The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-10-01
COMMUNICATIONS.

EDITOR OF THE CHRONICLE -:
The contest for surrogate this fall is
of much more khan ordinary import
ance, because of what is involved in it,,
and naturally attracts attention from
interested in public welfare in every
county offices throughout the State,
the office of surrogate will be put upon
salary basis and the fees which now
constitute the SurrOgate'S income will
be paid into the county treasury. Be-
cause of this, it is necessary that the
official be entirely familiar with the
work of the office, and man of unim-
peached honesty. Such a man is Sur
rogate David Young, and if there ex-
listed no other reason why he should
be re elected, this of itself should be
sufficient. independent of all such
consideration he is a man who cannot
at this particular time be spared from
public office. BY faithful and intelli-
gent supervision he has installed in
the office system of indexing which
is model of it's kind and superior to
any in operation in county offices and
has also saved hundreds of dollars for
the widows and orphans and Others
who have come to him for advice in
the settlement of estates
Soon after Mr.Young was first sworn
into office, he found the books and pap.
ers in deplorable condition. 1t was
almost impossible to locate documents
in the office connected with an estate,
as most of them were tied in large
packages and filed away in the back
vault without bearing label. Many
valuable papers and mapSWere thought
to be lost and complaints were often
made by lawyers searching in the Of
flee for documents.
The surrogate resolved to have the
office re-indexed. In order to do so he
was obliged to get the consent of the
court house and Jail committee of the
Board of FreeholderS. The members
were at first opposed to any new met b.
DDS or ideas being experimental with,
but when Mr.. Young invited the com,
mittee to his office and personally
demonstrated how difficult it was to
obtain information aoout old estates
or find the papers, a consent TO REIN
deX was given.
Mr.. Young then set about to In
augurate system of indexing. He
visited every surrogate's office in the
State and examined the systems in
use. There were none that came up
to his idea, SO he worked out system
of his own. 1t was founded upon a
general index which contains the name
of every estate that has come into the
office. Where will is probated, the
name of the executor, executrix or ex-
ecutors appears opposite-to that of the
teStator or testatrlx. Then follows the
date the will was approved, and in
what book it is recorded also where
an account has been made and releases
signed by the heirs at law. Under adj
miniStratiOn matters, the name of the
administrator or administrators is Civ
en- with that of the intestate, also in
what book the letters of adminiStra-
tion are to found, with the record of
any inventory, account and releases
if any. Besides this information all
papers connected with testate or in
teState estate are referred to with the
number OF a box in which they can
be found.
1t took the surrogate three years to
separate all these papers in his vaults.
Many were so worn as to be incapable
of being read or deciphered. As soon
as sorted, those in one estate were
placed in small pasteboard Dox, la
belled and put in the files. 1t is now
possible for a person to find in the
general index the name of any testate
or interstate estate in the county and
all legal papers filed in connection with
the settlement.
If every Republican does his duty
Mr.. Young will certainly be reelected,
and, while not neglecting other can
didates, no vote for him should be lost
that can possibly be received.
w. NV.
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