1. "John Vinnicum Morse's Will"
Posted by Susan on Sep-11th-02 at 2:59 AM

While surfing the web, I came across this site.  Thought it was pretty interesting as there is a discrepency with Uncle John's will.  It seems that Uncle John had left Lizzie $103.56 in his will, but, it does not agree with his will that is filed in Mills County, Iowa.  Has anyone else ever heard of this before? 

http://www.rootsweb.com/~iamills/Twps/IndnCk/LizzieBorden.htm

All of us who have read Rebello have heard of it!  Not only did Uncle John Morse not specifically name Lizzie (or Emma) as a beneficiary of his will, but he specifically disinherited both.  According to Rebello (page 72), the will said, "I direct that the real estate of which I am now possessed in Mills County, Iowa, which is now leased to W. E. Van Ausdale shall at the expiration of said lease be sold and the proceeds be divided equally between my nephew and nieces, not named, except those named Borden, who are not in need of it."
Twelve nieces and nephews (there were five nephews, one of whom was JVM's namesake) received $910.64 each.  BUT there was a "residuary account" (not monies from the sale of the Mills County property).  The court ruled in 1916 that Emma and Lizzie were entitled to 1/12 of these monies, which amounted to $605.97. (It appears this amount was found to be owing to each sister, not to both jointly.)  Emma refused her share, but after her death, her executors petitioned for return of the money, and it became part of her estate.  Presumably Lizzie (surprise!) took the money and ran.  It appears this author may have her amounts wrong.  Either that or Rebello's account is incorrect.  He does refer to Beverly Boileau's research (page 75). 

Here is a copy of Morse's will for you to download and read.

http://lizzieandrewborden.com/OfficialDocuments.htm

Well they really didn't need it. They were rich. I read the "except those named Borden, who are not in need of it" line as a matter-of-fact statement meant to protect his estate. He had to mention them or they could petition the estate for a share. I wonder why the courts went ahead and gave them some money against Morse's express wish.

Thanks for all the info, Edisto and Stefani!  I love finding bits like this that are "new" to me at least, so exciting!  Lizzie sounds like she suscribed to Andrew's view on money, take it any way you can get it! 

Yes, I agree that the executors were rather activist when they decided to award funds to Emma and Lizzie from the residuary account.  It seems clear to me that JVM didn't intend to leave anything to them, whether it came from sale of a particular piece of property or from other sources.  Unfortunately, his wishes were expressed in the wrong section of his will, making it appear that his Borden nieces were barred only from receiving the proceeds of a particular piece of property.  This illustrates why it's wise to get your will out and read it carefully every year or so.  You don't have a will?  Well then, a bunch of politicians get to decide who gets what!  We all know they're trustworthy -- right?