Brinsmade v. Beach

• Decision Date: 11 December 1922
• Citation: 98 Conn. 322,119 A. 233
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: BRINSMADE v. BEACH et al.

119 A. 233

98 Conn. 322

BRINSMADE v. BEACH et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

December 11, 1922

Case Reserved from Superior Court, Fairfield County; James H Webb, Judge.

Suit by Hobart Brinsmade, administrator and trustee, against Eliza J Beach and others, to construe a will. On reserved questions. Questions answered.

Suit to determine the construction of the will of Catharine S. Booth of Stratford, deceased, brought to and reserved by the superior court in Fairfield county, Webb, J., upon the facts stated in the pleadings, for the advise of this court. Catharine S. Booth, a resident of Stratford, died November 9 1892, seized of both real and personal estate. On July 30 1891, she made a will which was duly probated December 3, 1892. The will provided as follows:

Clause 1. For the payment of her debts and funeral charges and a bequest of $100 for the care of the burial plot of the testatrix and the graves of Eli Booth and family.

Clause 2. For the use by her adopted daughter Mary Ann Devine during her life of the homestead of the testatrix and $5,000.

Clause 3. " I give and bequeath to the Congregational Church Society at Trumbull, Connecticut, the sum of five hundred dollars ($500) the same to be safely invested and the income therefrom to be appropriated to the support of the gospel in said society. I give and bequeath to the American Bible Society formed in New York in the year 1816 the sum of two hundred dollars ($200) to be applied to the charitable purposes of said society. I give and bequeath to the Home Mission Society of New York, the sum of two hundred dollars ($200) to be applied to the uses and purposes for which said Society was organized. I give and bequeath to the Woman's Board of Missions the sum of two hundred dollars ($200) to be applied to the mission purposes set forth in the act of incorporation passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts in the year 1869. I give and bequeath to the American Tract Society, instituted in the city of New York, the sum of two hundred dollars ($200), to be applied to the charitable uses and purposes of said society. I give and bequeath to the Ladies' Society of Stratford two hundred dollars the interest to be used yearly to fit out missionary boxes."

Clause 4 gave to Edwin Freeman, an employee, $100.

Clause 5 gave to each of her sisters, Cornelia N. Judson and Eliza J. Beach, and each of her brothers, Cyrus N. Brinsmade and Lewis Brinsmade, $200, and to Harriet M. Brinsmade, daughter of Frank Brinsmade, a nephew, $100, and Dora Brinsmade and Arthur Brinsmade, children of Charles Brinsmade, a nephew, each $100.

Clause 6. " In case there should not be money enough at the time of my decease belonging to my estate to pay all the above legacys then it is my will that my executors shall pay them pro rata as far as there is money to pay them and when Mary Ann Devine is done with it to pay the balance due if there is any."

After the attestation clause appeared two provisions duly witnessed before the execution of the will and found by the court of probate to be a part of the will, one of which reads as follows:

" All the residue of my property I bequeath equally to the above-named charitable societies, should there be any."

The pecuniary legacies given in the first five clauses of this will were paid in full, so that the provisions of this clause were and are inoperative. The heirs at law and next of kin of the testatrix living at her death were: Eliza J. Beach, a sister of the testatrix, and descendants of her sister Cornelia and her brothers, Cyrus N. Brinsmade, Lewis Brinsmade, and James D. Brinsmade. By the term the " Home Missionary Society of New York," in the third clause of the will, the testatrix intended to describe the corporation then and and now existing under the laws of the state of New York and having its principal office at 287 Fourth avenue, New York City, and whose corporate name was then the " American Home Missionary Society," but has since been legally changed to the " Congregational Home Missionary Society." The American Bible Society, the Congregational Home Missionary Society, the Woman's Board of Missions, and the American Tract Society are all corporations organized and operated exclusively for charitable and benevolent purposes. There exists, and for a long time prior to the date of said will there had existed, in the town of Trumbull, Conn., an ecclesiastical corporation, incorporated in 1814 under the name of the " Church of Christ in Trumbull," which corporation by custom had come to be commonly designated as the " Congregational Church of Trumbull," and by the terms of the third section of her will and the residue clause in said will the testatrix intended by the words the " Congregational Church Society of Trumbull, Conn.," to mean the ecclesiastical corporation whose name by original incorporation as aforesaid was the " Church of Christ in Trumbull," and which has for many years been known and designated as the " Congregational Church of Trumbull." At the time of the death of the testatrix and at the time when her will was executed, there was in existence in Stratford a society of women known as the " Ladies' Sewing Society" connected with the Congregational Church in that town. The testatrix was for many years the president of this society, and many of its meetings were held at her residence, and she had often stated that she intended to leave a bequest to it. The testatrix was a member of said Congregational Church from 1843 to her death. This society is now known as the Women's Missionary Society of the Congregational Church, although certain of its funds are carried in the name of the Ladies' Sewing Society of Stratford. There was not at the execution of the will, nor has there been since, any society resembling the " Ladies' Aid Society of Stratford," with the exception of said the " Women's Aid Society," which was organized in 1900, nearly eight years after the decease of the testatrix. The fitting up of missionary boxes, that is to say, boxes containing clothing and other useful articles for the families of missionaries, is a usual mode of assisting in the support of missions and missionary societies, and during the lifetime of the testatrix it was customary for the Ladies' Sewing Society (now Women's Missionary Society of the Congregational Church) to fit up and send such boxes, and this custom continues to the present time. The objects of this society are the making and the securing by gift, of clothing, and other articles for missionaries and other needy or worthy persons, and the collection and giving of funds for this purpose. By the term the " Ladies' Society of Stratford" the testatrix intended to describe the " Women's Missionary Society of the Congregational Church."

On December 6, 1921, Mary Ann Devine died, and there is on hand for distribution personal property consisting of stocks, bonds, and cash of the present market value of about $10,300, of which about $5,000 represents the principal of the above-described trust fund, and the remainder represents the proceeds of the sale of the homestead made on August 1, 1918, by the administrator by order of the probate court.

The questions reserved for advice are the following:

First. Is the personal property now on hand for distribution, as described in paragraph 9 above, to be regarded as intestate estate, and to be distributed to the heirs at law of Catharine S. Booth, or is the same to be considered part of the residuary estate, and to be distributed among the several " charitable societies," as provided in the last clause of said will?

Second. If said personal property is to be distributed among said charitable societies, is the Congregational Church Society of Trumbull, Conn., included in the term " charitable society," and is said society to share in such distribution?

Third. Is the Women's Aid Society of said Stratford described with sufficient definiteness and accuracy by the term the " Ladies' Society of Stratford," so that said society may receive any portion of said residue to which it may be entitled, and is said society included in the term " charitable society," and entitled to share in the distribution of the residue?

Fourth. If said Women's Aid Society is entitled to a share of said residue, is said share to be used for the general aims and purposes of said society, or is such use restricted to fitting out missionary boxes as provided in the case of the pecuniary legacy to said society given in the third clause of said will, and if such use is so restricted, is the purpose so designated a sufficiently charitable purpose to be carried out?

Louis K. Gould and Robert H. Gould, both of Bridgeport, for plaintiff.

Samuel F. Beardsley, of Bridgeport, for defendants Eliza J. Beach and others.

Epaphroditus Peck, of Bristol, for defendants Congregational Home Missionary Society and others.

William H. Comley, of Bridgeport, for defendant Congregational Church of Trumbull.

Sanford Stoddard, of Bridgeport, for defendant Women's Missionary Society of Congregational Church.

WHEELER, C.J.

The first question for our advice is whether the personal property of this estate now in hand, and in amount about $10,300, is intestate estate and to be distributed to the heirs of the testatrix, or is a part of the residuary estate and to be distributed to the charitable societies named in the third clause of the will. Counsel for the heirs argues that the true intent of the will, as found upon examination of it in its entirety, indicates that the remainder in the property of which Mary Ann Devine had the life use, and which is the personal property of this estate ready for distribution, was not disposed of by the will and therefore is...