Uncovering a Productive Paper Trail

William Walling of Keyport, Monmouth County, New Jersey died 31 July 1870.  An obituary provided an interesting tidbit that he was "the largest property holder at Keyport."

Trenton State Gazette
9 August 1870
GenealogyBank.com

Now that New Jersey probate records are readily accessed online, I have a lot of work ahead of me, sorting through his estate transactions, which took over 26 years to finalize.



Monmouth County, New Jersey
Surrogate's Proceedings Index

Also of interest was a newspaper article run just four days before William Walling died.  He was physically digging a well as he constructed a store on the corner of Broad and Front streets.

Trenton State Gazette, Trenton, New Jersey
27 July 1870
GenealogyBank.com

Wondering if the building was completed and if it still stood, I again wandered online and found the structure, called Walling Hall at some point, now housing McDonagh's Pub at 2 West Front Street, Keyport.

Keyport Online
"Village History"
Walling Hall

William Walling appears to have left behind quite a paper trail for us to follow . . .