The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-07-10
Asa Packers Beirs.

ue only contingency writes q BETH
lehem correspondent Of the Philadelphia
Press, by which the Lehigh Universit
can lose the S0,0O0,OOO to $40, 100000
endowment and ST. Luke's Hospital
Bethlehem, the 81 900, 600 to S2,OO0,O0
legacy from the Packer estate is tn
. birth of an heir. This possibility ha
been quietly talked about the past week
, The whisper was that the late Asi
Packers only surviving child, now Mrs
J Charles H. Cummings, of New Yorl
City, expects shortly to give birth to al
heir to the great Packer estates. Sucl
an event has been wholly unlocked for
The trustees Of the University, with {
copy of Judge Packers will locked NJ
In their vaults, have passed their soul
with patience and looked forward to the
day when their institution should be a,
rich as any seat of learning In the land
and free to ambitious youths who should
succeed In passing the necessary pre-
llmlnarv examination. ....
THE HEIRS OF ASA PACKER.
When Asa Packer died, on May IT,
1879, his wife, his two sons. Robert A
and Harry E. Packer, and his daughter,
Mary Hannah Packer, were still living
First Mrs. Packer died and then the
boys followed in quick succession, leav.
ing Miss Packer to inkerit, the entire
fortune, oyer -one-half of which is en-.
tailed.
Miss Packer was then on the shady
side of 40 years of age, and it was not
deemed likely that she would ever marry,
more especially as her brother Harry
had strenuously opposed her wedding
Mr.. Cummings, Lehigh Valley Rail.
road employe, who had been paying hel
some attention. Even after her mar
riage the residuary legatees were not
disturbed. The contingency of an heir
was as remote as to receive little con-
sideiation, and that the money would
ultimately come to the University and
the Hospital was thought to be next to
certain.
The will of the late Judge Packer was
very voluminous document. The de-
ceased had come to Pennsylvania from
Connecticut on foot in 1923, and he had
found here fortune. 1t was no won-
der, therefore, that having acquired this
wealth by hard labor energy and perse-
yerance, he should be careful in the dis
position of it.
THE COLOSSAL ESTATE.
He first named five trustees-hls two
sons, Elisha p. Wilson and Robert H.
Sayre, of Bethlehem, and the President
of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company,
which road he built and of which he
was the largest stockholder. Every bit
of his property was left to them in trust,
though he stipulated that they should
give to his wife whatever amount she
sheuld select, TO be hers absolutely
His Mauch Chunk mansion was left for
the use of his children, but at their death
and the death of their heirs It was TO 90
back to the trustees. TO the Philadel-
phia Divinity School he left $50, 800 and
to the st. Marks Protestant Episcopal
Church, Mauch Chunk, like amount.
To the Lehigh University he bequeathed
$1,000, 900; to the Lucy Packer Linder-
man Library. a, memorial erection on
the University grounds to his deceased
daughter, S500,000, and to the st. Luke's
Hospital, Bethlehem, 100000.
To each of,his three chlldien he left
an income of $4,000 annually and
provision that the residue of his estate,
after paying number of private be-
quests, be divided equally between
them. Each was permitted to dispose
of one-half his or her share by will, but
the other half was to be retained at the
death of the last survivor by the trus-
tees, who should divide the estate then
in their bands into three equal parts,
giving one. third to the children of
Judge Packers daughter, the late Mrs.
Lindermann; one to his nephews and
nieces, and the other TO the Lehigh
University and st. Luke's Hospital,
Bethlehem, in the proportion of his
previous bequests to those institutions.
1t is estimated that this one third, had
Mary Packer Cummings died childless,
would have amounted to $4,000, 900 or
S9,0O0,00O.
Judge Packers son Robert was twice
married, but never had any children.
Harry Packer also died childless, and
If his sister had followed his advice she
would meyer have married, and the Uni
versity's rich endowment would have
been certainty.
Mr.. Cummings, however, who was at
one time conductor on the Lehigh
Valley Railroad, and who worked his
way up from that post to the position
he now occupies of general Eastern pas
senger agent, with an office in New
York, met with favor in Miss Packers
ewes, and about eighteen months ago
she became his wife.
An effort was made to oust Mr.. Cum
mings from his place some months be-
fore his engagement to Miss Packer was
announced, but she asserted her author
y, and as the controlling power in the
Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, her
word was law. r-, s:E
Mrs. Cummings is now erecting
handsome chapel In the University
grounds as a memorial TO the deceased
members of her family.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEsT.
l.. -