Susan:

I recall your posting the abstract of the second Will, but NOT the images or full text.

Even if there WERE two Wills, I am NOT at all persuaded that this would reflect the existence of two separate Walter ASHMOREs in or near York and Mecklenburg (other than father and son).

A very good reason for the revocation of the second Will might be if the PRIOR Will had been previously probated in York. The idea that a person might have two extant Wills is hardly unusual and sometimes arises in respect of Will contests when the old Will is not recovered and destroyed.

I am still VERY UNCLEAR as to the underlying probate information in respect of each Will. WHEN was each Will presented and admitted to probate?

Walter ASHMORE may have written one Will in York, SC, in 1790, while seriously ill and in contemplation of death, while later preparing another different Will one or more years later. A custodian of the first Will might have presented it for probate in York, SC, EVEN IF Walter ASHMORE was then living or Walter died in Mecklenburg, NC.

Under the full faith and credit clause of the newly enacted U.S. Constitution, the Mecklenburg Court would most likely be required to defer to a prior final order of the courts in York, SC.

The Census data does NOT appear to me to support the presence of two adult Walter ASHMOREs in York and Mecklenburg. More likely, the Walter ASHMORE (b 29 Mar 1779, d 07 Mar 1833 - Greenville, SC) shown to reside in Greenville, SC, beginning 1810 is the younger son of the Walter ASHMORE who died in York with the Will dated 23 Nov 1790.

I DO NOT TRUST ABSTRACTS. SHOW ME THE OTHER WILL AND THE PROBATE INFORMATION.

I do NOT believe that this is even a close call. It would appear to me that there is only ONE adult Walter ASHMORE married to Cleranah ASHMORE. Some secondary sources have interpretted this name as Clara (or Claire) Anna.

The existance of two Wills may also reflect that Cleranah "Hannah" ASHMORE is a second wife and that a contest of sorts developed between the elder children of the first wife and their stepmother.

I spent a little time looking over some of the post secondary trees which include Walter ASHMORE and these appear to me to be littlered with garbage. YOU have identified a number of very useful PRIMARY RECORDS. The IMAGES of the original records are far more trustworthy than the abstracts. And the abstracts are more trustworthy by far than the unsourced speculative information posted in the various ASHMORE trees.

Two Wills absolutely does NOT PROVE the existence of two different Walter ASHMORE ancestors, particularly where the probabte of one of these Wills was later expressly REVOKED.

It may also be that Hannah relocated to Mecklenburg, NC, after Walter ASHMORE's death (even if that involved merely moving to the opposite side of the wagon road which formed the state boundary in the vicinity of Jesse ROPER's Lancaster, SC, land. Since Cleranah ASHMORE was named in the original Will as executrix, with the probate of that Will, she would have been in control of ALL of Walter ASHMORE's personal property. If Cleranah "Hannah" ASHMORE failed to make a timely distribution, this might have been the subject of some future contention. Hannah ROPER may have then presented the later Will for probate in Mecklenburg, hoping to improve her leverage. Since she would have had a duty to bring forward that Will in the York, SC, proceeding, any failure to timely do so would probably operate as a bar to the admission of the other Will to probate. Depending upon Hannah's level of literacy and sophistication and whether the original Will was presented to the York Court by Cleranah ASHMORE or someone else, she might not have even been fully aware of the York probate proceedings!

The bottom line is that I have exceptionally grave doubts about assuming the existence of two separate Walter ASHMOREs (other than the father and his minor son who later died in Greenville). I would encourage you to reread your own posted data with greater skepticism!

To the extent that you think you can make out a persuasive case that there were two different Walter ASHMOREs who died in close proximity as to both time and place, I would encourage you to pull together that argument in a single cohesive post, because my reading of your posted data just doesn't support this interpretation!