Wilbur Dennis West

PROOF CLASS: FATHER = ARGUMENT - the 1854 Erie Co. deed has Dennis West conveying "as heir & devisee of the Estate of my Father the late Mathew West deceased"; identifying that Dennis as [1119] is the argument, and it has no standing objection. PROOF CLASS: MOTHER = INFORMANT (insufficient), reviewed 4 Sep 2026, flag stays 0; reopens on a primary Erie Co. (N.Y.) or Massachusetts record naming Phebe (Ann Bowen) as Matthew West's wife or as parent of a named child. AUDITED 17 Aug 2026 - FATHER PROVEN: the POA execution date is read - Dennis West signed and acknowledged IN PERSON 12 May 1854 before a Dodge Co., Wisconsin J.P. (Erie Deed Books 1853-1855 img 477, ark 3:1:3QS7-99WX-3W3R). FATHER ONLY - the mother is not evidenced; Matthew's 1852 executrix and widow was HANNAH, not [1155] Phebe Ann Bowen, so ProofMother stays 0 and the mother question is open. WHY THIS SETTLES IT - the 27 Jul 2026 audit (preserved below) rated the link LIKELY-STRONG with ONE named objection: his obituary put him in Kansas Territory in 1854 while the Dennis-West conveyances were recorded in Erie Co. on 26 Sep 1854. The 26 Sep date is the RECORDING date only. The execution/acknowledgment date, now read on the manuscript, is 12 May 1854 at Dodge Co., Wis. - so the Andreas 1883 Kansas timeline (Greeley settlers, summer-fall 1854, voting 29 Nov 1854) and the deed record describe ONE itinerary: Wisconsin in May, Kansas that summer. The chain is: (1) the 1852 Erie probate heir list (C6982) names 'Dennis West of Wisconsin' beside proven brother Joseph; (2) the 1854 deed (img 478, ark 3:1:3QSQ-G9WX-3WFS) has Dennis conveying 'as heir & devisee of the Estate of my Father the late Mathew West deceased' - a first-person parentage statement; (3) the POA opening restates it ('as heir & devisee of the [estate of] the late Mathew West deceased'); (4) identity Dennis of Hustisford = Wilbur Dennis [1119]: the middle name, no Wilbur anywhere in the Erie corpus, heir-list adjacency to Joseph, and b. 14 May 1832 means he was an adult (21) at execution, so the 1852-minor caution does not attach to this instrument. LIMITS - (1) The identity step is an argument from converging records, not a single sentence naming 'Wilbur Dennis'; it now has no standing objection. (2) Nothing here evidences the mother; whether Phebe Ann Bowen [1155] was Matthew's earlier wife (Hannah being a later wife) or a wrong graft is UNRESOLVED - research-first before any mother-side grade. --- SUPERSEDED 17 Aug 2026 (the POA execution date is now read; the 27 Jul 2026 text is kept verbatim below) --- Audited 27 Jul 2026 - LIKELY-STRONG, not proven. The 1852 Erie probate citation lists every heir and next of kin of Matthew West and contains NO Wilbur; it does list a DENNIS WEST 'of Wisconsin' beside brother Joseph. In 1854 that Dennis, at Hustisford, Dodge Co., Wis., conveyed his interest 'as heir & devisee of the Estate of my Father the late Mathew West deceased.' So Wilbur Dennis = Dennis, unless he was never Matthew's son at all. CAUTION: b. 14 May 1832 makes him 20 in Sep 1852 - a minor under N.Y. law - and no special guardian appears in the papers read. His obituary also puts him in Kansas Territory in 1854. Citation for probate of will, Erie Co., N.Y., issued 24 Jul 1852 and reissued 18 Sep 1852, C. D. Norton, Surrogate (Erie, New York, Guardianship Records 1851-1895, FamilySearch, images 1558 and 1562). Erie Co., N.Y., Deed Books 1853-1855, read via FamilySearch full-text (ark 3QSQ-G9WX-3WFS image 478; ark 3QS7-99WX-3W3R image 477). See ancestry/west-branch-research.md.