Miller v. Ford

The controversy 'in this case arises over the purported nuncupative will of E. M. Russell, deceased; and a trial was had in the circuit court of Washington county on the issue of devisavit vel non. The proponents were successful in the lower court and the contestants have appealed. The amount of personal property involved is $2,000.

The deceased, R. M. Russell, was a federal soldier in the war between the States, commanding as captain a company of New York negro troops. He was a man of fine physique, intelligent and of high integrity; he had no immediate family and spent the greater part of…