Document A.31 · will · transcription: verbatim
Will of Fred S. Cooper of Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado, made 11 December 1919 — sole beneficiary and sole executor his son Theodore Cooper.
- repository
- Maintainer's family papers
- identifier
- Single-sheet typewritten will with handwritten signatures
- date
- 1919-12-11
What is transcribed: The complete will: header, body, the struck-out clause, testimonium and witness clause.
People named
| As written | Role | Identified as | What this document says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fred S. Cooper | testator | ||
| Theodore Cooper | beneficiary | ||
| [the testator's wife] | mentioned |
What this document records
Sole heir
EVERYTHING GOES TO ONE SON. Theodore Cooper is both sole beneficiary and sole executor. For a man with more than one child that is a decision, not a default.
A son is absent
EDWARD MERRELL COOPER IS NOT MENTIONED AT ALL — not a bequest, not a token, not a disinheriting clause. A silence, and it is recorded as one. It could mean he predeceased, was provided for in the testator's lifetime, or was deliberately passed over; the document distinguishes none of these. Argued on the person files, not here.
The struck out clause
A WIFE-BEQUEST LINE IS STRUCK OUT ON THE FACE OF THE DOCUMENT, which is unusually informative: it preserves evidence that the will was modified, and that a provision for a wife was contemplated and then removed. What the struck text said, and whether the change predates or postdates signing, are not established.
The middle initial
THE SIGNATURE READS "Fred S." — a primary-source attestation of the S middle initial, which supports the expansion to Frederic Stephen Cooper used elsewhere in the catalog. The document gives the initial, not the name; Stephen comes from other sources.
Residence
Aspen, Pitkin Co., Colorado in December 1919 — a long way from the Erwin, N.Y. of [A.30] fifty-four years earlier, and the document places him there directly.
Transcription and notes
Provenance, the sole-heir provision, the absent son, the struck-out wife clause and the
middle-initial attestation are all in the source: and coverage: headers and are not repeated
here.
Data — verbatim transcription
Header
Aspen, Colorado, December 11, 1919
Body
I, Fred S. Cooper, of Aspen, Pitkin County, State of Colorado, do make and publish this my last will and testament.
I give and bequeath to my son Theodore Cooper, all my real and personal estate.
~~I direct my executor to pay to my beloved wife Frances J. Cooper, such money as may be necessary for her maintenance and comfort during the term of her natural life.~~ [STRUCK OUT — entire line crossed through with horizontal pen-stroke]
I nominate and appoint my son Theodore Cooper as executor and I direct and require that said executor shall not be required to furnish bond or security.
In witness, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this eleventh day of December, 1919.
[signed] Fred S. Cooper
Witness clause
Signed, sealed, published and declared by Fred S. Cooper to be his last will and testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence and in the presence of one another afterward subscribed our names thereto as attesting witnesses at Aspen, Colo., this eleventh day of December, 1919.
Witness: W. K. Hanson [or M. K. Hanson — first initials partially legible] — Aspen, Colo. Witness: Geo. M. Parsons [or similar; surname spelling partially legible]