The herald., 1893-01-23
WILLS OF RICH MEN.
HOW SEVERAL WEALTHY MEN DIS
POSED OF THEIR ESTATES.

MN other BeqUests.
The small bequests by Jay Gould to
his brc iiier and sister call attention anew
10 the fact that the financial results of
tne creation of a fortune in a family are
Spt TO be small to the collateral branches
anu heavy to the direct line of issue.
lhe wills of the heads of the Astor
ta'nlly do not point moral in this re-
spe"t, because the family has followed a
rule designed for the perpetuation Of "a
great family estate in two parcels. Side
requests, if considerable, would have
prevented the execution OF this plan
The distribution of the late Samuel j.
lilden's fortune is not illustrative of the
common custom, because he was bach
elor
A. I. Stewart, the great merchant
prince. made simple will. In the sec
ond paragraph of the document opened
after his death in 1916 he wrote simply
"All my property and estate of every
kind and description and wherever sit
mated give, devise and begueath to my
dear wife, Cornolia n. Stewart, her
heirs and assigns forever" In the next
paragraph he appointed Henry Hilton to
manage. close and wind up his partner
ship business and affairs. He made ex-
Judge Hilton, the widow and William
Libbey his executors and he bequoathed
to Mr.. Hilton the sum of $1,000, 600 las
mark Of regard"
In Il codicil to the will he bequeathed
various Sums of from $2000 to $500 to
an many faithful employees in his bust
ness and other sums of $4,000 to $500 to
seven household servants. To two sis
ters named Marion, at whose fathers
house and hands he had enjoyed hospital
ity. he gave $i2 900 year and house in
this city. To Henry Hilton's wife he
gave $1,000. In a second codicil he gave
$4,000 each to four persons of the name
of Clinch. who We're relatives of his wife
TO two of whom he gave house in town,
and to Sarah Smith and her daughter he
gave 10000 each He willed that all
8 persons who he'd remained IN his employ
during twenty years should have 81 900,
and all who had worked for him ten
years $500 letter to his wife accom-
panied the will. and in that he said that
ne hoped to live to carry OFT his charita-
BILE schemes. but il he died before doing
no hs would depend on her to do so with
the advice and assistance OF their friend,
Henry Hilton
Mr.. Stewart had no children If he
had no relatives cither. his will is not d
case in point Blt. on the other hand, il
1t is true. as many claimants assert, that
he had a number of cousins and other
lii d., e |.
OF them or refusal to benefit them is re-
markably opposite.
Commodore Vanderbilt, who died in
January, 1877. made many bequests to
Others than his children. To his wife he
gave $500, 900 ard all the contents of his
house in Washington place, the use Of
which was hers for life. To his brother.
Jacob Fl. Vanderbilt. he gave 100000
To his sister Phoebe he gave 81 200 year
daring her life To his nieces and saeph,,
ews he gave various sutils, ranging
from 100000 and $4,000 down to $500
and 5000 year. But he gave one grand
nephew $25 900 and another SEQ, ,000 His
doctor got $4,000, and a faithful old
clerk got 100000. To an uncle he gave
5000. and the wife of nephew re-
ceived 500 GOO.
When he came to consider his children
The situation was altered. To William
f., his eldest son. he handed down the
bulk of his magnificent property. the
value of this gift being estimated at $780,
o00.O00. The whole property had been
considered as worth Sl05. 100000. and of
the sl5,000,0 000 that William FL did not
get one-half went to Williams sons. the
Oldest one Cornelius, getting greatly the
largest share. He seemed thus to indi-
cate a belief that young Cornelius. who
had already shown ability as financier,
would become the head of the house in
the third generation.
To his own less worthy son Cornelius
he gave merely the interest on $500. 600
He divided 81 ,250, 900 equally among five
daughters, and two of these he further
enriched, the one with the interest on
$500. and the other with the interest
on $300.000 Enriched is scarcely the
term to use, for it was evident that he
intended only to insure to each OF them
the comforts of a competency.
When it came time to open the will of
w Viii"iil Ia fuiiucl piit IL WtS tpiuN Iilstt
he had given to a nephew, w. V. Kissam,
$3o.0o to his uncle Jacob the dividends
on l.0D0 shares of New York Central; to
his aunt Phoebe and to each of twelve
other relatives annuities of 81 900 The
great bulk Of the increased estate went
to the children. There were eight of
them. and each got $5.000,0OO outright,
together with the interest dnrinp life
on another S5,000,000, the eighth part of
trust fund of SIC. 100000 The prin-
cipal in this legacy was to 70 to his
grandchildren whsn his children died
To his eldest son, Cornelius he gave an
additional So 600 900 outright and to his
favorite grandson, William f.. the son
OF Cornelius, he gave 81 900, 600 outright
The youngest son, George. was to have
the family mansion and works of art
when his mother should die To his own
widow he left a yearly allowance Of
$9O0,0O0 and the right to give away
$500 0CO howsoever or to whonsoever she
pleased. To each of his four daughters
he gave the house in which she was liy-
ing when he died. Having thus disposed
OF only about half of this great property,
which was said to be sufficient to give
four dollars to every man, woman and
child III the country, Mr. Vanderbilt gave
the rest to his first and second sons. Cor
nelius end William K, or about $50, ,000,-