The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-06
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.
The Wealthiest Widow in America.
From the Philddelphta Press


New York, July 2S,-There ie a wealthy
New York widow who has church and
chaplain of her own. She Is Mrs Moses
Taylor. The church was built by her at
Lorg Branch at a cost of about $40, 600 1t
is Presbyterian, and there is a nominal
board of trustees, but Mrs. Taylor paid
every dollar of ths cost, and is the owner
outright 1t is all ornate edifice, and one of
its features is a memorial stained glass
window inscribed to her dead hus-
band. BLESSED are they that die in
the Lord" it says. The sinner might add
that those are considerably blest who live
poSsessors of the enormous wealth accumu-
lated by Moses Taylor. He was rather
loose and luxurious in his earthly methods
of blessedne's, but he professed christianity
little while before he died, and so the wit
ness of the window is not to be impeached.
Mrs. Taylors chaplain ls the Rev. l. II.
Young, who conducts the services in the
church during the summer months, but is
at her command the year round, for she
pays his salary of $500 out of her own
pocket.
This religious, benevolent and amiable
lady does not put on airs over being the
richest widow in America. Tho fact is that
she and everybody else were astonished by
the amount CT fortune left to her. One of
the executors of the will has been telling
me about it, That document did not
enumerate the testator's possessions, but
merely Jumped the personal property, ICON
sisting of bouds, stocks, and other securi-
ties" The general impression had been
that Taylor was worth flfte- n to twenty
millions. He had made great property by
importing foreign goods II his own ships, but
as to his investments he had never been
communicative. On an appointed day the
widow and the executors opened the doors
of the particularly solid vault which the
old man had built into his office. This
structure was of bank like invulnerability.
and the investigators expected to find the
proofs of ownership to the extent of many
millions in it, But they were not prepared
for what they found.
HOARD OF FORTY MILLIONS.
The innermost compartment was large
enough to hold certificates of stock and the
like securities without folding. There was
high stack of these papers, lying neatly
atop of one another, unwrinkled and I'M
creased. They represented Taylor's invest
meuts in hundreds of railroads, banks, in
suranco companies, and all manner of the
soundest financial ventures "he amazed
finders of this store of wealth handled
them over In half-dazed way for an
hour or two. Then they set about making
an inventory. When they came to add
the totals it was seen that the market value
of the To- was about $50, 000, coo, and when
other property was addict to this the aggre-
gate reached $40, 100000, or more than
double the current estimate. Taylor had
disliked to figure as superlatively rich
man, and therefore, without any of the
miser's instinct, had concealed the facts
from even his most intimate friends As
to the widow aud heircss, she denies herself
nothing that her fancy demands, but she Is
as unostentatious ms her late husband, and
her indulgence in church and chaplain of
her own constitutes her one remarkable
within of extravaganza.