Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-05-15
TO PROVE WHO you ARE HARD.
John Smith May Not Testify in Court
That He Is the Son of Robert
Smith

smith,
Paradoxical as it may seem, the
most difficult thing to prove IN
eourt of law is who you are. 1t is a
simple matter if you have still living
plenty Of relatives of an older genera
ton, but suppose your parents anu
uncles and aunts are dead, it becomes
well nigh impossible. AS a matter
of fact, your knowledge of your lden-
THY is absolutely hearsay. You know
your father and mother called your
their son, and to that fact you may
testify if the question of your id&utlty
should ever come before judge ana
jury But the testimony goes before
the Jury with the warning from the
judge that it is only hearsay, for you
have no personal knowledge OF the
matter.
Official town or parish records are
valuable. but by no means conclusive.
Suppose you are John Smith, son OF
Robert and Mary Smith, born at Al
'Dany on Aug. l, 1865. The record
of births in the Bureau Of Vital Stats
tics at Albany will prove that son
named John was born to Robert and
Mary Smith on that date; the regis
ter 70 the church may prove that
John. son of Robert and Mary Smith,
was baptized on a certain date, but
they do not prove you are the John
Smith. of whom these are records.
To establish the connection be-
tween you and the person mentioned
in the records. in other words TO
prove your own identity, is the diff
Guilty If your mother is alive she
can do it; if any relative who has
known you since you were born is
alive he can do it.
The successive suits for the estate
of A. T. Stewart failed on such
grounds as these. The plalntlHs'
cousins of the late Mrs. Stewart, were
unable to prove their relationship. IL
was necessary in one of these cases
that a man should prove his late
father and A. e. Stewart to have been
brothers, but he had no personal
knowledge of the matter; he nao
heard his father in Ireland refer TO A.
T. Stewart as his brother, but the
Court would not let him testify even
to that and, as the defendants denied
the relationship, the case fell to the
ground.
The identity Of a person becomes
even harder of proof after he is deao.
In the Royal Arcanum there are sew
eral hundred thousand dollars OF
of death benefits tied UP because OF
the inability of heirs to prove that
the insured man is dead.
Very often it is necessary to sue
cess in litigation over an estate 10
prove not only who were your par
ents. but who were your grandparents.
Family Bibles, with the records there
in. help out in this, but are not at all
conclusive. Birth and marriage GER
tificates are accepted as corroDora-
tive. but it requires quite a mass Oh
such matter. together with at least
some witnesses who can testify OF
their own personal knowledge, before
court will accept such a fact as
proved to it's satisfaction.
All of this illustrates the great val
lie of keeping family records, Tor
these. while not conclusive, are strong
corroborative evidence of identity, es-
pecially if the handwriting OF the sue
cessive heads of the family, in Whlcn
the entries are made, can be proved
which is generally fairly easy. Many
a great estate has been lost TO us
rightful owners solely because Oh thelr
inability to prove who they we're
| New York World.