The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-03-13
CONTEST IS
NOW SETTLED
A Compromise Reached in the
Legal Suits Over Property
of Edwina W. Smith.
ESTATE GETS ABOUT $4,000

Mr.. and Mrs. Abraham J.. Adams Will
hold the Rest Under Deed of Gift
Made Previous to Mrs. smiths Death
Estate Is Estimated at About $50
900 and has Been in Litigation Two
Years. Lawyers are silent
The contest over the disposition of
the property of the late Edwina Whelp-
ley Smith has ended. settlement
was affected Monday of this week by
which securities to the amount of
about $4,000 were turned over to
the executors of the will dated Aug
ust IA, 1895, and the instrument of
that date was admitted to probate by
Judge Vreeland, presiding in Orphans
Court, after the contestants had with
drawn their formal opposition.
The Deed of Trust executed before
Mrs. Smiths death remains in force
and the grantees named therein re-
ceive the property in the schedule ex-
cept about ten thousand dollars worth
which they have turned over to the
executors, Messrs. Joseph F. Randolph
and David A. Ryerson. In other
words Mr.. and Mrs. Abraham l..
Adams retain all except about So 200
in cash, stock of the Morris & Essex
r. r. to the value of about $4,000. 3
shares of the Morristown Library and
Lyceum stock, some consolidated Roll
ing stock, valued at somewhere in the
neighborhood of about $3.50.
Under the will this property which
is valued at about $4,000 will go to
Mrs. Smiths nieces, Margaret, Louise,
Grace and Francis Smith. This is to
be divided among them under the first
clause of the will which reads as fol-
fowS:
81 give to my four nieces Margaret
VanNest Smith, Louise Edgar, Grace
Smith and Frances Smith, daughters
of my husbands brothers, DR.. Edward
ID. G. Smith and Lindon Arnold Smith.
the sum of ten thousand dollars to be
divided between them or such of them
as shall survive me-
This will probably cut off the other
beneticiaries under the win unless
some agreement was made in the
settlement which has not been made
public.
The attorneys in the case were.
Edward Q. Keasbey, ESQ, Frederick
G. Burnham, ESQ, and Henry G.
Pitney, Jr., for the caveators, and
Charles Stilwell, Jr., Charlton A.
Reed, Esq, and Robert H. McCarter,
Esq, for proponents. These gentle
men have all agreed to keep the terms
of the settlement secret and they all
decline to talk on the subject.
The estate is estimated to have been
worth about $50, 900 and if this esti-
mate is correct it would have left Mr..
and Mrs. Adams about 500, 600, less the
attorneys fees and expenses of the
suit.
Edwina Whelpley Smith died on the
1lth of February 1901. She made a
will over date of December 10, 1900, in
which she devised practically all her
estate to her friends Mr.. and Mrs
Adams. This will was successfully
contested by the deviseeS of the will
of 1895, in the local courts, but an ap-
peal was taken. Then a copy of a will
dated June %, 1896 was offered and
later the will of August IA, 1895, was
presented. 1t is this will that has
been admitted to probate and whose
provisions will be carried out so far as
the executors are able to do so.
All litigation has ceased. 1t is not
known just what disposition, if any
was made as to the Memorial Hospital
bequest of $1,000, or the All Souls one
of $500, Other bequests in the pres
ent will were as follows:
To Mrs. Louisa NJ. Sites, $4 600: to
her cousin, Mary Hickok, 81 900, Helen
Belts and Courtlandt Belts, 81 900
each; to Memorial Hospital, S5 900; w.
W. Thomas, nephew, $1,000; to her
nieces, daughters of her sister, Mrs.
Thomas, 1925 each; all the residue to
the four nieces first mentioned; her
library to Library and Lyceum and
Y, NJ G. A.