Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-11-28
Curious Wills.

Curious Wills.
AMONG the $4,000 wills annually ad-
mitted to probate there are every year
some which may fairly be called curious
wills"-curious from the peculiarity and
conditions of the bequests or directions.
Some of these bequests or directions are
simply humorous, and some are the out
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 man
ner that it amounts to 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 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 mis- property by deed, and after
ward gracefully gave way to his wife'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 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
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-
tions 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 men,
Der of the family. We remember one
case where the testator directed that he
should be buried in the space left 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;
| 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
clean white smock-frocks, and were to be
paid e1 each for their trouble. Mr.. Zim-
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 Dowager of Sandwich, in
her will, written by herself at the age of
eighty, proved in November 1859,
expresses her wish 'to be buried decently
and quietly-no undertaker's frauds or
cheating; no scarfs, hatbands, or nom
sense" Mrs. Kitty Jenkyn Packe 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 leaden and then in
a wooden coffin, she provides that "if l
die away from Branksome, l 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 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 cart to Branksome Tower" The
contrivance of sending her remains in a
plain deal box by goods train, so that it
will cost no more than 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
! nihed name of its destination, Branksome
Tower. Mrs. Reading seems to have con-
sidered the details of her funeral with
much minuteness; among other things
e she states ''tbe 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 not know whether they
e 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,
I 1867, thus directs as to the disposal OF his
q body: 81 do not wish to be buried.
enjoin my nephews to cause my body to
q be embalmed and placed in coffin, the
r top of which shall be glazed and not nail,
+ ed down, so that the body be not deprived
r either of air or daylight Subsequently to
:. cause it to be burned, if that can be legal
ly done" 1t could not be from motive
of economy, as the personal property IL
d England was sworn under half millior
Il sterling, and he left 100000 francs to bt
a laid out in works of beneicence and char
i ity Mr.. William Kensett, by his will
o proved in October, 1855, seems to hav'
+ been of the same opinion as the member
e ofa recently formed club, who have pledg
It ed themselves for sanitary reasons to hav'
IS their bodies burned at their deaths for h
reeites that, "believing in the impolicy O
/ interring the dead amidst the living, an'
Ie as an example TO others, l give my bod,
IS four days after death to the directors
ar the Imperial Gas Company, London, q
W be placed in one of the retorts and cor
e sumed to ashes, and that they be paid Ell
al by my executors for the trouble thls &C
III will impose ON them in so doing. Shoul
AT a defense of fanaticism and superstitlo
M prevent them granting this my request, the
ve nv executors must submit to have my n
re mains buried in the plainest manner po
e. sible in my family grave in 81. John
an Wood Cemetery, to assist in poisoning u
lv living in that neighborhood." General
" the curious wills are homemade. III
of will of Mr.. Kensett was made by soil
itor.-LOndOR Illustrated Nesoa.