The Will of John Galloway Scott

John  Galloway Scott (1836-1928) was the husband of Mary (Elliot) Scott (the daughter of William Elliot and Mary Oliphant).  He was the father of  Thomas E. Scott, who died at the age of 4, Arthur Herbert Scott (from whom our line descends), and Helen Scott, wife of Ruggles George.  His will is at the Archives of Ontario, microfilm MS584 Reel 128, number 59751.

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.

The Wedding of Minnie Davis and Arthur Herbert Scott

Here is another  beautifully described family wedding, from the "Aylmer Express" newspaper, April 21, 1892, p. 4a.

"Wedding  Bells:  It is a long time since society in Aylmer has been so stirred over the marriage of one of its daughters, as has been the case with the ceremony performed on Thursday last in the Baptist church.  The bride was Miss Minnie Davis, only daughter of A.J. Davis, Esq., and the groom Mr. Arthur Scott, of Montreal.  The church was beautifully decorated with flowers massive and beautiful arches being placed about half way down each of the centre aisles, and the altar being a mass of flowers.  Promptly at 12:30 the groom, accompanied by Mr. Elliot of Toronto, entered the church, and a few minutes later the  bride arrived leaning on the arm of her father, and passed up the aisle while the sweet strains of the wedding march pealed forth from the organ under the masterly hand of Prof. Vogt, of Toronto. She was accompanied by Miss L. Wood of Delhi, her bridesmaid, and Miss Blossom Scott, sister of the groom, who acted as an attendant.  The bride was dressed in a very handsome cream duchess silk gown, with a court train of great length.  The gown was trimmed with chiffon, and very elaborate cream real "Old Spanish" lace.  The veil was of silk Brussels, caught up with orange blossoms, and she carried a bouquet of natural roses, looking very charming and beautiful.  The bridesmaid was dressed in a pale heliotrope china silk gown trimmed in chiffon of the same shade, a bonnet of flowers and chiffon, making altogether a charming effect;  Little Blossom Scott her attendant, wore a cream dress, sailor hat, and looked very pretty.  She carried a handsome bouquet which was much admired.  The ceremony was performed by the Rev. A. T. Sowerby pastor of the church and Messrs. Beecher Bingham, J.J. Nairn of Aylmer, and J. Charlton and Geo. Mabee, of Toronto filled the position of ushers.

After the ceremony the guests drove over to the beautiful home of Mr. A.J. Davis just north of town, where a reception and dinner was given, the dinner being brought from London and served by waiters from that city.  It was the most elegant affair of the kind ever given in this section.  The bride received a much more than usual large number of presents, and they were very costly and elegant, and testified to the very high position which she holds in the hearts of her friends.  The happy couple will spend a few weeks visiting the principle American cities and then settle down in Montreal.  It is safe to say that no young lady in Aylmer stands higher in the estimation of all classes of society than did Miss Minnie, and deservedly so, as she was kind and considerate to all, and to know her was to more than respect her.  May she and Mr. Scott pass through life as joyously as their wedding day passed off, is the sincere wish of THE EXPRESS."  

Their wedding record identifies Howard Elliot as the "Mr. Elliot of Toronto" who was best man.  Yet another example of how close the Scott and Elliot families are through multiple generations.  Miss L. Wood was Lazell Wood.  Heliotrope, for those like me who didn't know, is a shade of purple.

Arthur was 24 and Minnie was 21 when they married.  The wedding sounds like a very celebratory affair, and I'm glad they had that.  This couple were to experience tragedy in their lives, as their son Howard Elliot Scott was to die in September 1916 at the Battle of Fleurs-Courcelette.  The death of his son apparently affected Arthur so deeply that he lost his business.  Their daughter Edythe (or Norton, as she was called) was my husband's grandmother.

Minnie died before Arthur, and he remarried in June of 1927.   His new bride was Kathleen Evangeline Fortier.  She was catholic (they married at L'Ascension Catholic church in Westmount) and they required a special dispensation to wed because of their different faiths.   Arthur died on June 12, 1939, at the age of 74, leaving Kathleen a widow.

Westmount Soldier's Wives League

I'm always excited when I discover something about the lives of women in our family.  They're more elusive than the men, but no less interesting.  Here's an organization that the Rutherford and Scott women involved themselves with during World War One, or "The Great War" as it was called at the time:  

The Westmount News, November 6, 1914

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN WESTMOUNT WOMEN ENROLL IN SOLDIER'S WIVES LEAGUE

"At the first business meeting of the Westmount Soldier's Wives League held Wednesday morning in Victoria Hall, Westmount, with Mrs. William Rutherford in the chair, the following ladies enrolled in the League:  ...Mrs. William Rutherford....Mrs. A. Rutherford...Mrs. Arthur H. Scott....
It was decided that the League should hold a meeting every Wednesday morning at 10:30 o'clock in Victoria Hall.    Groups of workers were formed to sew and knit for the Westmount Rifles, and it was announced that the Lady Scott chapter of the Daughters of the Empire would make and donate the 'housewives' for the regiment...." 

A "housewife" was a sewing kit that a soldier could carry around with him, with needle, thread, buttons, etc.

An example of a WWI sewing kit or "housewife"--this one is American.

This one is British.

Mrs. William Rutherford (Ida Bulmer) was the chair of the first meeting, although her husband, William Rutherford Jr., would have been 50 years old in 1914, and was unlikely to go to war.  William and Ida Rutherford's son (my husband's grandfather) John Bulmer Rutherford enlisted on March 21, 1916, at the age of 20.  We have in our possession a diary he kept during his training period.  He emerged safely from the conflict. 

Mrs. Arthur H. Scott (Minnie Davis) was not the wife of a soldier either. Her husband Arthur was 49 years old at the time.  She was the mother of Howard Elliot Scott, who did enlist on August 4, 1915.  He died at the Battle of Courcellette, September 16, 1916 (this battle was part of the Somme offensive).

Mrs. A. Rutherford was perhaps the wife of Andrew Rutherford.  Andrew was the brother of William Jr., and married a woman named Florence Mathilda Cornelia Paris on June 7, 1905.   However, their children, born between 1906 and 1910, would have been too young to enlist in this conflict. 

It seems that you did not actually have to be a soldier's wife to join...perhaps just a woman wanting to contribute to the war effort.

A postcard, circa 1910, from the McCord Museum, of Victoria Hall, where the League met weekly.

What was the scope of this organization?  There are a few more mentions of the League in Montreal newspapers over the course of the war.  The Montreal Gazette ran this column on  January 6, 1915:

WILL PAY MONTHLY FEES

MEETING OF WESTMOUNT SOLDIERS' WIVES' LEAGUE

" The Westmount Soldiers' Wives' League held their first meeting of the New Year in Victoria Hall yesterday morning.  There was a lengthy discussion over the question  of monthly fees, with the final decision that each member should pay the sum of twenty-five cents per month.  It was also decided to hold a monthly meeting of a social nature for the wives of the Westmount Rifles men, the first of these to be held from three to six on the afternoon of January 20th in the lodge room of Victoria Hall...The visiting report showed twenty-one families now on the league's visiting list.  A letter received from Major Stewart, thanking the league for the plum puddings supplied for the Christmas dinners for the Army Service Corps,  was read at the meeting.

The ladies will continue their knitting meetings for some time longer, and sewing meetings will be started soon. Mrs. Edmund Sheppard will be at Victoria Hall every Saturday morning from eleven to twelve to give out wool and receive completed work.  At the meeting at half-past ten next Saturday the Rev. A.P. Shatford will give an address."  

On September 15, 1905, the Montreal Gazette ran this notice:

CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN 

WESTMOUNT SOLDIERS WIVES LEAGUE MAKES REQUEST

"A special request was made at the meeting of the Westmount Soldiers' Wives' League yesterday morning for clothing for children about nine years old, and particularly for two overcoats for boys. The Soldiers' Comforts Committee asked for gramophone records, soap, writing pads and envelopes to be sent to the men at the front.

It was decided that instead of the three hundred pairs of socks previously voted for the fifth mounted rifles, that six hundred pairs would be sent. 

Tomorrow is the Red Cross sewing meeting of the League and, while last week's meeting was largely attended, the ladies would like it to be known that others would be welcome.  They have now ten sewing machines for the purpose of Red Cross work."

Sometime during 1915 the League edited and published a fundraising cookbook, imaginatively titled The Cook Book.  Chapters include witticisms such as "How to Preserve a Husband" and advice on "Good Rules for Housekeeping".   I wonder if Ida Rutherford or Minnie Scott contributed recipes?  Unfortunately, I can't find an image of it, but it is described in Culinary Landmarks:  A Bibliography of Canadian Cookbooks, 1825-1949 by Elizabeth Driver.

"The Cook Book.

Q86.1 1915

The/ cook book/ edited by the/ Westmount Soldiers'/ Wives' League/ Westmount Canada.

DESCRIPTION:  22.5 x 150 cm... Small tp illustration of soldier (2  cm high)...Thin card, with image on front, drawn in art-nouveau style, of a woman carrying a plate;  stapled...

Notes:  the aim  of publication, according to p 3,  was "to augment [the Leagues'] Treasury and provide further comforts, etc. for "Our soldier boys at the Front."  Arthur G. Racey...who did the cover design, was a cartoonist at the Montreal Star at the time The Cook Book was published.  Albert Samuel Brodeur, Alberic Bourgeois, Georges La Tour...and Napoleon Savard were book illustrators."   

 Towards the end of the year the League tackled another new enterprise.  This is from the Montreal Gazette, December 1, 1915:

FUND FOR WIDOWS

WESTMOUNT SOLDIERS' WIVES' LEAGUE MAKING PROVISION

"The Westmount Soldiers' Wives' League, at their meeting yesterday morning, voted $1,000 of the eighteen hundred of so which they cleared at their bazaar, as the nucleus of a fund for widows and orphans of soldiers.  They hope to add to this fund from time to time.

The sum of $25 was voted to Captain Bateman to be used for tobacco for the officers and men coming aboard the hospital ship of which he has charge, running between France and England.  

Arrangements were made to send five hundred pairs of socks to Lt-Col. Gunn for the men of the twenty-fourth and five hundred to Lt.-Col. Fisher for the twenty-third....as owing to the condition of the trenches a great many socks are required..."

Here's a snippet on the importance of lots and lots of socks in the trenches from the Australian history journal InsideHistory: 

“Woolen socks were vital during the war and had to be hand knitted to exact standards so they were seamless and comfortable. Aussie soldiers in the cold and muddy trenches needed a continuous supply of clean, dry socks to protect them against the debilitating ‘trench foot’ and they were often sent in ‘comfort boxes’ with cigarettes, food and mail. “The Library’s extensive WW1 collection includes over 900 diaries, with many entries revealing how socks were an obsession for many boys, along with letters and their pay.”

The League seems to have been a very business-like organization, whose mandate stretched as the War went on.  It seems that our women threw themselves into the cause within months of the War's declaration.  Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford chaired the first meeting, which suggests that she may have been  a driving force among Westmount society during her time.