“Ninth: I hereby appoint my dearly beloved wife, Margaret, Testamentary Guardian of my children, their persons and estates during minority. But should a wise Providence, through its inscrutable decrees see fit to deprive our offspring of both parents and make them orphans indeed, it is hereby delegated to my Executors who are hereby confirmed, J. Carroll Smith, Thomas Carothers, Thomas Gibbs, and Anthony M. Branch, to make such disposition in regard to their welfare as they may think best calculated to carry out the designs as expressed in this my last Will and Testament.
“Tenth: And I direct and enjoin my Executrix and Executors that after the probate and registry of this my last Will, and return of Inventory of my estate, the County or other Court of Probate, have no further control over my Executors or Testamentary Guardian or of my estate.
“Done at Huntsville the second day of April, 1863.
“Sam Houston.”
Will of Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe, poet, philanthropist and advocate of abolition and of the legal and political rights of women, died October 17, 1910, at the age of ninety-one.
The “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” her most famous creation, was written in 1861; inspired, it is said, by the sight of troops marching to the tune of “John Brown’s Body.”
Her will was filed for probate in November 1910; it is in these words:
“I, Julia Ward Howe, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, widow, do make this my last will and testament.
“I give and devise to George H. Richards, of Boston aforesaid, counsellor at law, and to his heirs, all my real estate in Tumwater, Thurston County, in the State of Washington, but in trust nevertheless, for the benefit of my grandchildren, Samuel P. Hall and Alice M. Richards and their heirs, with power to sell the same or any portion or portions thereof and to invest and re-invest the proceeds of any such sales in either real estate or personal property, and in trust to pay the net income of this trust equally to my said grandchildren or their heirs, and at the end of five years from the time of my death to sell all property, both real and personal, then held in this trust and pay over the proceeds of the same equally to my said grandchildren or their heirs, unless by their joint written request they shall name a later date for the termination of this trust.