Amanuensis Monday~Guardianship of Etta Lee Kite, 1915.

Amanuensis Monday is a genealogy blogging theme. It was started by John Newmark who writes the TransylvanianDutch blog.

His definition of Amanuensis is:
Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Today’s subject is the Guardianship of Etta Lee Kite, 1915. 

The guardianship of Etta lee Kite is a sad and complicated case detailed  in documents contained within probate Folder #1009. 

Robert Lee Kite son of  John Wesley Kite and Sarah J. Ousley married Etta M. Douglas about 1896. Etta M. Douglas, born 16 June 1882, was the daughter of James Baldwin Douglas and his deceased wife Mary Catherine. 

Robert Lee and Etta M. had a daughter Etta Lee Kite born 6 December 1906. Then on 9 December 1907, Etta M. Douglas Kite passed away. This left Robert Lee  alone with a baby to raise. By 1910, Robert Lee had moved to Cleveland County Arkansas and re-married to a young lady named Emma H. Douglas with a small son.

Then on 13 February 1910 James Baldwin Douglass passed away leaving as one of his heirs, his granddaughter, Etta M. Kite. On 19 December 1910, B. J. Douglass was appointed by the court as guardian of Etta M. Kite interest in her grandfather estate.


Transcription:
Chesterfield, S.C. Apr. 6, 1915
To: The Honorable Probate Judge of Chesterfield County;
B. J. Douglas, Guardian for Etta Lee Kite, begs leave to submit the following report:
There was paid unto my hands from J. B. Douglass estate, five hundred and seventeen dollars and fifty cents, in December 1910. There was into my hands from the estate of Margaret McNair ten dollars and fifty cents in July, 1914. All of which is hereby acknowledged.
These funds were received by me with the expressed understanding that they were payable when the said Etta Lee Kite became of age or as her needs might demand, and where-as it was represented to me that the custodians, Me. R. Lee Kite, and Mrs. Emma Kite were in dire straits, and not wishing to be deceived, Mr. E. A. Douglass made trip to Arkansas and looked on the situation as it actually appeared, with advice to check on B. J. and E. A. Douglass upon his arrival he found that the conditions warranted him to check them three hundred and seventy-five dollars. By and with the consent of Mr. R. Lee Kite and Mrs. Emma Kite father and stepmother of Etta Lee Kite, suitable monuments were erected to their family dead at a cost of Sixty-six and two thirds dollars. They were not consulted, but have charged up against this interest in J. B. Douglass estate one sixth of expense of maintaining father two years in my own home, three hundred dollars; also one sixth burial expense and monument expense both items being twenty seven dollars and eighty-two cents. All of which is more fully shown by itemized statement appended hereto.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
                            B. J. Douglass, Guardian (signed)
___________________________________________________________

In 1914, Robert Lee Kite was granted Guardianship of his daughter and in a document dated 27 January 1915 there was an objection to releasing B. J. Douglass from Guardianship because all the money collected had not been distributed to Etta Lee Kite and B. J. Douglass was indebted to her. 

Etta Lee survived, grew up and at age 19 married Jeff D Frazier on 10 Dec 1925 in Fordyce, Dallas County, Arkansas.  She died at age 84, on 21 January 1991, Fordyce, Dallas County, Arkansas. FindaGrave Memorial # 11217851.




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[1] "South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939L-N397-VC?cc=1911928&wc=MPP5-N38%3A190567401%2C190561002%2C190567402%2C191815201 : 21 May 2014), Chesterfield > Probate Court, Estate records > 1865-1927 > image 588 of 1643; county courthouses, South Carolina, and South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.