William died on March 31, 1895. Rebecca did not revise her will so when she died in 1901, the will was annexed into her estate and distributed among her children, who were her other heirs.
The facts that William died first, Rebecca did not revise her will, or that it was annexed into her estate are not what makes Rebecca’s will interesting, though. Apparently, Rebecca was a liberated woman before her time. In an era when women had few rights and little say, Rebecca produced a will boldly stating that her husband, William be given the right to use her real estate and personal property unless he remarried. Had William outlived her and remarried, he would have lost the rights to live in the family home or the entitlement to any of his deceased wife’s personal possessions.
I found no deeds or proof that Rebecca ever owned any real estate but the reality is that Rebecca was not willing to let her home or her personal items go to a woman even beyond the grave. I admire her for being a woman who was not afraid to assert her wishes in a time when many would not have done so.