Will Contest

CURRENT, ELLIS, FORT, TAUBMAN, BATES

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 5/7/2009 at 21:53:15

Maquoketa Excelsior, October 22, 1881.

A Will Contest

The will of the late William Current was filed for probate in the Circuit Court last Wednesday. He died possessed of property, real and personal, estimated at a value of about $30,000. His estate includes farm land near this city, timber land, city property (including the Opera House), and notes and mortgages to the amount of $5,000. His heirs are two sons, a daughter and six children of a deceased daughter and her husband, H. Taubman, the clothing merchant. To these six children $500 each is devised, and the remainder of the estate is bequeathed to the three other heirs in equal shares. Mr. Taubman, as the next heir of his children, has taken steps to contest the will on the grounds of undue influence exercised by the more fortunate legatees and of the incapacity of the testator to equitably devise his possessions. L. A. Ellis and F. M. Fort have been retained by Mr. Taubman as attorneys to prosecute the contest. Lyman Bates has been appointed by the court special administrator of the estate.