Person talk:Joseph Willis (22)

Joseph Willis, Father of William [23 August 2011]

It has been a while since I worked on this line and I am trying to figure out why Joseph Willis of Mercer Co. Ky is thought to be William's father? I remember there was a Joseph that was suspected to be William's father but I don't remember him being specifically the Joseph of Mercer County or why he was linked to William in the first place. Maybe it was based on a Joseph being in the same area as William. At any rate, DNA has proven that Joseph of Mercer County wasn't a father of William. Of course assuming that there was only one Joseph Willis in all of Mercer County, Ky.--ruthnevada 11:58, 23 August 2011 (EDT)

The phrase "said to be", as used in this article, is a catch phrase that is used to indicate that "someone thinks this, but I've no idea why, and sort of suspect its wrong". In this case, the fact that William is not mentioned in Joseph's will is pretty much a killer for the idea that William was his son. It takes an awful lot of evidence, in such cases, to show that the contrary is correct.

Sometimes people will invent story lines to explain this away---ie, "they had a fight", "he'd already gotten his portion of the estate", etc. Those kinds of stories could explain the absence of a child from a will, but just coming up with an explanation is not proof. Is there proof they had a fight, etc? Usually in such cases the parent makes the point that they are disinheriting their child for reasons that seem good to them, or that they had already given them their inheritance. Either way, they would want to ensure that their will could not be contested. But in such instances the chilredn ARE actually mentioned in the will.

To not mention a living child does happen on occassion, but its rare that you can show it. In one case I know of, a non-cupitative will was given (oral), as the parent was in extremis, and couldn't write or sign. He apparently gave oral instructions, but forgot one child. That was remedied in a statement the next day, that was testified to as a separate matter.

About the only common reasons an adult child would not be mentioned in a parents will, is when a) the child is a female, b) the child predeased the father. In the case of the former, you still need some sort of evidence to show that the girl really was the child of the parents, and in the case of the later, you need to show that they predeceased the parent. Q 13:09, 23 August 2011 (EDT)