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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Newly Found Miley Docs

I was doing some research on familysearch.org.
Familysearch is a website by the Church of Latter Day Saints (ie, Mormons) who are very involved in Genealogy for religious reasons. Their website and Family Research Centers are fantastic free sources for tracing your family tree.
Anyway, I was going through their databases for the State of Illinois, and in the database for "Illinois Probate Records 1819-1970" I found a few interesting documents.
Before I get started on them, just a side note here. The databases on familysearch is an ongoing thing. In other words, they are being transcribed and added to on a regular basis through the effort of their volunteers. They may have a database, such as the one I cited, but it may not contain all the records described in the Title. 
Anyway, it appears that Mary Mitchell Miley had a wee bit of a problem with her husband, John. 
With the assistance of her brothers, James and Bartley, Mary filed for full custody of her then 16 year old son, John, Jr., citing her husband as being abusive and violent toward her son (actually, it was John, Jr. who filed the petition for guardianship, but all fees and bonds were paid for by Mary and her brothers, so I'm assuming that Mary had actually wanted to get her son away from his father).
A few things that still puzzle me: This guardianship was done in 1874, yet the 1880 Federal Census has Mary living apart from her husband with some of their children, and John Miley, Sr. is living with two of their daughters at another resident.  If he was that abusive, why were there still children in his home?






Court Record of the Final Judgement in the Matter of John Miley, Jr.





A Record of the Court Fees paid by Mary and her brothers, James and Bartely, concerning the guardianship of John Miley, Jr.






The Petition filed on behalf of John Miley, Jr. to grant full guardianship to his mother, Mary (Mitchell) Miley.