Good Morning Everyone, I have a legal question about the status of a possibly illegitimate child, Davenport Kennedy, in future litigation of an estate governed by his possible father, Charles Kennedy, will written in 1783 and probated in Hanover Co. The child in question is not named in the will, but neither is one of the legitimate children who is later mentioned in a brother's will, and who is included as a child in a later chancery court dispute of Charles Kennedy's children over the division of the increase of a slave who was willed to a daughter who died without issue. The reading of the will is that "all the rest of my estate" is to be divided amongst "all my surviving children". There is no qualifying clause in the will after children such as "herein named", or a list of them. My question(s) is would an illegitimate child be included in the definition of "all my surviving children" in a will even if not named? Would he or she have any rights in a later chancery court case? Would it have made any difference if there had been some sort of court acknowledgement, or a bastardy case? Obviously we are trying to figure out if Davenport Kennedy is a son of Charles Kennedy. He could be a brother, and he died with many heirs, also not involved in the chancery case. Unfortunately, alot of their records would have been in burned Hanover Co., but fortunately the chancery case was in Louisa Co., and the will was part of the case file. Thanks very much for any thoughts. Best Regards, Janet (Baugh) To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html