Merriam v. Wolcott
New York Supreme Court
This action was commenced to obtain the construction, by. this court, of the will of the late George P. Wolcott. The plaintiff -was his daughter and was married to Henry H. Herriam in 1874, who left her and finally separated from her in June, 1878. While they lived together they lived with her father in Rochester, and she continued to live with her father after such separation till December, 1878, when she left this state and went west to Chicago, where she continued to…
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This action was commenced to obtain the construction, by. this court, of the will of the late George P. Wolcott. The plaintiff -was his daughter and was married to Henry H. Herriam in 1874, who left her and finally separated from her in June, 1878. While they lived together they lived with her father in Rochester, and she continued to live with her father after such separation till December, 1878, when she left this state and went west to Chicago, where she continued to reside till after the death of her father, which occurred in August, 1880. , While in Chicago, she applied for and obtained…
1Opinion of the Court
E. Darwin Smith, Referee.
In construing a will the first inquiry that suggests itself will naturally be, at and from what period its language speaks.
Jarman on Wills (page 298) says, upon this point, that “For some purposes a will is considered to speak from its date of execution,’ and for others from the death of the testator. The former being the period of its inception, and the latter that of the consummation of the instrument.”
The rule is well stated by the supreme court of Connecticut in two cases—Canfield agt. Bostwick (21 Conn., 550), and Gold agt. Judson (21 Conn., 616), as follows:…
2Cases cited10 opinions
- Collins v. . CollinsNew York Court of Appeals · 1880
- McNaughton v. . McNaughtonNew York Court of Appeals · 1866
- Gold v. JudsonSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1852
- Van Vechten v. Van VeghtenNew York Court of Chancery · 1840
- Canfield v. BostwickSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1852
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3Cited by7 opinions
- Cartwright v. McGownIllinois Supreme Court · 1887
- Burnham v. BurnhamWisconsin Supreme Court · 1891
- In re the Estate of ForteNew York Surrogate's Court · 1933
- In re the Application for a Construction of the Last Will & Testament of WerleNew York Surrogate's Court · 1915
- Jones v. JonesSupreme Court of Missouri · 1909
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