, and he probably did have a tombstone. But that will probably never be proved in our lifetime. He may not have been a wealthy merchant at the time of his death. Merchants were notorious for having more money owed them than they had in the bank, so to speak. And also for owing a lot of money to other people at the same time. In other words, his estate had no money. That's just a guess, and you are more familiar with his paper trail than I am.

Craig Kilby

On Aug 10, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Huffstutler, Eric S. wrote:

> Good question and figured someone would eventually ask that but here is
> what we are going on:
> 
> Daughter Sarah married 1828 and the newspaper lists her father as the
> "late" Capt. Charles Wills.
> 
> Daughter Mary married in June 1820 and he is alive then per marriage
> post.
> 
> In November 1820, his property was being inventoried and tallied up
> since no known will exists.  This created a lot of problems for the
> children and fights for property and possibly why no death notice has
> been found yet in the newspaper and possibly no headstone erected due to
> animosity?
> 
> So I place his death sometime between June and November 1820. 
> 
> Eric
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Kilby
> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 9:40 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Death Notice 1820s
> 
> Eric, question. if there is no will, no inventory, no probate, no death
> notice and no tombstone, on what are you basing that he died in 1820?
> Tax lists? City directories? Family bible? Something seems off here.
> 
> Craig
> 
> On Aug 9, 2012, at 1:53 PM, Huffstutler, Eric S. wrote:
> 
>> Associated to finding further information about our Capt. Charles 
>> Wills, for someone who was relatively wealthy and owned several 
>> businesses as well as properties, we have not found a "last will and 
>> testament" for him nor a death notice in the newspaper.  And it has 
>> been discussed no grave stone at St. john's church and his death date 
>> between June and November, 1820 falls in the void of missing interment
> 
>> records for the cemetery.
>> 
>> That said, is this uncommon?  Why at least no death notice for such a 
>> high profile person - unless I just have overlooked it?
>> 
>> Eric

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