Ancient, Curious, and Famous WillsHarris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
History
Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills
Harris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
Wills
“A clerk in a delicatessen store in a large city married a German
governess. They started a similar store of their own and lived in the
rear. The wife did the housework and the cooking and baking for the
store, and between times waited on customers. They were frugal and
prospered. After twenty years the husband died. The wife naturally
thought she was entitled to the property, at least a portion of it. But
the husband had made a will prior to his marriage, whereby he devised
his property to his brothers and sisters.”
* * * * *
“The staple argument of the opponents of equal laws for men and women is
that wives are privileged in that they can do with their own as they
like, while the husbands cannot. But is the property the husband’s any
more than the wife’s when they accumulate it jointly? Up to the
marriageable age girls earn nothing; after marriage their services
belong to their husbands. Where is the opportunity to accumulate
property which shall be their very own in the eyes of the law, with
which they may do as they like? What provision can they make for
possible incapacity and certain old age if they live?”
WILL OF A CHINAMAN
There was filed in the Surrogate’s Office of Queens County, New York, on
October 1, 1910, what the newspapers refer to as the queerest instrument
ever recorded in New York City. The testator was John Ling, a Chinaman,
of Woodbridge, New Jersey.
The original will was probated in Middlesex County, New Jersey, but as
Ling was the owner of considerable real estate in Queens County, before
settlement could be made an exemplified copy of the will had to be filed
there.
It appears that John Ling, Jr., a son of the deceased, had taken an
Irish bride, much against the will of his father. The Chinaman was
enraged, and talked long and earnestly with his son upon the subject.
But to no avail. The young man refused to leave his Irish bride. When
the old man died, he left the following will:
“First, I leave and bequeath to John Ling, my son, the sum of $1. With
the said sum of $1, or 100 cents, I wish that he would purchase a rope
strong and long enough to support his Irish wife; the said sum of $1 to
be paid six months after my decease by my wife, her heirs or executors.
“Secondly, I leave and bequeath to my wife, Mary Ling, all property,
whether in America or England, that I may be possessed of, during her
natural life; and at her death said property is to be equally divided
between Samson and Mary Ling, son and daughter of John and Mary Ling;
and should neither Samson nor Mary survive to come in possession of the
said property now belonging to John and Mary Ling, the property is then
to descend unto John Ling, the son of Joseph Ling, my nephew, now
residing in Europe, with the exception of the $1 to be paid to my son,
John Ling.”
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR A HUSBAND
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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