Mary Ann Wilkey, who lived in Burwood, a suburb of Sydney, died in Casino, a town in Northern NSW. I had never been able to work out why she was there - it was an unlikely holiday destination for a widowed 76 year old woman, if, in fact, people actually took holidays in those days...
Last night I was searching Findmypast for information on the Wilkeys when I came across Mary Ann Wilkey's probate summary. From memory, when I tried to access this record in person at NSW State Records, it was missing, so it was good to have the details summarised.
Mary Ann's will requested that all her real estate properties (four of them) be sold after her death, and that the proceeds of the sales be distributed equally amongst her living children. She also provided some money for Ellen Wilkey (named as Helen), the widow of her son James Arthur Wilkey, and directed that the rest of her belongings be given to her youngest daughter Elizabeth Elsie. She named her son Charles and her son-in-law James Hall (husband of daughter Elizabeth Elsie) as executors of the will.
It was when I got to the section of the probate record stating that Charles and James were made executors that I made a sudden exclamation, startling my husband. It recorded that James Hall was a shopkeeper, in Casino. I'm guessing that it was very likely that Mary Ann was visiting her daughter Elizabeth Elsie in Casino when she died.
It's not the sort of information that changes much, but I'm glad I've finally solved that puzzle!
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