The subject was intended to read: Must a grandmother name her grandchildren in her will?

Many readers will have wearied of the long Looney debate, but a point of general application has arisen. The period we are looking at is late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Is it a general principle that if a woman making a will is a grandmother, she mentions her grandchildren in it, even if she doesn’t leave anything to them, but only to her children? If so, we can conclude that if in a woman’s will no grandchildren are mentioned, she wasn’t a grandmother at the time. That would be a useful tool.

The same thing presumably applies to male testators.