In re the Estate of Schermerhorn

The rationale of the Surrogate’s. opinion is convincing and the result correct; and we write only to note additional factors sustaining his construction. The latent ambiguity in the devise of “ my residence” required proof of the surrounding circumstances “ to explain to what particular pieces of land the language of the will referred ” (Matter of Phipps, 214 N. Y. 378, 381, mot. for rearg. den. 215 N. Y. 652). In Phipps, the Appellate Division found that the bequest of ' ‘ my Homestead Farm ” included the tenant lands, and the Court of Appeals reversed, not only upon the intrinsic evidence…