Theophilus Simonton; where did he die?

Question

Theophilus Simonton wrote his will in 1754 in Conestoga Manor, Pennsylvania. His will was probated in 1757 in Rowan County, North Carolina. His profile says he died in PA  isn't it more likely that he died in the place where his will was probated?

Answer 1

I think there may be two men with the same name.

Comments

They are not. They are absolutely the same man.

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I agree the Theophilus Simonton whose will was probated in North Carolina had died and was buried three years before the will was probated.  The will packet custom of the day doesn't seem to be the one used today.   Jackie Keasler Helmke stated the facts according to what a professional genealogist told her, "in those days, a will packet was never prepared until after the will was filed and after the person died," so the will packet of 1750 for a Theophilus Simonton belonged to a different person, for our Theophilus Simonton didn't draft a will until 1754, the same year he died.  The question remains, is when and where did it get filed?  In Pennsylvania after he died or in North Carolina after his descendants had moved there?

Obviously, the will was probated in a different place than where he lived and was buried.  Perhaps that only makes sense to his descendants if they had filed the will in North Carolina after making the trek southward.

Answer 2

This is the explanation provided on findagrave.com:

 "After Theophilus Simonton I died in 1754 in Lancaster PA and was buried on his land in PA, Mary his wife, and his son William, his youngest son and the "grandchildren" came to Rowan Co. NC. Also believed that Daughter Mary who married Samuel Thornton in Lancaster Co. PA and Patrick Duffey came with them at this time. Patrick Duffey was a person who the Senior Theophilus Simonton brought over from Ireland as he was a close friend of his family Or possibly a brother in Law and so he worked for The Senior Theophilus in PA.

'Shortly after son William came to Rowan Co, he married Mary McKee.
Mary, Theophilus Simonton's wife died in Rowan Co and she is buried in Statesville (Rowan) Iredell Co.

 "Theophilus Simonton's will was probated in Rowan Co but he died and he was buried in Lancaster Co PA. He is buried on the land he so loved in a private Cemetery. Today there is a very small stand of trees in the middle of a beautifully tilled field just below where he lived.:
Also one daughter, Ann who married Andrew Allison died in Lancaster, PA. and is probably buried with her father as is her brother Theophilus II and wife. Ann's husband and children went to Rowan Co. PA. after Andrew Remarried in PA.

 "Theophilus signed his own will in a very shakey hand and it was spelled "Theophilus Simontoun""[[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=94635232]]  

Obviously, a descendant carried the will from Pennsylvania to North Carolina where he settled and thereupon had the will probated in North Carolina rather than in Pennsylvania where the family had previously lived.

For other oddities of this will situation, see [[http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jkh1s&id=I12290 ]].

Sometimes, it's the spirit of the law that gets better served than the letter of the law.  With the descendants all in North Carolina, they obviously didn't want to return to Pennsylvania for an extended period of time to get the will probated there.  There were apparently two Theophilus Simontons in Pennsylvania around the same time and an empty will packet dated 1750 was also found in Pennsylvania and it didn't belong to the Theophilus Simonton who wrote his will in 1754.

 

Comments

So why wouldnt they probate the will prior to moving hundreds of miles away. What would be the point. Do we really know that he died in Pennsylvania? Is there a death record or burial record which confirms his death in that location or is it just a family story passed down? Is it written in a family bible? Hum, I wish there was something a bit more concrete about this, some actual documentation.

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I don't have all the answers, but from the information I have seen his body was definitely buried in Pennsylvania in a family grave site.  Why the family decide to wait till after they relocated to North Carolina, I cannot say.

Probate can be a long and slow process, but in some cases when all the i's are dotted and t's crossed it can be done quickly and efficiently.  Families have moved for all kinds of reasons--better jobs, etc.  This is not 1754 and I can not conjure up what they were thinking at the time and why they thought if might be better to file it in North Carolina and have It probated there.

Even some of the witnesses to the will also moved south to North Carolina at about the same time.