Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-12-04
Curious Wills.

AMONG the $4,000 wills annually adj
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
simply humorous, and some'are the out
coInings 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 man
ner that it amounts 10 libel, but in these
cases the court has ordered the libelous
matter to be expungcd, SO that it appears
neither in the probate nor record. Some
wills are curious in their brevity, some
from their prodigious length, some from
being in rhyme; some testators bequeath
property which they have not, in order to
enable them TO enjoy, while living, the
considerate 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 his property by deed, and after
ward gracefully gave way to his wife's
solicitations and made 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 page or
two Of their wills with an elaborate state
ment on the subject; some even think 1t
necessary TO set out their pedigrecs at full
length Some wills are curious only from
the 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 the plain way, the requirements
of the Wills act have been complied
with, make up very interesting body of
cases. In writing few articles on Gu
rious wills, we shall endeavor TO take our
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 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 tcs-
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
on his left. More frequently still, the di-
rection limits the expense OF the funeral I;
i'm 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
clean white smock-frocks, and were TO be
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 threat. In his will he
says: mo 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 decent manner
and if this be not done will come again,
that is to say, If / can" The
Countess Dowsger of Sandwich, in