Last Will and Testament
of
Peter H. Imel
I, PETER H. IMEL, of Shelby County, Indiana, do hereby make and publish this, my last will and testament; and do hereby revoke any and all former wills by me at any time heretofore made.
Item 1st. I hereby nominate my wife, Caroline Imel, to be the Executrix of this Will; and if formal administration of my estate be deemed best, it is my wish and will that she be not required to give bond for the faithful discharge of the duties of her said trust.
Subject to the payment of all liabilities against my estate, I hereby give, will and bequeath to my beloved wife all personal property of every kind and description owned by me at the time of my death, to be hers absolutely.
It is my wish and will that out of my personal estate, without formal administration thereon, unless such shall be deemed best, my said wife shall pay all just debts owing by me at the time of my death, and the expenses of my funeral; and to this end my said wife is hereby vested with the most ample power to sell and dispose of any and all articles of personal property belonging to my estate, without any formal administration, for such price, and upon such terms, and in such manner as she shall deem best.
It is my will and wish that a burial lot be purchased in a convenient and well kept Cemetery, to be chosen by my said wife and our children, for the interment of mine and my said wife's mortal remains (provided the purchase of such a lot shall not have been made during my lifetime); and, further, that a monument be erected on said lot, at a cost not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00), to mark mine and my wife's graves; and the cost of such lot (if the same be not already paid) and of such monument shall constitute a liability against my estate.
I deem it my duty to provide for a reimbursement to my son, George J. Imel, in the sum of two hundred dollars ($200.00), for improvements and repairs of and upon buildings on mine and my said wife's lands made by him; and, accordingly, if such reimbursement shall not have been made by me in my lifetime, the payment of said sum of two hundred dollars to my son George or the part thereof remaining unpaid shall be deemed a liability against my estate.
If my personal estate shall not be sufficient to discharge the above stated liabilities, then, without formal administration, as aforesaid, I will and direct that my said wife complete the payment of all said liabilities out of rents and the annual increments from the lands of which I shall die seized; but, in case she shall not wish to complete payment of all said liabilities out of said rents and annual increments (wishing the same for her more comfortable living), then the payment of said sum of two hundred dollars to my son George or any part thereof remaining unpaid shall be held in abeyance until my said wife's death, after which event said sum of money, or any part thereof then unpaid, shall be paid to my said son out of the proceeds of the sale of my lands, as hereinafter, in this will, provided.
Item 2nd. I hereby give, will and devise to my beloved wife, Caroline Imel, all real-estate, whatever situate, of which I shall die seized, to have and to hold the same to my said wife for and during the term of her natural life, and for that term only. The rents and annual increments from said lands shall be and become the absolute property of my said wife, during said term, subject only to the payment of liabilities against my estate as provided in the first item of this will.
It is my wish and will that out of said rents and annual increments my said wife shall complete payment of all liabilities against my estate, as set out in the first item of this will; but, in respect to the payment of the sum of two hundred dollars to my son George, as provided in said first item of this will: this is left to my said wife to do or not to do as she shall deem best.
Subject to the life-estate of my said wife therein, all real-estate of which shall die seized shall go to and vest, in fee-simple, in my beloved children, vis: Frank L. Imel, Harry M. Imel, George J. Imel, Herbert G. Imel, Ivy I. Smith, Anna M. Clendenning, Ralph W. Imel and Paul R. Imel (or such of them as may be living at the time of my death) and in my three grand-children, Esther, Floyd and Maurice Fields, children of my deceased daughter, Nellie V. Fields, and such other grand-children as may then have been left by any of my own children departing this life before my death, in equal shares, the child or children, descendant or descendants of each and any of my own children then dead to take the share the parent would have taken were he or she then living.
But, after my said wife's death, all real-estate owned by me at the time of my death, wherever situate, shall be sold, in the manner provided by law, that is to say: upon petition filed in the Court having probate jurisdiction in said County, after appraisement thereof, the giving of notice of sale, the giving of bond, and in all things pursuant to the decree of the Court in said Matter.
To effectuate such sale I do hereby constitute and appoint my son, George J. Imel, Trustee; and I do hereby vest in my said son, as such Trustee, the most ample power, under the decree of the Court, to sell said real-estate, in the manner and form aforesaid, and to execute a deed or deeds to the purchaser or purchasers thereof. If the sum of two hundred dollars provided for my son George in the first item of this will shall not have been paid prior to my said wife's death, then, out of the proceeds of the sale of said real-estate, so hereinbefore provided for, said sum of two hundred dollars or any part thereof then remaining unpaid shall be paid to my said son.
After payment of such sum of money as shall be so coming to my said son George, and after payment of all costs accruing in the proceedings in Court for the sale of my said real-estate, said trustee shall then divide the remaining proceeds of such sale into equal shares, according to the number of my children then surviving, and my grand-children; and said Trustee shall pay and distribute said equal shares to all my children then surviving, one equal share to each of them, and to my grand-children then living, the child or children or descendant or descendants of each of my own children then dead to take the share the parent would have taken were he or she then living.
The provisions hereinbefore made for my said beloved wife shall be accepted to here in lieu of all her statutory rights in my estate.
Item 3rd: In case my wife, Caroline Imel, shall depart this life before my own death, then and in such event it is my wish and will that my son, George J. Imel, shall act as the Executor of this Will; and, in such case, also, all the property, both real and personal, of which I shall be the owner at the time of my death, shall go to and vest, absolutely and in fee-simple, in my children and grand-children, immediately upon my death, in the shares and proportions the same as set out in the second item of this will; And the Executor of this Will, hereinabove in this item nominated, shall proceed at once to sell all the personal property and real-estate so left by me, in the same manner as is provided in the second item of this will; and, after payment of all liabilities against my estate, as hereinbefore in this will declared and all costs incurred, the residue of moneys coming into the hands of said Executor from said sales shall be divided among and distributed to all my children and grand-children then living in the same manner and shares as set out and directed in the said second item of this will.
In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this, the 27th day of July, A.D., 1911.
Peter H. Imel ( SEAL )
On this 27th day of July, 1911, in the City of Shelbyville, Indiana, the above named Testator, Peter H. Imel, well known to us, the undersigned, signed and sealed the foregoing instrument and declared the same to be his last will and testament in the presence and hearing of us, the undersigned; and at the same time and place, in the presence of said testator and at his request, and in the presence of each other, we, said undersigned, do hereunto subscribe our names as Witnesses to and of said Will.
Frank E. Ray
Edward H. Chadwick
State of Indiana
Shelby County, SS:
Be it remembered that on the 12th day of December, A.D., 1918 the 58th judicial day of the October Term of the Shelby Circuit Court in said year, come into open Court Caroline Imel and produces in Court an instrument in writing purporting to be the last Will and Testament of Peter H. Imel, deceased, and now moves the admittance thereof to probate and record, and in proof of said Will introduces Frank E. Ray, one of the subscribing witnesses thereto, who being duly sworn by the Clerk of said Court, on oath, declares and testifies as follows, that is to say: That on the 27th day of July, 1911, he saw the said Peter H. Imel sign his name to said instrument in writing as and for his last Will and Testament; and that this deponent, at the same time, heard the said Peter H. Imel declare the said instrument in writing to be his last Will and Testament, and that the said instrument in writing was, at the same time, at the request of the said Peter H. Imel and with his consent attested and subscribed by the said Frank E. Ray and Edward H. Chadwick in the presence of said testator, and in the presence of each other, as subscribing thereto, and that the said Peter H. Imel was, at the time of the signing and subscribing of said instrument in writing, as aforesaid, of full age (that is, more than twenty-one years of age) and of sound and disposing mind and memory, and not under any coercion or restraint, as the said deponent verily believes, and further deponent says not.
Frank E. Ray
Sworn to and subscribed by the said Frank E. Ray before me Gordon Thurston Clerk of said Court, at Shelbyville Indiana the 12th day of December 1918.
Gordon Thurston Clerk
Whereupon it is ordered, adjudged and decreed by the Court that said instrument in writing purporting to be the last Will of Peter H. Imel deceased, is the last Will and Testament of Peter H. Imel deceased, and is hereby admitted to probate and record in this Court.
Gordon Thurston, Clerk
State of Indiana
Shelby County, SS:
I, Gordon Thurston, clerk of the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Indiana do hereby certify that the within annexed Will and Testament of Peter H. Imel has been duly admitted to probate, and duly proved by the testimony of Frank E. Ray one of the subscribing witnesses thereto, that a complete record of said Will, and of the testimony of the said Frank E. Ray in proof thereof, has been by me duly made and recorded in Book 7 at Pages 355, 356 and 357 of the record of Wills of said County.
In Attestation Whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name, and affixed the seal of said Court, at Shelbyville, Indiana, this 12th day of December, 1918.
Gordon Thurston, Clerk
Circuit Court Shelby County
Transcribed by Linda Bath Bianchi
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