1. I John Galloway Scott of the City of Toronto formerly Master of Titles do hereby make my last will and testament.
I appoint the Toronto General Trusts Corporation and my son Arthur Herbert Scott to be my executors of this my will, and I give and devise to my said executors all the real and personal property whereof I may die possessed or entitled to, whether in this province or elsewhere, and any real estate which I may prior to my death have agreed to sell, together with the contracts of sale and any moneys payable or to become payable thereunder, with full authority to convey any such property to any purchaser or his or her assigns or to cancil [sic] the contract of sale and resell or otherwise deal with any contract as my said executors may think fit; with full power to sell and convey any lands or other property as my said executors may think fit.
2. It is however my desire that the said corporation shall take upon itself the trusts arising under this will but that my said son shall act in an advisory capacity without incurring the responsibility of collecting for, managing, caring for and administering my estate and the trusts whereof shall ? in the said corporation, but my son shall be allowed all reasonable travelling and other disbursements incurred by him in respect of the premises.
3. My life Assurance held under two policies entered into by the British Empire Mutual Life Assurance Company and since assumed by the ? Assurance Company does not belong to my Estate, but I have, by law, a power of apportionment in respect thereof, and I direct that the amount thereof including the profits which have accured on the policies or been allotted thereto, shall be divided and apportioned as follows, or in the following proportions in case the amount received is not sufficient to pay the same in full or is more than sufficient, that is to say: I direct and apportion the same to be paid as follows, to my son Arthur Herbert Scott, two thousand dollars; to my daughter Helen Elliot George two thousand five hundred dollars; to my grand daughter Norton Fry the daughter of my son Arthur four thousand five hundred dollars; and to my wife one thousand dollars.
3a. I hereby authorize my Executors to pay out of my general estate all necessary duties payable or chargeable in respect of my estate as soon after my death as they may think fitting and whether the same are or are not immediately payable.
4. I give the Upper Canada Bible Society the sum of one thousand dollars and to the Toronto Jewish Mission of whose Board I was a member for a number of years five hundred dollars.
5. I direct that the residue of my estate shall be divided into three parts, one part to consist of three fifths of such residue and the other two parts to consist of one fifth thereof, and I direct that the income derived from the said three fifths shall be paid to my wife during her life; and I bequeath to my son the income of one fifth part during his life; one half thereof for his own use, and the other in trust for and for the use of his said daughter Norton; and I bequeath to my daughter Helen Elliot George the other of the said fifth parts for her own use absolutely--upon Arthur's death the fifth part of which he and Norton are given the income shall go to Norton absolutely, and upon my wife's death the share in which she takes a life interest shall be equally divided and the income which is derived from one half thereof shall go to my son Arthur for his life, one half of such income to be for his own use and the other half thereof to be in trust for his daughter Norton. Upon his death the whole of such income shall go to Norton. The other half of the said three fifths part in which my wife takes a life interest I give, on my wife's death, to my daughter Helen for her own use.
7. In case of the death of my son or daughter, in my life time, leaving a child or children they shall take his or her or their parent's share.
8. To make any division required during the administration of any trust or duty arising from my will it shall not be necessary to turn into money all or any of the property belonging to my estate, the officers of the corporation of their own knowledge or with such assistance as they consider requisite may value any asset and such valuation shall conclusively establish the value thereof; and may apportion the assets.
9. In case any minor becomes Entitled to any share under this my will my executors or trustees may pay any income to which such minor is entitled to the father or mother of such minor, or to any person standing in loco parentis to such minor and may apply the interest or any part of the principal of such minors share towards his or her maintenance or education and where there are several brothers or sisters so entitled, the executors or trustees need not keep a separate account of the amount extended in respect of each child but the property coming through a common parent shall until division be deemed a common fund for the benefit of all the children Entitled under such parent.
10. My executors or trustees in addition to other investments authorized for Trustees may invest any trust money under their charge in the shares or debentures of any loan companies which invest the major part of their funds in mortgages or real estate and may reclaim for any length of time they think fit any shares, land, stock, security, mortgage or other investment or property which at the time of my death belong to my estate without being answerable for any loss occuring thereby whether any shares or stock so retained are paid up in full or not. They may also if they deem it expedient subscribe for any stock or share allotted to them or my estate on account of being as such executors or holders of the share or stock, but not unless there are or will be shortly funds available from which any liability which could be incurred by such subscriptions can be defrayed.
11. It is my intention that Arthur and Helen shall each upon my death take a vested interest in the three-fifths share of which their mother my wife gets the income for her life.
12. I have had conveyed to my daughter Helen Lot 52 and the east eighteen feet of Lot 51 on Knockmore Avenue on Plan 1860, Registry Office of East- and West-York. These lands are held by her in trust for me but she may at any time within two years after my death discharge such trust--by filing with my executors a declaration that she elects to hold the said lands as portion of her share of my estate, and in that case she shall, on the first anniversary of my death thereafter, be charged with the sum of two thousand seven hundred and twenty dollars with simple interest thereon from 1st January 1923 and the taxes charged upon the said land from the last mentioned date with interest as aforesaid as portion of her share of my estate. I deem it advisable that my executors should not require the said land to be conveyed to them until the time for election by Helen has passed--as the legal title is in her it will save considerable expense for my executors to simply release their claim with a brief recital of the circumstances if Helen elects to take the property. If she elects not to take it she will of course convey as my executors shall direct in the administration of my estate. The foregoing provision is not to deter Helen from purchasing the property from my executors at any price she and Arthur may agree upon in case she decides not to exercise the right given to her above.
13. In case of the death of my son or daughter in my life time without leaving any child surviving at my death, but leaving other issue, such issue shall take their ancestors share per stirpes.
(signed) J.G. Scott
Signed published and declared by the above named John Galloway Scott this 22nd day of August 1927 as and per his last will and testament, in the presence of us who in his presence and at his request and in the presence of each other subscribe our names as witnesses.
(signed) C.J. Elliot
? R. Hood
Florence H. Watson
John Galloway Scott made three codicils to his will within the next year. None of them alter the substance of the will much, except that he specifies that if Norton should predecease her own father Arthur and leave issue, her children should inherit her portion of his estate. What I find interesting about the codicils are the signatures of the witnesses. The will itself is witnessed by Cynthia Jane Elliot, John's sister-in-law (Mary Elliot's sister), and Florence Watson, the daughter of Sophia Watt Elliot and James Watson and the niece of John G. Scott through his wife. (I don't know who Mr. or Ms. Hood is, but I do know that the Hood family was related to the Elliot family through Sophia Watt Elliot and James Watson's daughter Clara, who married Dr. Frederick Collin Hood.) The first codicil is witnessed again by C.J. (Cynthia Jane) Elliot and by Violet Elliot, another of Mary (Elliot) Scott's sisters. The second codicil is witnessed by Florence Watson and Harriet R. Stayner, wife of T. Sutherland Stayner and yet another of Mary's sisters. The third is witnessed by Florence Watson and Cynthia Elliot. I believe that Cynthia, a spinster, was at this point living with John and Mary, so I suppose she was a natural choice to witness legal documents.
The value of John Galloway Scott's estate was calculated to be $162,790.00 in investments and $8,658.00 in real estate. Their home on Dunvegan Avenue is not mentioned in this will; my husband thinks it may have been owned by John's wife Mary Elliot, in which case she must have left a will as well. I'll look for it on my next visit.
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