Ancient, Curious, and Famous WillsHarris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
History
Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills
Harris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
Wills
As an expression of controlling impulses and ideas, the will has ever
been associated with the home and family life. Some of the purest and
sweetest sentiments of the human heart are often contained in these
legal muniments. They are often the permanent repositories of the
loftiest feelings of conjugal and domestic affection. More than fifty
per cent of the wills made bequeath the bulk of the estate, absolutely
or for life, to the surviving spouse.
A beautiful expression of this holy sentiment of affection is found in
the will of John Starkey, probated in 1861. This testator says: “The
remainder of my wealth is vested in the affection of my dear wife, with
whom I leave it, in the good hope of resuming it more pure, bright and
precious, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where there are
no railways or monetary panics or fluctuations of exchange, but
steadfast, though progressive and unspeakable riches of glory and
immortality.”
The following is another example of solicitude for a devoted wife.
Sharon Turner, the eminent author of the “History of the Anglo-Saxons,”
dying in his eightieth year, in 1847, left this testimonial to his wife,
who had died before him: “It is my comfort to have remembered that I
have passed with her nearly forty-nine years of unabated affection and
connubial happiness, and yet she is still living, as I earnestly hope
and believe, under her Saviour’s care, in a superior state of being.” He
was anxious that her portrait, which he directed should be painted and
bequeathed, should correctly represent her. He then adds: “None of the
portraits of my beloved wife give any adequate representation of her
beautiful face, nor of the sweet and intellectual and attractive
appearance of her living features and general countenance and
character.”
KINDNESS TO WIDOWS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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