The probate record for Nicholas Lake, who died 25 Feb 1874 in Warren County, Iowa, contains the typical information recorded for people who died intestate. Since Nicholas owned sufficient property but left no will, the court appointed an administrator who inventoried each item of property, giving us today a detailed look at Nicholas’s way of life as a farmer. And the sale of Nicholas's property gives us a list of all his heirs.

The Genealogical Society of Utah has filmed the Warren County Probate Records, 1830-1964, which are available at the LDS Family History Library on 103 rolls of microfilm and may be ordered through the LDS Family History Centers. This document is a partial transcription of this filming of Nicholas Lake's probate file.

The probate records for Nicholas Lake are filed under Case No. 306. The probate volumes contain the following references to this case:

• Volume E, page 474: Case No. 306, Nicholas Lake, deceased. Petition for Administration, 12 Mar 1874 [see FHL film 1,011,020]. This contained the request by Nicholas’s widow, Sarah Lake, to have an administrator appointed for the estate.
• E, 475: J. P. Mosher appointed adminstrator of estate of Nicholas Lake, 12 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020].
• E, 481: Petition to Sell Personal Property, 14 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020].
• E, 482: Order to Sell Personal Property, 14 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020].
• E, 482: Probate Inventory, 14 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020]. This contained the administrator’s inventory of the real and personal property owned by Nicholas at the time of his death.
• E, 485: Commission to Appraisers, 12 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020].
• E, 486: Oath of Appraisers, 13 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020].
• E, 487: Report of Appraisers, 13 Mar 1874 [FHL 1,011,020]. This contained an appraised value for each item in the personal property inventory.
• F, 25: Probate Sale Bill, 11 Apr 1874 [FHL 1,011,020]. This contained the name of the purchaser and the amount received for each item in the personal property inventory.
• F, 425: Probate Report of Administrator, 12 Feb 1875 [FHL 1,011,020].
• G, 288: Probate Report of Administrator, 21 Oct 1875 [FHL 1,011,021].
• G, 289: Probate Order of Distribution, 21 Oct 1875 [FHL 1,011,021].
• H, 42: Probate Final Report of Administrator, 30 Aug 1876 [FHL 1,011,021]. This contained a summary of the final cash payments made to Nicholas’s heirs.
• H, 115: Order Discharging Administrator, 19 Oct 1876 [FHL 1,011,021].

Following are transcriptions of the Probate Inventory, Report of Appraisers, Probate Sale Bill, and Final Report of Administrator for Case No. 306, Nicholas Lake.

[FHL film 1,871,578, frame 1081. This Probate Inventory was filed 17 Mar 1874 and recorded in volume E: 482 (see FHL film 1,011,020).

Notes: Reading this inventory, you can imagine the administrator moving from the kitchen (Sarah’s realm) to elsewhere in the house, to Nicholas’s tools, to farming equipment, and so on, ending with the animals in the barn and the building supplies. I found the following terms unfamiliar:

• (Item 9) Flatirons, for ironing clothes.
• (16) Froe, cleaving tool used by a hoop bender or basket maker.
• (18) bbl, abbreviation for barrel.
• (23) Firkin, small wooden cask, as for storing butter or lard.
• (28) Drawshave (or drawknife), woodworking tool for shaving surfaces.
• (30) Mattock, tool for digging.
• (35) Cant hook, tool for handling logs.

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STATE OF IOWA, )
Warren County. ) s.s.

In the matter of the Estate of Nicholas Lake Deceased.
The following is a full and perfect Inventory of the Real and Personal Estate of the said deceased, so far as the same has come to the possession or knowledge of the undersigned J. P. Mosher Administrator of Nicholas Lake Deseased
 

REAL ESTATE	Sec.	Tp.	Rg.	Acres.
SE 1/4 SE 1/4	17	14	23	40
pt. NE 1/4 NW 1/4	8	“	“	6 1/2
pt. NE 1/4 NW 1/4	5	“	“	6 1/2

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CASH ON HAND AT TIME OF DECEASE $ 50.20

[FHL film 1,871,578, frame 1163. This Appraisers’ Bill was filed 14 Mar 1874 and recorded in volume E: 487 (see FHL film 1,011,020). I have added a column at the right providing a cross reference to the list of articles in the administrator’s inventory -- this cross reference is not in the Appraisers’ Bill itself.

Notes: “8 Shoats” were 8 young hogs. Together with the 3 sows, they rounded out the “11 head of hogs” listed in the administrator’s inventory.]

APPRAISERS’ BILL

Estate of Nicholas Lake Deceased,
STATE OF IOWA, ) In Circuit Court, ___________ 18
Warren County, )
An appraisement bill of the goods, chattels, and personal estate of Nicholas Lake late of said county, deceased, so far as the same have come to our sight and knowledge, which appraisement has been made by virtue of the annexed warrant from the Circuit Court of said county, we having been first duly sworn as required by law.
 

ARTICLES.	Dollars.	Cents.	[Article No. in Inventory]
1 Washboad		25	1
3 jars		40	2
11 Crocks		65	3
Oil can & lamp		25	4
1 Desk		50	5
1 Stand	1	00	5
1 Table	1	00	6
1 Cupboard		50	6
1 Cook stove & utensils	10	00	7
Coffee mill & hash knife		20	8
2 Flat irons		40	9
1 Corn knife		25	10
2 Chests		75	11
1 Mop		35	10
Harness		50	12
1 Ax		25	13
1 Hoe		25	13
2 Planes		50	14
Bucket Shovel &c.		25	15
1 Fro		50	16
Box & Bells	1	00	16
Box of irons		75	17
Barrel & salt		75	18

Certified this 13th day of March A.D. 1874

A. Smith )
Jesse Johnson ) Appraisers
William Lavin )

We the Appraisers above named do cerify that we attended and served one day each, in appraising the estate of said deceased.

A. Smith )
Jesse Johnson ) Appraisers
William Lavin )

[Sideways, at the bottom of the page, the “cover” of the document when folded up:]

ESTATE OF Nicholas Lake
Appraisement Bill
Amos Smith
Jesse Johnson
William Lavin
Filed March 14, 1874
Recorded in Book D, Page ___
J. W. [?]
Clk 

[FHL film 1,871,578, frame 1169. This Sale Bill was filed 29 Apr 1874 and recorded in volume F: 25 (see FHL film 1,011,020). I have added columns at the right providing a cross reference to the list of articles in the administrator’s inventory and the amount the item was previously appraised at -- these columns are not in the Sale Bill itself.]

SALE BILL,
ESTATE of Nicholas Lake DECEASED,
STATE OF IOWA, ) SS. In Circuit Court, ___________ 18
Warren County, )

The following is a true and correct bill of the sale of the Chattel property of the Estate of Nicholas Lake late of the said County of Warren Deceased, made on the eleventh day of April 1874 (in pursuance of notice thereof, a copy of which is hereunto attached by the undersigned ____________________ at _________________

We do hereby certify that the above Sale Bill, in the Estate of Nicholas Lake deceased, is true and correct.

Given under our hands this eleventh day of April 1874
Jesse Johnson Clerk.
Hiram Dunn Crier.

[As is usually the case, this sale bill does not state the relationship between the purchasers and the deceased. The following table sorts the above information by purchaser and attempts to identify who the purchasers were. The identifications are my assumptions and are not explicitly stated in the probate file itself.]

[FHL film 1,871,578, frame 1095. This Final Cash Account was filed by the administrator 30 Aug 1876 and recorded in volume H: 42 (see FHL film 1,011,021).

Notes: I think “DR.” means debits, “CR.” credits. For a cash account, debits are amounts paid into it and credits are amounts paid out of it.

(Voucher 1) The name looks like “R. A. Lake” corrected to “R. A. Davis.” There was $317.15 available in the administrator’s final account. Of this, $11.15 went to court costs and the administrator’s fee. That left $306.00 to distribute to the heirs. As widow, Sarah Lake received one third, or $102.00. There were nine sons and daughters to split the remaining $204.00, each receiving $22.66 2/3. According to his probate file (case no. 393), William Harrison Lake, youngest son of Nicholas and Sarah, had died in March 1874, leaving a wife and four minor children. Rachel A. Lake, the mother, later married to Albert Davis, had been appointed guardian of the children.

(Vouchers 8- 11) Perry T. Lake, son of Nicholas and Sarah, apparently had predeceased Nicholas. He left four children, each receiving one fourth of his share, or $5.66 2/3. Apparently Franklin A. Lake was still a minor, and his mother, Ida S. Lake, was his guardian.]

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CASH ACCOUNT CURRENT.

J. P. Mosher
Administrator of the Estate of Nicholas Lake Deceased.

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