Summary
This data collection was designed to study changes in American inheritance patterns over three centuries. Major areas of investigation include equality of treatment among children, legacies to sons versus daughters, estate planning strategies, treatment of spouse in will, women's testamentary power, charitable bequests, bequests to extended kin and non-kin, legacies of chattel, realty, and financial assets, and the naming of executors and guardians.
Citation
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Funding
National Science Foundation. Law and Social Sciences Program (SES-8208620)
National Endowment for the Humanities (RO-20466-83)
Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage
Time Period(s)
1685 -- 1980
Date of Collection
1983 -- 1985
Data Collection Notes
Marylynn Salmon, University of Maryland, Department of History, and Michel Dahlin, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Department of History, collaborated with Carole Shammas in the preparation of this data collection.
Notes
Data in this collection are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions.
- The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented.

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