So Interesting, So Unrelated: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Popular Name”

 

A Mother’s Unending Love or Bitterness?

A Will and a Bequest to a Lost Willis

 

Once in a while, while searching for records for an ancestor, I run across a record for someone with the same name, a record so striking and evocative that I just can’t let it go. As I was researching the first name “Willis” in the Smith line, I ran across a 1902 will with a bequest to a Willis Smith—not the correct Willis Smith I was searching for, but obviously a man with a fascinating story. I just had to write about him, even though he’s not a part of the family tree.

A Union County, Kentucky mother by the name of Lucinda Smith made a will in January 1902, just a few weeks before her death. In the will, she divided her money and possessions among her three daughters, making especial provision for her youngest daughter, Della, who was still a minor.

Lucinda Smith Will Transcript found on Ancestry

Apparently, Lucinda also had one son, who received the briefest mention and strangest bequest in the will:

“And to my son Willis Smith, if he be alive, I will my own picture.”

What does this bequest mean? What was the purpose?

It sounds as if Lucinda was estranged from her son—that he left home and either never wrote to his family, or stopped corresponding with them, leaving them wondering where he was. Lucinda wasn’t even sure he was alive. As a parent, I can imagine the endless worry and sense of loss Lucinda suffered.

But was there also a bit of malice in the bequest? Did Lucinda leave him her photo as a reproach? A physical reminder of the parent he had abandoned, in the hope that he would feel some guilt and responsibility for his lack of care for her?

Lucinda also left young Della a picture of Lucinda’s husband/Della’s father, Yarbrough H. Smith, and a picture of Willis Smith.  I surmise that she wanted Della to remember her long-lost brother, which would seem to indicate that Lucinda still loved her wayward son.

Out of curiosity I tried to track down this Willis Smith, but haven’t been able to definitively identify him. A few other trees on Family Search and Ancestry variously have him living and dying in either Oklahoma or California, and I found another Willis of the right age and birth location who lived in Texas, However, there is little evidence that any of those Willis Smiths were Lucinda’s son.

So it appears I will never know if this mysterious Willis ever received the photo of his mother that she wanted him to have. What a fascinating little research rabbit hole to stumble upon!

Sources:

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/570870:9066?tid=81812584&pid=262378657406&queryId=28cf53a219fbb3f3066b3053fe6722f6&_phsrc=Jng9552&_phstart=successSource