The Mother Who Disinherited Her Sons Based on Financial Competence
A Seattle widow pens a remarkably candid will, detailing exactly why she believes her sons are incapable of managing her estate while praising her daughter's business acumen.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The probate judge was found yesterday afternoon pondering over a large mass of papers. Investigation showed that he was considering the intricacies of the will of Almira Kidd, deceased, formerly of this city, so as to be able to make an order of distribution. The instrument states: 'In the interests of all concerned, Amen. This is the last will and testament of Almira Kidd, widow, now residing in King county, Washington Territory. Believing it proper that in health I should arrange for the future, I make this, my last expression of will, and do hereby revoke all or any other that I may have made. That I am of sound mind and intellect is in evidence, as I write this will with my own hand and all I am possessed of has been accumulated by my own industry and enterprise. And further, as I expect to see and know what the conditions on earth are after I depart from its activities, I do herein make my last will accordingly.' She cites disputes and wrongs practiced among heirs and seeing so many inheritances lost by bad management as her reasons for not giving her sons control. She writes of her eldest son, Leonard W. Kidd: 'He has never shown any aptitude for financiering or good judgment and management. He is apt to drift into troubles without due consideration of results. I cannot entrust to him that of others.' Of her second son, Louis W. Kidd, she writes: 'He would be honest and extravagant while money lasted, and then he would be in want.' She concludes that Kate E. Kidd is the only one showing 'systematic financiering' and directs that the estate be kept for the education of her grandchildren, naming her daughter Kate as the trustee and treasurer.
“As I expect to see and know what the conditions on earth are after I depart from its activities, I do herein make my last will accordingly.”
Almira Kidd’s 1888 will offers a window into the gendered economic anxieties of the era, where women had to fight to secure their legacies against heirs they deemed financially irresponsible. Her insistence on preserving property for future generations' education mirrors the modern struggle to keep family wealth or property within a city experiencing rapid, displacement-heavy growth.
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