Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-16
WILLS.
Difficult Matter to Dispose of Proper
ty as Desired.

Difficult Matter to Dispose of Proper
ty as Desired.
The hour of will writing is a solemn
one. Into his will the testatOr puts
his most serious reflections, and from
| 1t we get correct insight into his
character, because it genuinely reveals
his heart and his conscience; it is the
testator himself who speaks, though he
is gone. The moving finger writes;
and, having writ, moves on; nor all
your piety nor wit shall lure it back to
cancel half a line, nor all your tears
wash out a word of it."
Our temporal possessions are but
life holdings, and the manner in which
journey reveals not only our fortunes
but our spirits in their least disguised
| forms, our motives, our principles and
| our affections.
The history of wills and their study,
showing as they do the idiosyncracies,
elevated or debased. the selfishness or
generosity of the makers, and reflect
| ing the customs and manners of the
times in which they were written, are
subjects profoundly interesting, not
| only to the lawyer, but to all laymen
Wills have been known from the ear
liest periods of human history. 1t is
claimed by learned antiquarians that
Adam, Noah and Job made testament
tary dispositions of their property.
| That the old patriarch Jacob did so
cannot be doubted, for Scripture rec
ords that Joseph received "a portion
above his brethren."' The will as we
know it is supposed to come from Ro-
man law; yet long before, in fact
thousands of years before the days
when Virgil sang, Nero fiddled and
Caesar ruled wills in written form were
known in Egypt, a part and parcel OF
| their high state Of civilization. The
laws of Persia of a similar date do not
show written wills. but they do show
laws in many respects the same as are
found in our statutes Of today. An
enterprising bank in Illinois has cop
led the two side by side with striking
effect.
Only few years ago William Mat
thew Flinders Petrie, the renowned
Psychologist, unearthed at Kahun the
earliest known written will. 1t Is dated
$500 years ago, and yet Is so curiously
modern that it might be granted pro-
bate today. BY 1t the testator settles
his property on his wife, Teta, for life,
but empowers her to dispose of it;
guardian Is appointed for the testators
infant children, and the document Is
witnessed in the manner prescribed
| by our modern forms.
Seven hundred years before Christ
| Sennacherib left a will and by 1t
passed certain bracelets, coronets and
other precious objects of gold, ivory
and precious stones deposited for safe
keeping in the Temple of Nebo."
Plato Aristotle and Petrarch left
wills of great length and of structural
and sentimental beauty, and so did
Augustus Caesar and the poet Virgil.
| The will, or a portion Of the will, Of
Columbus is preserved in Genoa. The
| will of Martin Luther is under glass
case in the Heidelberg library and can
be inspected by visitors. The will Of
Napoleon was for long time at old
Doctors Commons in London, but was
returned to the French government at
| the request of Emperor Louis Napo-
leon. The will of Shakespeare can be
seen at Somerset house, London, where
| it was brought when the Doctors
Commons was abandoned as a registry
some thirty years ago. There, too, are
the wills of Lord Nelson, IZaak Wal
ton, Edmund Burke and many other
famous men. The world has been en-
riched by their works and their wills
are in perfect harmony with their
lives.
The probate records at Washington,
| D. c., contain a rich store OF Wills OF
great Americans. A copy OF the Will
of Washington is there, the original
being on file somewhere in Virginia.
There are also the original wills Of half
dozen other presidents, to say moth
| ing of those of many famous states
men. Abraham Lincoln left an estate
exceeding in value 100000, but died
| intestate. Gen. Grant left no will and
no estate One of the most perfectly
drawn wills which has come under my
observation from legal point of view,
Is that of Paul Revere. The wills of
Daniel Webster, Thomas Jefferson,
Chief Justice Marshall, Henry Clay,
Patrick Henry, John Randolph and
Robert E. Lee are voluminous papers
and exceedingly interesting. BY these
documents the testators freed their
slaves, as did Washington by his last
will.
p. T. Barnum left large estate and
his will provides for the continuance
of the Greatest Show on Earth 1t
Is one Of the longest wills on record
and is printed in pamphlet form.
Brigham Young provided in his will
for nineteen wives and more than
twice as many children. Florence
Nightingale bequeathed her many
medals. decorations, pet cats and par
rot. She also gave her body for
anatomical uses and medical science,
declining burial in Westminster ABB
hey. Lord Nelson, by a codicil to his
,f Nf.n-