Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-11-06
A $1,OOO,OOO Estate
ONE HALF ITS INCOME
WILLED TO BRATTLEBORO,
A Chapter Of Interesting Facts Never
before Printed,
Which Have Been Run Down and Col
lated by Phoenix soribes.
An Income Of s2o, 900 a Year would not
be Bad Thing to Have

An Income Of S2o, 900 Year would not
be a Bad Thing to Have.
1t is singular fact that for almost %
/ years a will has been on record in the pro
bate offices Of both New York and Boston,
which gives TO the town of Brattleboro on
the death of the testators wife one-half
the income of an estate valued at nearly
81, 900, 600. without the people Of Brattle-
boro being aware that such will existed.
But fact it is, nevertheless The will is
that Of Thomas Thompson, a Boston gen
temaD of wealth and cultivation, who
died in New York city in 1869, giving be-
quests or legacies to various family rela-
tives, and leaving the income Of the estate
to the use of his wife during her lifetime.
On her death the income of the estate is
to go, one-half towards the relief and
support of poor seamstresses, needle wOm-
en- and shop girls in Brattleboro,' and one
half for similar persons in the town of
Rhnebeck-on-the-Hu n. Y. The on
ly public reference ever made to this will.
so far as can be ascertaned, was contained
in a paragraph printed in the Boston
| Transcript at the time of Mr.. Thompson's
death, and copied at that time into The
Phoenix. Little or no importance seems
to have been attached TO the publication at
the time, and no investigation was ever
made to learn the facts about the will. its
actual terms, and the prospects of the legacy
until The Phoenix took up the work a few
weeks ago. Whether the terms of the will
were made so definite that Brattleboro and
Rhinebeck will receive the munifcent in
come which it was the purpose Of the tes-
tator to give them cannot be known until
the affairs of the great estate are brought
to final settlement after the death of the
testator's wife. The story, however. is
full of interest, and is here told in detail
as gathered after a careful and extended
investigation.
Attention was first called to the matter
by the publication in one of the monthly
magazines of an article by Frances Z. Will
lard, the well-known temperance writer
and speaker, on Elizabeth Thompson, the
philanthropist. That portion of the ar
ticle which is of immediate local interest
was the following:
Miss NilIArd's Article on Mrs. IhOmp-
"She Mrs. thompson told Inc her history,
Her maiden name Rowel. She was born
in Vermont, in Caledonia. the same county that
| was the native home Of both my parents She
| was Of sturdy stock, the daughter Of a farm
] horn "a hpu. bp
| with an honest father of good habits and good
life, but not, l judge. Of high spirituality: and
| with a mother who must have been a saint. ac-
] cpriing to her daughters definition a woman of
the deepest and most iutuitive nature. in whom
/ the spiritualities welied up Of their own sweet
| will nor needed to b. supernduced by study,
culture, observation, any outside help: her body
soul and spirit being tn. home of the Spirit Of
God. She had many children and a hard life
! E.zlb-th told me that she could never put int o
words the pity, the compassion, the tenderness
she felt toward her mother. and from this fotnt-
| ain had flowed all those tides Of a larger sympa-
thy that has siuce gone almost to the ends of the
earth Her mother was beautiful in body as well
as in soul and htqueathed her nature and gifts
both interior and exterior 70 her daughter Eliza
beth.
Il do not know just how il came about but
| Boston gentleman of the highest culture grad
uate Of Harvard university in the same class with
| George Bancroft and Others of our most distin-
| guiShrd men, "A bachelor who was living with his
mother and sisters at the Hub was travelling
| through Vermont on pleasure trip one summer
and III some casual way, as we are wont to call it,
| met Elizabeth, who was, judge, enough younger
than he 10 have been his daughter l suppose
| that her great beauty and earnestness of nature
| attracted him. Some months after they met at a
concert in Boston, to which she had been escorted
by her uncle whom she was visiting From that
time their acquaintance and friendship went on
until they were married, not, as judge, with the
approval OF the aristocratic ladies in his home,
but at least without any revolt on their part
once, not many years before Mr. Thompson's
death, when they were summering in Brattleboro
that gem of town embosomed in hills he came
to her one evening with a formidable document
and said, Elizabeth, have made my will and be-
queathed every cent have in the world to you
she said: oh, why did you do that am not
wise in worldly ways. should not know how to
! expend it as you would have wished. should be
the prey Of the designing, and should be caught
in the meshes Of the law
In what way would you like, them to have me
change my wills he said, 'forall have must 90 TO
you
''She looked out over the lovely evening land
s,ape and into the calm heavens, then down upon
this manufacturing town where there was so much
misery, and said: Perhaps l can use it for the
S''N VI humanity WINE dlil awe, Out TO
final use am not willing to have the responsible
ty. Can You not leave it for my benefit during life
and say that at my death one-half of it must go
| TO the poor women of Bratteboro, and the other
half 20 the poor women of Rhinebeck on the Hud.
son, where we have often stayedg
He said very little to her but when, a few
years after his generous heart had ceased To beat
the viii was found to be drawn just as she had de-
sired it. And so she became a widow at about 80
years of age, with fortune whose annual income
was about $4,000. She would never touch the
principal and her tastes were very simple Soci-
ETY. had no attractions for her, and her dress was
always Of the painest though in good taste
''She managed her own business affairs, and be
came quite notable business woman Her check
I book was her fairy wand, and have been told
that at the close of every month she had drawn
out the entire instalment for that period often 90
ing beyond it. When the paTalytic stroke came
! upon her and others took her business in hand il
was found that there were % families in a New
England town where she was then living, entirely
dependent upon her bounty"
When this article came to the attention
of The Phoenix an investigation was
promptly begun. The first clue was found
by consulting Appletons Cyclopedia of
American Biography, where the following
sketch of Mr.. Thompson is given:
Thomas Thompson, philanthropist, born in
Boston Mass August s7, l79s; died in New York