Week 38 - A Document with Personality

What happens to property when there is a second marriage and the 1st wife dies and then the man remarries to another woman who then outlives him?

Richard Kinnan & Margaret Porter 2nd marriages for both
September 2, 1889 - Tipton, Iowa

And the second husband doesn't leave a will?

Would the property go to the 2nd wife, and she could do as she saw fit with the residue? What if the husband didn't leave a will? Would his property automatically go to his children from the first wife?

That is exactly what happened in our family.

My 2x great grandmother Margaret (Matter) Porter Kinnan outlived two husbands. She and my 2x great grandfather John J Porter were married for 27 years when he died at the age of 67. Margaret and John had a small farm, did okay on it, but it was sustaining, not elaborate. In 1880, John was listed as a retired farmer due to severe rheumatism. Five years later he would be dead leaving a widow (who was 15 years younger than he was) and six children of which three of them were school-aged.

John Porter & Margaret (Matter) Porter 
ca1878-1880

Four years later, Margaret remarried to widower Richard Kinnan. Now Richard was 79 years old when he married fifty-six-year-old Margaret. Eleven years later Richard would die and he left six children from his first marriage, a second wife and six stepchildren.

Thirteen months after Richard passed, Margaret would die after suffering from a 'lingering illness'. Margaret's Will listed only her children who received a share after her numerous properties in the town of Tipton were sold. BUT - only after her son William Porter (my great-grandfather) paid her back the $75.00 he owed her. So, from his share it was to be deducted and divided up amongst the other siblings. Even from the grave she held the upper hand.

December 31, 1900

One detail in her probate records is difficult to overlook: there is no mention whatsoever of any of Richard Kinnan’s children. The omission seems significant—almost as if an important piece of the story is missing. Could it be that Richard had already taken responsibility for the children, perhaps providing for them before his own death? It is a question the records leave unanswered. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a will or probate record for Richard online, so for now, this remains one of those intriguing genealogical mysteries waiting to be solved.

Margaret's Will & Probate has a personality of its own and leaves a gaping hole in the ask: who benefited the most??

Barbie


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