What I learned From the Will of J. S. Warden
In his will, J. S. Warden left the sum of $5.00 each to his brother R. E. Warden, and to his sisters,
Minta Hurt, and Nettie E. Richmond. I wanted to take a look at my family tree to make sure I had all the siblings he left money too. I knew I had Nettie, she is my second great-grandmother. But, I was not sure about the others.
Once I looked at the tree I was able to place R. E. Warden as Robert E. Warden. But I did not see Minta, its an unusual name and it should stand out in the tree. I also thought it odd that he did not mention a few of his other siblings, until I started looking at their dates of death. He had a sister Adeline that died in 1882 and a brother Grover that died in 1886. Both of these deaths are well before J. S Wardens death in 1929.
But, back to Minta Hurt. Where does she fit in and how come she is not in my tree? Here is what I found Minta, is a nickname for Arminta, which is the middle name for his sister Nancy. At this point, I had not truly researched Nancy / Minta. All I knew is that she had a child with the surname of Hurt, but I currently had no husband are anything else on her.
Going through the Wills of Raleigh County, West Virginia is making me take a look at some people in my tree that I normally would not have spent a lot of time on. Because of this, my tree continues to flourish with new relatives.
