Have you ever tried to identify all of the parties in a complicated probate case? That’s the challenge I’ve been facing with the estate of Lewis N. Hutchinson.
When I first began studying an 1885 deed involving Lewis’s estate, I focused primarily on the long list of heirs named in the middle of the document. As I worked through the deed, however, I realized that it also referenced earlier court proceedings involving Esther A. Lusk and Mary Rupert. Those references suggested that the deed was only one piece of a much larger probate puzzle.
Because my ancestor, Albert Hutchinson, is believed to be the son of Lewis N. Hutchinson’s brother Aaron, I have been pursuing these records in hopes of finding evidence that connects Albert to the family. If Albert was indeed Aaron’s son, I would expect him to appear somewhere in the estate proceedings unless he had completely lost contact with his uncle and cousins.
To learn more about Esther A. Lusk, I searched Newspapers.com and discovered a legal notice published in The Times-Union of Rochester, New York, on 20 June 1883. The notice concerned the settlement of Lewis N. Hutchinson’s estate and listed many of his heirs along with their places of residence.
Why This Notice Matters
At first glance, the notice appears to be little more than a routine court announcement. For a genealogist, however, it is packed with clues.
Most importantly, it identifies where many of Lewis Hutchinson’s heirs were living in 1883:
- Lewis, Jane, and Myron Hutchinson were living in Stockton, California.
- Wells Hutchinson was residing in Buenos Aires, South America.
- Elizabeth Hutchinson was living in Washington, D.C.
- Frank Finch was residing in Cairo, Illinois.
- Harlow, Dwight, and Hannah Jackson were living in Fennville, Michigan.
- Andrew Jackson was residing in Chillicothe, Illinois.
- Lewis N. Jackson was living in Stewardson, Illinois.
- Samantha Keyes was residing in Omena, Michigan.
Those locations help explain why the family can be difficult to reconstruct. By 1883, descendants of Aaron Hutchinson and Hannah Nettleton had scattered across the country—and beyond.
The notice also clarifies two relationships that were uncertain when I first examined the 1885 deed.
The court identified John Lamphier as administrator of the estate of Miranda Lamphier, indicating that Miranda had died before June 1883. Likewise, Henry D. Tucker was named executor of the estate of Esther A. Lusk, confirming that Esther had also died before the notice was published.
Subsequent newspaper research helped fill in Esther’s story. An obituary identified Esther Anna Lusk as the daughter of Julius Sutliff and Dolly (Hutchinson) Sutliff. Since Dolly was Lewis N. Hutchinson’s sister, Esther was one of Lewis’s nieces. The obituary also noted that after the death of her husband, James Lusk, she returned to New York and later lived with her uncle, Lewis N. Hutchinson.
That discovery transformed Esther from a name in a legal notice into a documented member of the Hutchinson family.
Still Looking for Albert
While I have yet to find my ancestor, Albert Hutchinson, in these deeds, probate records, and legal notices, the search is proving worthwhile. Each new document helps identify another heir, establish another relationship, or place another branch of the family in a specific location.
For now, the probate records are helping me reconstruct the descendants of Aaron Hutchinson and Hannah Nettleton one heir at a time. And perhaps, somewhere in the remaining court records, there is still a reference waiting to confirm whether Albert Hutchinson truly belonged among them.