Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-12-04
Curious Wills.

AMONG tlC SCxUoo Wills duludIV Au-
mitted to probate there are every year
some which may fairly be called curious
~wills"-curious from the popularity and
conditions of the requests or directions,
Some of these requests or directions are
comings of the affections or antipathies
of the testator. 1t has happened that a
testator has set out in his will his opinion
about some one else in so strong a man
ner that it amounts to a libel, but in these
cases the court has ordered the libelous
matter to be expunged, so that it appears
neither in the probate nor record. Some
wills are curious in their brevity, some
from their p%rodigious length, some from
being in rhyme; some testators beuueath
property which they have not, in order to
enable them to enjoy, while living, the
c%onsiderate attentions of the expectant
legatees. A Welsh gentleman, for the
reason, as recited, that he might give way
to the unfair opportunities of his wife,
secretly assigned, subject to his life in
%terest, all MS property by deed, and after
ward gracefully gave way to his wifc's
solicitations and made a will in her favor,
which of course at his death turned out
imperative. There are testatOrs who
think it necessary that posterity should
not be in any doubt as to their religious
belief, and accordingly occupy a page or
two of their wills with an elaborate state
ment on the subject; some even think it
necessary to set out their pedigrees at full
length. Some wills are curious only from
them method or arrangement of the paper
or The document they are written on, and
require an inspection to appreciate
their peculiarly. The many in
genious ways in which, neglect
ing he plain way, the requirements
of the Wills act have been complied
with, make up d very interesting body Of
cases. In writing a few articles on GU
rlous wills, we shall endeavor to take u
illustrations from the records of the last
twenty or thirty years, and, as far as
possible, to classify them; many, how-
ever, defy classification, and will in this
have to form a class by themselves. There
are few wills made without some direc-
tons being given either as to the place or
the manner OF burial; frequently the tes-
tatOr desires to be buried in the same
grave with his wife or some other mem
Der of the family. We remember one
case where the testator directed that he
should be buried in the space lett for that
purpose between the graves Of his first
and second wives, so that he should lie
with one on his right hand and the other
OF his left. More frequently still, the di-
reCtion limits the expense of the funeral !;
in some cases no carriages are to be used :;
in others the body is to be carried to the
grave by persons employed on the estate
of the deceased in one instance the per
sons So to be employed were laborers, and
they were required on the occasion to wear
clpaD white CmDck- frackc and wore IN he
paid 81 each for their trouble. Mr.. Zim-
norman, whose will was proved in 1910,
accompanied the directions for his fune-
raj, in case they were not carried out, with
something like a threat. In his will he
says: No person is to attend my corpse to
the grave, nor is any funeral bell to be
rung, and my desire is to be buried
plainly, but in a decent manner;
and if this be not done | will cOme again,
that IS to say, If l can" The
Countess Dowager Of Sandwich, in
her will, written by herself at the age of
eighty, proved in November 1862,
expresses her wish "tO be buried decently
and quietly-n" undertaker's frauds or
cheating: no scarts, hatbands, or nOn-
sense" Mrs. Kitty Jcnkyn Packc Read
ing, although evidently possessed of suffi
cient means, appears by her will, proved
in April, 1870, to have been very anxious
that one part at least of the expenses
attending her funeral should be kept as
low as possible. After saying that she is
to be placed first in a leaden and then in
a wooden coffin, she provides that "if |
die away from Branksome, | wish my
remains, after being duly placed in the
proper collins, to be inclosed in a plain
deal box, SO that no one may know the
contents, and conveyed by a goods train
to Poole, which will cost no more than
any other package, of the same weight;
from Poole Station said box to be convey
ed in a cart to Branksome Tower" The
continuance of sending her remains in a
plain deal box by a goods train, so that it
will cost no more thar any other package
of the same weight, and said box" after
ward to be conveyed in a cart, sounds
rather oddly in connection with the dig
nitied name of its destination, Branksome
Tower. Mrs. Reading seems to have on
sidered the details of her funeral with
much minuteness; among other things
she states the easiest way to convey my
coffin Out of the house will be to take the
window out of the dining room" Some
peOple-we do 10 know whether they
would rather not die-certainly would
rather not be buried. Mr.. J. l.. Greffulhe,
Of Winchester street and COrnhill, mer-
chant, whose will was proved in October,
1861, thus directs as to the disposal of his
body: II do not wish to be buried. |
enjOin my nephews to cause my body to
be embalmed and placed in a coffin, the
top of which shall be glazed and not nail
ed down, so that the body be not deprived
either of air or daylight. Subsequently TO
cause it to be burned, if that can be legal
ly done" 1t could not be from a motive
OF economy, as the personal property in
England was sworn under half a million
sterling, and he left 400, 900 francs to be
laid out in works of beneticenCe and char
ity. Mr.. William kensett, by his will,
proved in October, 1866, seems to have
been Of the same opinion as the members
ola recently formed club, who have pledg-
ed themselves for sanitary reasons to have
their bodies burned at their deaths for he
recites that, "~believing in the impolicy OF
interring the dead amidst the living, and
as an example to others, | give my body
four days after death to the directors of
the Imperial Gas Company, London, to
be placed in one of the efforts and con
sumed to ashes, and that they be paid $40
by my executors for the trouble this act
will impose on them in so doing. Should
a defense of fanaticism and superstition
prevent them granting this my request, then
my executors must submit to have my re-
mains buried in the plainest manner pos
sible in my family grave in St. Johns
Wood Cemetery, to assist in poisoning the