The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-12-13

NEW YORK, November 2S.-Behin1
a somewhat dry inq quiry to establish
what relatives will secure the estate
of the late Mrs. Katharine l.. You-
mans, which was heard before the
Surrogate's assistant, Underhill, to-
day, there Is very interesting story
of the lost will Of that famous old Ia
dy, who had been prominent in socie-
ty and literary circles of this city for
many years previous to her death,
August 29th last.
That she made will all her nearest
friends are convinced, but it cannot
be found, and since her death James
L. Newton and Lucy Ladd, both
more than eighty years old, have
come forward from Ohio with a claim
that they are the uncle and aunt, re-
spectively, of Mrs. Youmans, and
therefore entitled to her property in
place of about forty second cousins
who would otherwise benefit by her
demise, providing will be not dis
covered. The uncle and aunt admit
that they had not seen or communi-
Gated with Mrs. Youmans for more
than fifty years.
Mrs. Youmans had a handsome
apartment in the Knickerbocker
apartment house on Fifth avenue,
which was filled with beautiful and
costly antique furniture worth proba-
bly, 10000, and besides that she had
large estate consisting of several hun
dred thousands of dollars.
yEIrr No CuTrnpEN
She was about seventy-five years
| old and left no children or near rela-
tives surviving her. 1t is believed
| that in her will she made large public
| bequests to charitable institutions in
| and about New York, but just where
| she put her will and private papers is
not known.
Mrs. Youman's property consisted
| largely of sugar plantations and es-
tates on the Sandwich Islands, her
| ownership of which is invested in a
romance of her youth. An early
sweetheart, William Lee, wrote to her
from Boston fifty years ago asking
her hand in marriage and saying that
he would sail for Honolulu if her an
swer did not reach him at certain
date. His letter was not received by
| the young girl until after Lee had
sailed, but found her as greatly inter
ested in him as Lee had been in her.
She followed him around the horn
| with company of missionaries, hav-
ing written him by an intermediate
sailing vessel that she would come to
him, and asking him that he meet her
in Honolulu harbor with a minister if
he had not meanwhile changed his
| mind.
HE WAS WAITING.
When her ship arrived at the Sand
wich Islands, there was Lee with the
dominic, and the couple were married
aboard ship. Lee became chancellor
of the island government, and at his
death, fifteen years later, he left his
widow property enough to make her
wealthy. After her return to America
she met and married Professor Edward
Livingstone Youmans, who died in
1887.
Mrs. Youmans was q woman of very
rare abilities, of wide and intelligent
interest in the important movements
of the age. 1t was said of her that
she was a chief factor in securing to
the Sandwich Islands the clause in the
tariff laws admitting sugar from those
islands free of duty. Her literary tai
ents were of high order.
Mrs. Youmans had repeatedly told
Mary Mapes Dodge that she had no
relatives in whom she had the slight
est interest and no near relatives OF
any kind.