INTRODUCTION

The time, place, and manner of death comes as the first entry in the penultimate element,
WEALTH AT DEATH. When the date of a legislator's demise is not known from family papers, an
obituary notice, or the public record, we relied upon probate. The year of death often remains
ambiguous with wills registered in January or February, because of the time permitted for filing or
because of dilatory executors. In those cases "ca." (circa) precedes the ascribed death date. If a
man died intestate, or if no will survives, the sole evidence of death was usually an estate inventory
or account, and "ca." again appears before the death date because many months—even years—
could elapse before the recording of these documents.

The category PERSONAL PROPERTY summarizes the legislator's assets at death, exclusive of
land. That there are so many estimates of personal property here is due to extensive probate
materials preserved at the Hall of Records. Parenthetically included after the total estate value are
more important items in the inventory, such as the number of servants and slaves, ounces of silver
plate, books, and ships.

The final element, IDENTIFICATION PROBLEMS, occurs only when there was insufficient
evidence for positive identification of a legislator. A short explanation sets forth the problems
encountered.