Guild v. Allen

• Decision Date: 07 June 1907
• Citation: 28 R.I. 430,67 A. 855
• Parties: GUILD et al. v. ALLEN et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

67 A. 855

28 R.I. 430

GUILD et al.

v. ALLEN et al.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 7, 1907.

Bill by Clarence H. Guild, as executor of the will of Julia B. Stoughton, deceased, and others, against Frances F. Allen and others, for a construction of the will.

Argued before DOUGLAS, C. J., and DUBOIS, BLODGETT, JOHNSON, and PARKHURST, JJ.

James Harris and Irving Champlin, for complainants. Mary A. Greene, Lewis A. Waterman, Waterman, Curran & Hunt, and Robert S. Emerson, for various respondents.

JOHNSON, J. Bill in equity for the construction of the will of Julia B. Stoughton, late of Providence, deceased. Said Julia B. Stoughton died on the 17th day of June, A. D. 1905, leaving a last will and testament executed May 1, 1895, with two codicils, the first dated March 18, 1903, and the second dated March 2, 1905, which were duly offered for probate and proved in the municipal court of the city of Providence. It is agreed that the complainants and respondents named in the bill are the only persons interested in the property and estate of which said testatrix was seised and possessed at the time of her decease. The provisions of said will and codicils upon the construction of which questions have arisen are as follows: The fourth and eighth paragraphs of the will, the first and second paragraphs of the first codicil, and the first paragraph of the second codicil. As the legacies given by the fourth paragraph of the will and the first paragraph of the first codicil are both to unincorporated societies, they may for convenience be considered together.

1. The fourth paragraph of said will reads: "I give and bequeath the sum of ($1,000) one thousand dollars to the 'Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society,' connected with the First Baptist Church of Providence, R. I., in memory of my mother, Mrs. C. G. Burlingame, to be devoted (if rulable) to the branch of work in which Miss Elizabeth Lawrence of Burmah is engaged." From the bill, answer, and agreed statement of facts it appears that there is no "Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society" connected with the First Baptist Church of Providence, but that there is an unincorporated voluntary association, connected with said church, called the "Woman's Foreign Missionary Association," which is organized with a constitution which states its object to be "to aid the missions under the direction of the American Baptist Missionary Union," and that on the 14th day of October, 1871, the Woman's Foreign Missionary Association of the First Baptist Church, by a vote at a regular meeting, directed that its money, unless otherwise ordered, should be sent through the treasury of the Woman's Baptist Missionary Society; that the Woman's Baptist Missionary Society was organized in April, 1871, and incorporated, under the laws of the state of Massachusetts, November 9, 1874, and in 1883 its charter was amended by act of the General Court of Massachusetts, so that its name was changed to that of the "Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society"; that the leading object of said society, as defined by article 2 of its by-laws, is "the Christianization of women in foreign lands"; that article 3 of its said by-laws provides, "This object it shall seek to accomplish, as far as possible, by furnishing support, through the American Baptist Missionary Union, to Christian women employed by said union as missionaries, native teachers, or Bible readers, together with the facilities needed for their work, such laborers being recommended by this society"; that the branch of work in which Elizabeth Lawrence of Burmah is engaged is a branch of work of the American Baptist Missionary Union, supported by the funds received by the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society as a part of its regular work; that funds received from time to time from the Woman's Foreign Missionary Association of the said First Baptist Church are, unless otherwise specifically designated, appropriated by the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society to its general work, in which the work of the said Elizabeth Lawrence is included, and such funds paid into the treasury for specially designated purposes are appropriated as designated. It also appears that there is no other organization connected with said First Baptist Church with an object similar to that of said Woman's Foreign Missionary Association, and that said association has continuously sent, and now sends, its money through the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Association of the First Baptist Church claims said bequest. We think that the association can be clearly identified by the testamentary description, aided by the pleadings and the agreed statement of facts, as the one intended by the testatrix. She has substituted for its name the name of the corporation through which it sends the funds it receives to the foreign field, viz., the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, which, among other branches of work, supports the work in Burmah of the Elizabeth Lawrence mentioned in said bequest, but has described the society as "connected with the First Baptist Church of Providence, R. I."

2. The first paragraph of the first codicil reads: "I give and bequeath to the Home Missionary Society of the First Baptist Church of Providence, R. I., one thousand ($1,000) dollars." It appears that there is no "Home Missionary Society" of the First Baptist Church of Providence, but that the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society of the First Baptist Church of Providence, R. I., is an unincorporated voluntary association, organized in 1901, with a constitution which states that it shall be auxiliary to the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society of Boston. The Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society of Boston is a corporation under the laws of Massachusetts. Article 2 of the constitution of said Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society of said First Baptist Church provides: "The object of this society shall be to cultivate interest in the work of home missions; and to induce every woman connected with the church to give something to help forward the work of uplifting the freed people, the Indians, the Alaskans, the Mexicans, the Cubans, and the Porto Ricans. Also to evangelize the emigrant population which is so rapidly filling our country." It further appears that the object of said Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, as shown by its charter, is the evangelization and education of women and children in any part of North America. It is also agreed that there is no other organization connected with said First Baptist Church with an object similar to that of the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society. From the testamentary description, the pleadings, and agreed statement of facts, we think...