When I was in Salt Lake City in January, I found an index for probate files for Baca County, Colorado, which are available only directly from Baca County. Albert William Jones is my 3rd great grandfather. He was listed as having a probate file from the year 1946 when he died in Baca County.
Baca County emailed me the probate file today.
There is not much to it, he died intestate, or with no last will and testament. Sometimes a file with no will is called Probate or Letters of Administration.
His wife was Rebecca Jones. The estate was valued at less than $300, so she was entitled to receive it all. The estate was primarily an OAP warrant, which is an Old Age Pension with the State of Colorado. The document states he owned no other real estate or property. The document confirms his death date as 19 October 1946.
His widow was Rebecca Jones. I have her death date as 1951 but this is unconfirmed. We do know from this document that she was still living in 1946.
A photo of the tombstone is at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27166206/jon with some other info.
Note it is a shared grave marker. Albert’s dates seem correct and confirmed with other sources, including the probate file. Her dates are a birth date only, no date of death is engraved on the stone. Which means I have doubts she is even buried there. I requested a death certificate from the State of Colorado, with a range of dates including the expected 1951, and they replied no record found. So, she may have died out of state, or the death is not recorded. If she died out of state, I currently have no other records that suggest where she may have resided after the death of her husband.
The probate file does not give us much more info, but it confirms his death date, and confirms his widow was still alive in 1946. It also confirms he owned no real estate.
Genealogy is one record at a time…