“My fine crabtree walking-stick, with gold head curiously wrought in the form of the cap of liberty, I give to my friend, and the friend of mankind, General Washington. If it were a sceptre, he has merited it and would become it. It was a present to me from that excellent woman, Madame de Forbach, the Dowager Duchess of Deux Ponts, connected with some verses, which should go with it.”
“I give my gold watch to my son-in-law, Richard Bache, and also the gold watch-chain of the thirteen United States, which I have not yet worn. My time-piece that stands in my library, I give to my grandson, William Temple Franklin. I give him also my Chinese gong. To my dear old friend, Mrs. Mary Hemson, I give one of my silver tankards marked, for her use during her life, and after her decease, I give it to her daughter, Eliza. I give to her son, William Hemson, who is my godson, my new quarto Bible, Oxford edition, to be for his family Bible, and also the botanic description of the plants in the Emperor’s garden at Vienna, in folio, with colored cuts. And to her son, Thomas Hemson, I give a set of Spectators, Tatlers, and Guardians, handsomely bound.
“I give twenty guineas to my good friend and physician, Dr. John Jones.
“I request my friend, Mr. Duffield, to accept my French Wayweiser, a piece of clockwork in brass, to be fixed on the wheel of any carriage.
“My picture drawn by Martin in 1767, I give to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, if they shall be pleased to do me the honor of accepting it and placing it in their chamber.
“I give to my Executors, to be divided equally among those that act, the sum of sixty pounds sterling as some compensation for their trouble in the execution of my will.”
Will of Melville W. Fuller
The late Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller of the United States Supreme Court died at his summer home near Bar Harbor, Maine, July 4, 1910. By his last will and testament, he disposed of an estate of nearly one million dollars. The estate is to be held in trust for the daughters and the son of the Chief Justice, and their heirs. Nothing was left to charity or to parties other than the direct descendants of the testator. The will was signed at Washington, February 23, 1910. In substance it is as follows:
“I devise to the Merchants’ Loan and Trust Company and my old friend Stephen S. Gregory, or their survivors, or such successors as may be appointed for them, in case of both of them becoming unable to act, all of my property, real, personal and mixed, to be held in trust until the decease of the last survivor of my children, to pay and discharge my just debts and obligations, and to collect and to pay over the net revenue of the property in such reasonable allowances as shall from time to time be determined by them in view of the existing circumstances; but each of the children, or their children, in case of my death, shall receive finally an equal share.
“I empower my said trustees to sell any of the property, if and as deemed by them or their survivors or successors advisable, and to reinvest and hold the proceeds upon the same trust, to make and to renew loans and secure the same by trust deed or mortgages; to lease and to build or rebuild. In short, I impart to my said trustees the same powers I myself possess, subject to effectuating the foregoing trust.”