Tag Archives: will

This week in history: April 5–10 part 2

We have already post­ed Robert Camp­bel­l’s 1832 will.  Near­ly 60 years lat­er — 59 years minus 1 day to be exact, Robert’s son Hugh did the same thing.  Like his father’s 1832 will, this was not Hugh’s final will — he would write a lat­er one to include bequests to faith­ful ser­vants Gus Mey­er and Mary Boer­ste.  The muse­um does not have a com­plete copy of this will, so only the first page has been tran­scribed; it is post­ed here.  How­ev­er, this 1891 will did include a very large bequest to Yale Uni­ver­si­ty on the con­di­tion that they build the “James Alexan­der Camp­bell Memo­r­i­al Build­ing” and hang the por­trait of James, Hugh’s youngest sur­viv­ing broth­er, in the build­ing.  Although Yale did use and rec­og­nize Hugh’s even­tu­al bequest after his death in 1931, the James Alexan­der Camp­bell build­ing as Hugh had envi­sioned it was nev­er built.

After Hugh’s death in 1931, sev­er­al par­ties tried to break his last will.  The lawyer who had pre­pared this will in Paris in 1891 tes­ti­fied in the case and described Hugh: “Phys­i­cal­ly he was stur­dy, hearty, appar­ent­ly well built, young and vig­or­ous.  Intel­lec­tu­al­ly he appeared well poised, entire­ly con­ver­sant with what he want­ed in the way of tes­ta­men­tary dis­po­si­tion, was spe­cif­ic … as to what he desired to do for each.  he also man­i­fest­ed entire famil­iar­i­ty with the nature and extent of his prop­er­ty, real and per­son­al.  In tem­pera­ment, he seemed to me cheer­ful, hearty, and genial.”  We hope you enjoy learn­ing about the thoughts of Robert’s hearty, cheer­ful, and poised son Hugh.

[Enve­lope]
Hugh Campbell
Last Will and Testament
On French Stamped Paper
Exe­cut­ed this April 9th, 1891

In the name of God, Amen. I Hugh Camp­bell of the City of St. Louis, State of Mis­souri, and Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca, tem­porar­i­ly sojourn­ing in Paris, France, being of sound and dis­pos­ing mind and mem­o­ry do here­by make, pub­lish and­de­clare this and for my last Will and Tes­ta­ment, here, by revok­ing and annulling all wills and cod­i­cils by me at any time hereto­fore made.

Clause First–    I direct my execu­tors here­in after appoint­ed as soon as may be after my decease to pay all my just debts and my funer­al expenses.

Clause Sec­ond–    I give and bequeath to my friend Miss Lil­lie B. Ran­dell should she sur­vive me or if not to her sis­ter  Mrs. Laeti­tia W. Gar­ri­son, both now or late­ly resid­ing at Num­ber Four (4) Great Stan­hope Street, May­fair, Lon­don all and sev­er­al the shawls, laces, plate and oth­er arti­cles of what­ev­er nature which may at the time of my death be con­tained in those cer­tain cedar chests deposit­ed by me and now on deposit in the Safe Deposit Com­pa­ny locat­ed in the build­ing on the North West cor­ner of Sixth and Locust Streets and between Sixth and Sev­enth Streets in the City of St. Louis, Mis­souri, also all pre­cious stones, jew­els and jew­el­ry deposit­ed by me and now on deposit in a box on the Safe Deposit Com­pa­ny locat­ed on the north side of.….[End page 1, for com­plete doc­u­ment, see originals]

This week in history: April 5–10

This week in his­to­ry, both Robert Camp­bell and his son Hugh Camp­bell made their wills.  The two were almost 60 years apart — 1 day short of 59 years exact­ly.  Because both of these doc­u­ments are impor­tant, we are going to post both.

First, we post Robert Camp­bel­l’s 1832 will.  It was entered into evi­dence in the 1938 estate case that would decide the future of Robert’s son Hazlet­t’s $2 mil­lion estate.  By 1832, Robert had already begun to amass a great for­tune.  He knew he was going into dan­ger­ous ter­ri­to­ry out West on a reg­u­lar basis, and want­ed to be sure his fam­i­ly and for­tune would be tak­en care of.  This was obvi­ous­ly not Robert’s final will.  He would mar­ry Vir­ginia Jane Kyle on Feb­ru­ary 25, 1841, and the two would have 3 sur­viv­ing chil­dren.  Robert final­ly died on Octo­ber 10, 1879.  This will shows his thoughts and wor­ries as a young man.

In the name of God, Amen. I Robert Camp­bell at
Present resid­ing in the City of Saint Louis Mis­souri in
The Unit­ed Stat­ed of Amer­i­ca do make this my last
Will and Testament -
Item    I bequeath and device to my Broth­er Andrew Campbell
All that par­cel of Land in the town­land of
Gel­nco­pogagh in the part of Upper Badoney County
Of Tyrone Ire­land held by law renew­able forever
‘Under the heirs of the Honl. George Knox, to have
And to hold said par­cel of land with its apprenten
=ces (as now occu­pied by Gabriel Walk­er) to him and
to his heirs for­ev­er. Pro­vid­ed he my said Brother
Andrew Camp­bell pays one half the amt. of Debt
Due by me to the heirs of Andw. McFar­land Decd. And
To my sis­ter Anne Camp­bell before enter­ing in possession
Of said farm of land in Glencopogagh -
Item —     I bequeath to my Broth­er Hugh Camp­bell my tith
And inter­est in the rents receiv­able under Deed
of Mort­gage from the ten­ants in East Aughalane
amount­ing to 16 pounds Irish cur­ren­cy per annum) to him
and to his heirs for­ev­er. Pro­vid­ed he my said
Broth­er Hugh Camp­bell pays one half the debts
Due by me to the Heirs of Andw. McFar­land Decd.
And to my Sis­ter Anne Camp­bell — before entering
Into pos­ses­sion of the bequest before mentioned
Item —  I bequeath to my Broth­er Hugh Camp­bell above
Men­tioned the pro­ceeds of the expe­di­tion now fully
Out by me for the region of the Rocky Mountains
After deduct­ing the amount due by me to Miss J & A Kerr
Mer­chants of St. Louis Mis­souri say
And also pay­ing the men in my employ the balance
Which may be due by me to them at the time of
My decease — all of which will be deter­mined by
My execu­tors Mr L. Sub­lette and Thos. Fitz­patrick who
Accom­pa­ny me on this expe­di­tion — the pro­ceeds (if any),
To be appro­pri­at­ed in the fol­low­ing manner

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First­ly    That my said Borther Hugh Camp­bell do
Pay him­self the amount of mon­ey I shall borrow
Of him before my departure
Sec­ond­lyThat my said Borther Hugh Camp­bell ao
pay to my Beloved Moth­er the sum of Five
pounds ster­ling annu­al­ly dur­ing her nat­ur­al life
and if the pro­ceeds should not afford this then me
said Broth­er Hugh Camp­bell to pay to my beloved
moth­er Five pounds ster­ling per annum out of
the rents of East Aughalane -
Third­ly That my Broth­er Hugh Camp­bell pays to my Dear
Sis­ter Anne Ten pounds ster­ling — and should the
pro­ceeds of my expe­di­tion prove more than
repays the above appro­pri­ate­ly — then the residue
if enough to be dis­persed of as fol­lows — to my
Dear Moth­er few pounds annu­al­ly in addition
To the above and the residue to be divid­ed in
Equal parts between my Broth­ers Andrew & Hugh and
My sis­ter Anne one third each -
Item     I bequeath to my Beloved Moth­er the sum of Five pounds
Ster­ling to be paid by my said Broth­er Hugh Campbell
And in case the pro­ceeds of my Rocky Monts be
Suf­fi­cient­ly lucra­tive the sum of Ten pounds in
Addi­tion to the above -
Item    I bequeath to my Sis­ter Anne Camp­bell as
Above Ten pounds ster­ling to be paid her
By my Broth­er Hugh Camp­bell which with
The assump­tion of two hun­dred pounds of my
Broth­er Hugh & myself and fifty pounds which
I pre­sent­ed her when in Ire­land to be paid by
Hugh and myself. I con­sid­er as on equal
Por­tion with my Broth­ers — in case my Rocky
Moun­tain trip affords a prof­it I wish one third
Of the nett pro­ceeds (after pay­ing all oth­er demands)
To be paid to my dear­est sis­ter Anne

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O nom­i­nate and appoint John W Far­land of Culls
=lil­lan part of low­er Budo­ny & Coun­ty Tyrone
and William Wil­son of Eden Der­ry (Leap Mill) in
land Coun­ty in Ire­land as my execu­tors there
and Mr L Sub­lette of St. Louis Coun­ty Missouri
and Thos. Fitz­patrick of the Rocky Monts. And
My broth­er Hugh Camp­bell late of Richmond
Of Vir­ginia but now of Philadel­phia as my
Execu­tors in the Unit­ed States. — I request [miss­ing]
To super­in­tend the set­tle­ment of the mat­ters herein
Named and to direct that each Item shall
Be per­formed (as far as pos­si­ble) with­in two years
After my decease at far­thest and soon­er if
Practically
In wit­ness where of I have herunto
Set my hand and seal this tenth day of
April in the year of our Lord one Thousand
Eight Hun­dred and Thir­ty Two

Signed sealed and declared
By the above named
Robert Camp­bell to be his
Last will and testament
In pres­ence of us who have
Here­un­to sub­scribed our
names as wit­ness­es in the
pres­ence of the testator

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Robert Camp­bell
Will of April 10 1832

This week in history: December 5‑December 11

This week is bit­ter­sweet for Camp­bell House.  Octo­ber 10, 2009 was the 130th anniver­sary of Robert Camp­bel­l’s death.  Just a few months lat­er, Robert’s old­er broth­er Hugh fol­lowed.  These pio­neer­ing broth­ers expe­ri­enced and impact­ed Amer­i­can his­to­ry.  But per­haps more impor­tant­ly, they RECORDED it in their let­ters, ledgers, and jour­nals.  For 65 years, Camp­bell House Muse­um has striv­en to pass the incred­i­ble sto­ries of Robert Camp­bell, Hugh Camp­bell, and their fam­i­lies on to future generations.

Today we post Hugh Camp­bel­l’s Decem­ber 8, 1879 will.  It rep­re­sents the wish­es of just one per­son in the amaz­ing tale of the Camp­bell fam­i­ly.  We hope that Hugh’s words will fos­ter your curios­i­ty in this fam­i­ly’s sto­ry and that you will come see the his­to­ry they left behind at Camp­bell House Muse­um!  The sto­ry con­tin­ues to unfold in The Camp­bell Quest, the new exhib­it Immi­gra­tion Adven­tures to Amer­i­ca: Hugh and Robert Camp­bel­l’s Jour­ney from Ire­land to the Unit­ed States, and the upcom­ing release of Hugh Camp­bel­l’s 1818 jour­nal!  Thank you for fol­low­ing the sto­ry of the Camp­bells; we hope you find the will as inter­est­ing as we do.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Hugh Camp­bell
WILL.
Dec 6.1879, Will (illeg­i­ble word)
44 J/ 591

Mar­garet Jane
(illeg­i­ble word) 2
9–28-35

Filed and admit­ted to pro­bate this
8th day of December
A.D. 1879. and duly record­ed in
Book “N” of Wills, on page 156
(sig­na­ture) clerk

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I, Hugh Camp­bell of the city of St Louis and
state of Mis­souri being of sound and disposing
mind do make this my last will and testament
here­ly revok­ing all oth­ers here to fore under by me

First I direct that out of my cetak my just debts and
funer­al expens­es shall be first paid and that
my mor­tal remains shall be buried in a lot at
Belle­fontaine ceme­tery which I pur­chased from
Mr Patrick. My beloved wife Mary select­ed this for me
and when it shall please god to call her heaven
she will prob­a­bly be buried beside me. We have
spent over forty five years of hap­py mar­ried life
and may then be unit­ed in the grave.
Sec­ond I give and bequeath to my broth­er Robert
Camp­bell my gold watch and chain together
with any of my per­son­al effects ( as mementos)
that he may choose togeth­er with six­ty volumes
from my library indulge the New American
Ency­clo­pe­dia. Such as he may select
Third I give (illeg­i­ble word) and bequeath all the residue of
my estate and prop­er­ty and per­son­al and
wiped which I may leave at the time of my
to my beloved wife Mary Campbell
to have and to hold the same (illeg­i­ble word) the saw
Mary Camp­bell to her keen (illeg­i­ble word) advices
(illeg­i­ble word) and assigns forever.

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In the event that my wife shall die before me
I give and bequeath and (illeg­i­ble word) the (illeg­i­ble words) of my
estate rear per­son­al and (illeg­i­ble word) as fol­lows. One third
ten of to my good broth­er Robert Camp­bell the next
one third there­of to my two nieces twins McFarland
and Mar­garet McCallagh, now read­ing in Ireland
to them (illeg­i­ble word) in equal shares. And the oth­er third
to my two sis­ters in law Mar­garet Kyle and Mrs
Jane Clark and to them keen in equal shares.
It had been my (Illeg­i­ble word) to make oth­er bequests
but my first desire is to pro­vide suit­ably for my beloved
wife. And on account of loss­es by fraud­u­lent debtors
and shrink­age in the val­ue of invest­ments since
1843 I am reduced to devise the said residue to
my wife
Fourth I nom­i­nate and appoint my broth­er Robert
Camp­bell and my wife Mary Camp­bell exec
tor and execubrex(possibly?) of this my last will and
I desire, if the law will per­mit, that no secur
ity be required of either of them for the pure
form anew of their duties
In tes­ti­mo­ny where­of I have
here­in­to set my hand and seal at St Louis
this twen­ty sev­enth day of June eighteen
hun­dred and sev­en­ty seven
Hugh Camp­bell (Sig­na­ture) Seal

Signed sealed pub­lished and declared to

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be his last will and tes­ta­ment by said Hugh Campbell
in our pres­ence who in his pres­ence and at his request
and in the pres­ence of each oth­er have here­in­to submitted
our names as instrusties thereof
John R Shelpy
John F. Gibbons
John M. Gloom

Pic­tured below: Pic­tures of the Camp­bell Mon­u­ment, the 1st page of Hugh’s will, and a paint­ing of Hugh Campbell