The Estate of Martha Sanford

The estate of Martha Sanford in probate in 1920 was quite a bit larger than that of her husband, Reuben Henry Sanford, who had died in 1910. The inventory was as follows:

PERSONAL PROPERTY

1. Money in Bank $1259.31

2. Liberty Bonds $1500.00

3. War Savings Stamps $100.00

4. Rent of Farm for year 1920,
uncollected and unsold,
estimated at, $1791.75


REAL ESTATE

1. 920 acres of land known as the
Martha Sanford land on B.W. Holtzclaw
Grant in Milam County, Texas, value $18,600.00

2. House and lot in Freeman's Addition
to the City of Cameron, Milam County,
Texas, being
value $3,000.00



The appraisers of Martha's estate were her nephew, J[ohn] E[dward] Holtzclaw, the Sheriff of Milam County; her son-in-law, Jeff D. Nesbitt, and her son-in-law, Frank Monroe. The executor was her son from her prior marriage, Warner B. Minor.

One obvious difference between Martha and Henry's estates was the amount of separate-property real estate each owned. Recall that Henry had 282 acres of land. Martha had 920 acres. Martha seems to have been a prudent manager as well. At the time of Henry's death in 1910, they were still on the farm near Tracy. But ten years later, Martha had been renting out the farm and had moved to a nice house in Cameron. She also had invested in Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps, and had a nice amount of cash in the bank.

Part of Martha's land holdings may have been an inheritance from an ancestor, B.W. Holtzclaw who had served in the Army of the Republic of Texas.

Like Henry's will, Martha's is brief and to the point. She revokes two prior wills (March 7, 1910, presumably her last before Henry died; and August 2, 1910, executed the same day that Henry's will was admitted to probate) and a codicil of January 25, 1911. She devises her property, including the 920 acres (described in the will as 9223 acres) to her children, Warner Minor and Mary Denson (living in Rosebud, Falls County at the time) from her prior marriage; and Sarah Tapp and Mary Catherine Bates, from her marriage to Henry Sanford.