Family Linkage of John Yates b. 1768 Based on
the Will of Benjamin Yates b. 1792

Petition to sell real estate

Elijah F. Roberson
Administrator of the estate of
Benjamin Yates deed


Be it remembered that heretofore to wite
Oct 24 1865 this following petition was filed in the office
of the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Crawford County
Indiana by said administrator to wite the undersigned admin-
istrator of the Estate of Benjamin Yates Deed would represent
to the court of Common Pleas of said County that the personal
estate of said decedent amounts to the probable sum of $340
and that the claims against the same so far as the sum
has come to the knowledge of your petitioner amount to
the probable sum of $1,400-leaving $1,000 of indebtedness
over the value of the personal estate that decedent died
the owner in fee simple of the following Real Estate in
Crawford County Indiana The East Half of The North West
Quarter, and the North West Quarter of the North West
Quarter of Section 14, in Township three South, of Range 1
West, the East Quarter of the North East Quarter of Section
15 and the South Half of the North West Quarter of the North
East Quarter of Section 15 same Town & Range containing in
all one hundred acres.

And that decedent left as his heirs the following per-
sons who are his nephews JOHN YATES, TOLBERT YATES, SILAS
YATES, DANIEL YATES, ELI YATES, SILAS YATES, WILLIAM YATES
and GEORGE YATES and the following persons who are
his nieces CASA MARTIN, RACHAEL HUGHES, SARAH BELL,
NELLIE PITTMAN and SARAH YATES who resides as follows
and who are all of age and state the above are all
the heirs of decedent who are known to your petitioner
except the unknown heirs of Robert Yates deed, the
unknown heirs James Yates Deed and the unknown
heirs of John Yates and the unknown heirs of
John Yates, Jr. and the heirs of Casa Yates and
he therefore asks for an order to sell such
Real Estate.

E. F. Roberson

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 24th Day of October, 1865

J. M. Lemonds CK

From this, we know that Benjamin Yates left no children as his heirs, only eight nephews, and five nieces, all of age in 1865. The nephews are named by first names only, so we may assume they were all Yates, John, Tolbert, Silas, Daniel, Eli, Silas, William, George. The nieces are given by their full names, Casa Martin, Rachel Hughes, Sarah Bell, Nellie Pilliman, and Sarah Yates. (Sarah Bell was Sarah Elizabeth Bell, who links us with the Yates line. I believe Nellie Pilliman was Ellen Pittman, for the names Ellen and Nellie were often interchanged, and it requires only a stroke of the pen, left undone by whoever was drafting the document, to change Pilliman to Pittman.)

After the heirs that were known to the petitioner were listed, he made himself safe, in the legal way, by adding "the unknown heirs of Robert Yates, deceased, the unknown heirs of James Yates, deceased, and the unknown heirs of John Yates and the unknown heirs of John Yates Jr. and the heirs of Casa Yates. So these, with the exception of John Yates, are the brothers and sister of Benjamin Yates, giving us, for the first time, a true Family Group Sheet, with John Yates their father.