Discovery of Family Treasure in a Safe Deposit Box Part Two

Having just found on the NAUPA web site that my grandparents, who had passed away in the early 1940s, had some property held in 1999 by the state of Maryland Treasury became this great adventure for me. The very next morning after my discovery, I telephoned the Maryland Treasury and told them what I had found on their database. They solicited some information of me, how I was related and did I know what belonged to the Everharts. I told them I had no knowledge of what could be the unclaimed property.

The woman I spoke to then told me it was contents of a safe deposit box that had been turned over to the State from Nations Bank (which had earlier been Commercial Bank) of Frederick. Wow, was my mind racing, what could be in that box? So many questions and possibilities that I was on the edge of my seat.

However, the woman from the Maryland Treasury could not give me any more information on the contents. First, I would have to prove my case of ownership as the next-of-kin before the contents of that safe deposit box could be turned over to me. She would send the claim form to be filled out by me and I had to include copies of various documents (Social Security, grandparent’s death certificates, my mother’s and uncle’s death certificates and Letters of Administration for my grandparent’s estate).

Gathering all the documentation was easy since I had been previously been doing my family’s history research. The one main item missing was Letters of Administration for my grandparent’s estate. My mother did not have a copy and there was none under my name.

My next step was to contact the Clerk of the Court for Wills of Frederick County and see if such documentation could be done up for me. Copies of death certificates and birth certificates were sent to Frederick County and a letter explaining the situation in hopes of acquiring the proper forms.

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