The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-07-04
MANYTALESTOLD
OF HETTY GREEN
Said To Have Been Closest Wo-
man In Whole United
States
( Concluded from Page "

O'''S'u''h lIbHn rage L
Mrs. Andradc and Mrs Dow are the
daughters of Henry Stoddard Rowland
who came here in the early half of tho
last century, as a whaling captain. and
became port pilot for Honolulu, under
the monarchy, Captain Rowland. al
all old-timers here know, accumulated
considerable property, but was compel
led to dispose of much of it before hi,
death, owing to the continued i'll health
that pursued him for years before he
died.
Cousin Of Hetty Green
He was cousin of Hctty Green. and
also cousin of Sylvia Ann Howland
the heiress of Gideon Rowland. Sylvia
| Ann HOwland of New Bedford, Con
necticut, although of feeble health. was
shrewd business women, and is said
to have added materially to the estate
left her by Gideon Rowland. When she
died there was considerable litigation
over her estate, which was claimed by
Hetty Green, niece, who had lived
with Miss Rowland for years, and who
was herself the hcircss of an estate
left by her father.
The income of the Sylvia Ann How.
land estates was left in her will ia
Hetty Green during the lifetime of the
famous woman fnancier, and after her
death was to be divided among the
living Hneal descendants of Gideon
Rowland.
Only Lineal Descendants
my wife, Mrs. Dow and Frank
Rowland are the only lineal descend
ants Of Gideon Rowland, so far as !
know" said Mr.. Andrade yesterda y
afternoon, "and do not know what
effect the death of Hetty Green is 90.
ing to have on them. l know absolute.
ly nothing about the estate Of Gideon
Rowland, whether it is large or small
1t may be either, for | have heard re.
ports of its being both The matter
undoubtedly. win be decided by the
courts in the East when the estate of
Hetty Green is settled"
In The Friend of May, 1871, is given
this account of the Rowland will case
Knowing how essentially many of
our readers among 'whalemen have con.
t1bpted to enrich the Rowland family
OtIES~ Bedford, and amass the i'm
meHke wealth about which there has
been so much litigation, we publish the
following report Of the trial. 1t must
be remembered, However, that the final
decision was made In such a manner
that the will was allowed to stand
good.
Story of the Trial
GGHaft,r II ID ol,AkaonA A.
ter of New Yorker, Edward Mott
Robinson, and of Abby Rowland, his
wife. She lived with her aunt, Sylvia
Ann Rowland, in New Bedford, and
was estranged from her father Ed,
ward Mott Robinson died worth nearly
six millions, all Of which his daughter
inherited.
'Sylyia Ann Rowland, the aunt, was
an old and feeble woman, childless, of
simple habits, and living retired life.
She died some time after Hetty' 3 faith
err, worth over two millions.
Hetty Robinson was her chief com
panion in her later years; and when the
old lady died a will was found dated
in 1865, giving about one. half of her
estate to charity and the income of the
remainder to her niece.
Produces Another viii
H3reupOn Hrtty Robinson produced
another will, which gave her the whole
estate, and asserted her claims before
the courts of law. Her story was that
she and the old lady, her aunt, had
exchanged Wills each agreeing to be-
qucath to the other all her property
that this was done before the death
Of Mott Robinson, at the instance Of
the old lady, who did not like Hetty $
father; and that it was condition
Of this exchange of wills that neither
should alter the testamentary DISPOSE
ton without notice to the other.
"NOw the opponents of Hetty Rob
insOn's claims disputed the genuincss
of one of the signatures in this will
that on the second page, which was
in fact a fly leaf.
Charge signature Forged
at is an ugly word, but the fact
is, they charged that Sylvia Ann How
land S signature on the two copies pro-
duced of this second page were forged.
Sixteen witnesses, all experts, some
chemists and microscopists of renown,
and all men of high character, united
in the assertion that the signatures
were forged.
"Other experts believed the sigma
lures genuine. Is it wonderful that
the court, puzzled, no doubt, and hope
less to come to any reasonable decision
on this point, decided the case upon
another and minor point, not at all
connected with the authenticity of the
willt Being human, court of Justice
could scarcely do otherwise"