The will of Wellington Burt, a Michigan timber baron who died in 1919, created a trust for his $13 million estate that called for less than 1% of it to be distributed annually until 20 years after his last grandchild had died.  Although his family would fight the will in court for the next 40 years, in 2011 a  dozen  lucky descendants of Burt’s ranging from 19 to 94 split a $100 million jackpot when the trust was finally dissolved ..read more

On Oct 15, 1906, a legal battle over the estate of the drug industry pioneer William Weightman, which was worth $40-100 million dollars, came to a sudden, screeching halt when a mysterious note was introduced as evidence.  Asked about its contents, the husband of Weightman’s granddaughter said that "I would rather have my tongue cut out than reveal what was in that paper." The contents of the note were never revealed.  In this episode, I play history detective and offer a theory about what that note said and why it ended the case so quickly ..read more

Isaac Singer made a fortune as the co-founder of the Singer Manufacturing Company, whose sewing machines relieved millions of women from the interminable drudgery of hand-sewing clothes, and allowed many of them to start their own small businesses of sewing for hire.  But the women in his personal life  didn't fare so well: in his will he left nothing to four of the five mothers of his twenty-two children, and he stiffed three of the children as well ..read more

Stephen Girard and Daniel Ludwig lived strangely parallel lives almost exactly a century and a half apart:   both started   careers as sailors at very young ages, both made their first fortunes in shipping and then multiplied them via successful investments to become the richest American of their times, and both had wives who gave birth to a daughter that in one case most likely wasn’t his and in the other case definitely wasn’t.   And both ended up leaving their entire fortunes to charity despite repeated attempts by their family members who thought they deserved to get them mo ..read more

When he died in 1850, John McDonogh left a real estate empire worth $2 million to the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore for the education of poor children.  But despite writing a 69 page will,  his plans began to fall apart immediately after his death.  ..read more

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