John Kendig estate — 1859 family petition and property adjudication

Original Chester County Orphans’ Court estate papers inspected October 7, 2026. Official Laserfiche reel OCD (K 1749–1848) King 1749 – Kurtz 1848, document 771292. Attached PDF preserves original digital images 1212–1214 (1859 petition), 1196–1197 (October 31, 1859 adjudication), 1186 (service return), and 1201 (April 1839 account), in that order. Cover image 1212 refers to Orphans’ Court docket 23, page 292; petition read/filed June 13, 1859, inquest ordered August 10.

Jackson Kendig petitions as a son and heir of John Kendig, late of Sadsbury Township. He reports that John died intestate in 1834, leaving widow Margaret Kendig and seven children: Susan, Eliza, John H., Elvina, Jackson, Mary Ann and Louisa Kendig. Susan married William Bear (Bair in the 1897 compilation); Mary Ann married John D. Kerlin Jr.; Louisa married A. Judson Rees. Eliza died in 1858, unmarried and without issue. Elvina married Joseph Pine and was deceased by the petition; her handwritten death year appears 1857, conflicting with August 4, 1851 in Levering 1897 p.248. Do not silently reconcile that conflict.

Elvina and Joseph’s five minor children are John Kendig Pine, Josephine Pine, Margaret Catharine Pine, Adaline B. Pine and Emma N. Pine. Joseph and four children lived in Stark County, Ohio; Josephine lived in Sadsbury and was over fourteen. Evan Jones was guardian of the estates of the other four; he is not called a relative. A later service return includes him as guardian of the five estates; retain the date distinction. The petition describes the retained property as the Sadsbury Ville Inn, a tavern house and about nine acres.

The October 31, 1859 adjudication calls John H. the eldest son and Jackson the second son. Jackson received the property for $5,005, subject to stated payments, liens and the widow’s rights. The April 1839 account names administrators Samuel Armstrong and Margaret Kendig; it does not state Armstrong’s kinship.

Identity correlation: the seven-child family and married surnames agree closely with Levering 1897 p.248 (700.80.015), which calls Jackson A. Jackson and names his wife Eliza Reese. The existing May 1858 marriage transcription (700.10.002) pairs Andrew Jackson Kendig/Eliza Jane Reese and Adam Judson Reese/Louisa Kendig. The 1860 Sadsbury census (WEB-20261007-014324-60168546) places Andrew J., a hotel keeper, with Eliza and Margaret Kendig. Together these strongly identify the petitioner with archive Andrew Jackson Kendig (andrew_kendig), directly strengthening his father link. The estate calls Margaret the widow but does not give her maiden name or explicitly call her mother of all seven; the separate 1844 minors index names mother Margaret for Mary, Louisa, John and Jackson. Weidner maiden name and Peter Weidner/Susannah Levering ancestry remain dependent on the earlier compiled evidence pending an original bridge. The county administration index year 1835 is a filing year, not an independent death date. Exact births and John’s own parents remain unresolved.