Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-04-28
HETTY GREENS FORTUNE.

Peculiar WIN Provision under which
over SI,OOO.OOO VIII go TO Hundreds
OF Members of the Rowland Family.
great many people, scattered all over
this country, will be better off in this worlds
goods when lletty Green dies, IIetty
Green, who is a descendant of the famous
Rowland family of New Bedford, had a
maiden aunt, Sylvia Ann Rowland, who
died generation ago, leaving an estate
valued at several millions of dollars. Hetty
was the only heir and naturally expected
the fortune to pass to herself. She was sur
prised and so was all New Bedford when
it was learned that Sylvia Ann Rowland,
who had never been noted for her chart
ties or liberality, had made a will filled
with public requests and providing for the
distribution OF large legacies among her
friends and family servants, her physician
and the trustees and executors under the
will being especially well remembered
The residuary estate, in those days val
ued at about 81 900, 00O was bequeathed
to Hetty Green in trust. She was to en-
JOY the income thereof during her lifetime,
and upon her death it was to be divided
among the lineal descendants OF Hetty's
great-grandfather
Whatever induced Sylvia Ann Rowland
to make such will is only a matter of
conjecture. Hetty Green, of course, laid
1t to the undue influence of those about
the old lady at the time. Meeting form
er acquaintance when on 4 visit to New
Bedford not long ago Mrs. Green asked:
did you get legacy under my Aunt
| Sylvia AIMS will?"
"No, Mrs. Green. Why should -"
"Well, didn't know but what you hap
| pened to pass the house the afternoon they
made the will and some of them were look
| ing out of the window
Mrs. Green contested her aunt's will to
the bitter end, and lost. 1t was a famous
legal battle and cost both sides Sl75, 600.
Gideon Rowland, whose descendants are
to profit by the death of Hetty Green, was
born in 1874 and died in 1928. As he had
a comfortable little family of IL children
to start with, it will he seen that in 1865,
when Sylvia Ann Rowland died, his line
must have numbered several hundred, and
by this time ii has undoubtedly reached
several thousand, into the fifth and sixth
| generations,
1t will readily be seen that with a small
army of descendants, widely scattered, the
task of keeping track of them is difficult
One James Henry Richmond, now dead,
some years ago offered for sale what he
claimed was a complete list, for $1,000, but
the trustees declined to purchase. The
| present trustees, one Of whom is Mrs
Green's son Edward, have no full and ac-
curate record. The only complete and up
to-date list is one compiled by Ellis L.
Rowland, a newspaper man of New Bed
ford, who was the greater part of two
years in collecting and arranging the ma
terial Mrs. Green became aware of the
existence of this list and sent an emissary
TO Mr.. Rowland to secure it. The attempt
was failure, as the gentleman had COM
piled his genealogy with another purpose
in view. What Mrs. Green wanted of it
is a subject of conjecture,
Among the heirs are the four children
of Nathaniel Parker Willis, one of Amer
ica's poets, and in the same branch of the
family are descendants of that Grinnell
who fitted out DR., Kane's Arctic eXpedi-
ton. Admiral William Fitzhead Buxton
of the British navy also married a How
land heir and his four sons, now of the
royal navy, will be among the claimants.
In Holland and Belgium others will be
found, and in Hawaii are some who mar
ried into the royal family, so that the
name Liliuokalani is to be found among
the nomenclature of Hetty Green's cous-
ms. One of the latest arrivals on the field
is the child of Lieut.. David II. Jarvis, late
of the revenue cutter Bear, born two days
before he left to face the perils of the re-
lief expedition which went to the succor
of the New Bedford whaleships imprson-
| ed in the Arctic ice packs.