The probate document for my paternal grandfather listed the assets in his estate. What is the total value of his estate? Let’s ponder that question.
Values for some items are listed in the probate document. Prices of asset purchases and sales during the time between his death and filing of probate document can be used to estimate other values. For example, I estimated values for livestock at this earlier post.
Here is a summary of the assets:
| livestock | 4,508 |
| oats and corn | 1,794 |
| tractors | 450 |
| tractor drawn equipment | 150 |
| horses | 400 |
| horse drawn equipment | 140 |
| other equipment | 180 |
| car | 300 |
| —– | |
| total assets, without $400 liability | 7,922 |
My estimate for the value of the individual items in his estate as listed in the probate filing are accumulated below. I’ll update this analysis later if I can get better definition for value of some assets.
| item | quantity | price | value | basis for price |
| — | — | — | — | — |
| cows | 15 | 132 | $1,980 | calc from filing |
| bull | 1 | 100 | 100 | filing |
| yearling | 14 | 47 | 658 | calc from filing |
| calves | 25 | 30 | 750 | filing |
| spring pigs | 20 | 51 | 1,020 | calc from filing |
| horses | 4 | 100 | 400 | wild guess |
| John Deere Model D tractor | 1 | 300 | 300 | filing |
| John Deere Model B tractor | 1 | 150 | 150 | guess based on D being largest in Deer lineup |
| John Deere cultivator | 1 | 50 | 50 | wild guess |
| three bottom (plow?) | 1 | 50 | 50 | wild guess |
| 2 bottom plow | 1 | 50 | 50 | wild guess |
| “other old machinery” | ??? | |||
| binder (horse drawn) | 1 | 20 | 20 | wild guess |
| disk mower (horse drawn) | 2 | 20 | 40 | wild guess |
| plows (horse drawn) | 2 | 20 | 40 | wild guess |
| stacker (horse drawn) | 1 | 20 | 20 | wild guess |
| hayrake (horse drawn) | 1 | 20 | 20 | wild guess |
| small tools | 1 | 10 | 10 | wild guess |
| elevator & hoist | 1 | 30 | 30 | wild guess |
| manure spreader | 1 | 20 | 20 | wild guess |
| wagons | 2 | 50 | 100 | wild guess |
| hay rake | 1 | 20 | 20 | wild guess |
| 1936 Ford V-8 Sedan | 1 | 300 | 300 | guess in relation to $600 sale price of truck |
| (car had heater *and* radio!) | ||||
| new hay, stacks, | 2 | ? | ??? | I have no idea |
| hay, tons | 7 | ? | ??? | I have no idea |
| household furniture | ||||
| corn, bushels | 800 | 1.24 | 992 | “Fred” database from St Louis Fed |
| oats, bushels | 1000 | 0.802 | 802 | “Fred” database from St Louis Fed |
| —- | ||||
| assets | 7,922 | |||
| liabilities | —- | |||
| administratrix fees (to Lydia) | (400) | filing | ||
| no other liabilities mentioned | – | |||
| —- | ||||
| liabilities | (400) | |||
| net worth | $7,522 |
An unknown number of chickens at an unknown price per head is not included above. Probably should include $163 on the basis that the many dozen of chicks are worth at least as much as was paid for them three months earlier. Probate filing does not give a count of the number of chicks or full grown chickens.
My goal is to eventually roll this back to the date of his death. There is a long list of assumptions I have to work through to back into those valuations.
The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank maintains a database with an astounding range of information, to include crop prices and production levels by years, going back decades and decades. That is the source of the market prices for corn and oats.
Corn prices obtained from the “Fred” database:
- June 1945 – $1.18/bushel – Wholesale Price of Corn for Chicago, Il. – https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M04005US16980M280NNBR
- April 1946 – $1.24/bushel – Wholesale Price of Corn for Chicago, Il. – https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M04005US16980M280NNBR
Oat prices:
- June 1945 – $0.711/bushel – Wholesale Price of Oats for Chicago, Il. – https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M04074US16980M261NNBR
- April 1946 – $0.802/bushel – Wholesale Price of Oats for Chicago, Il. – https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M04074US16980M261NNBR
The values above are somewhat soft, especially the various pieces of farm equipment. Here is a breakout of how the numbers were developed, which shows most of the valuation is firm, with only about $1,300 consisting of estimates or guesses:
| basis of valuations: | ||
| mentioned in filing or calculated based on specific numbers | 4,808 | 64% |
| market prices for St Louis Fed | 1,794 | 24% |
| Estimate in relation to other prices in probate filing | 450 | 6% |
| wild guesses | 870 | 12% |
| specific liability mentioned | (400) | -5% |
| —– | —– | |
| estimated value of estate at close of probate | 7,522 | 100% |