- Date: 13 June 1898
- Place: Sidney, Cheyenne County, Nebraska
- Document: Last will and testament of Joseph Sharmer (Joseph I, “Uncle Joe”)
- Witnesses: D. P. Harrington and A. D. Hewitt [?]
- Condition: 2 pages; photocopy of the original
Each page of the document is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
PAGE 1
Know all men by these presents:— That I, Joseph Sharmer of Sidney, Cheyenne County, Nebraska, do hereby make this my last will and testament and do hereby revoke all Wills and Testaments heretofore made by me:
First:— All of the cattle commonly referred to as “Sharmer cattle,” are and have been the property of my wife Katie Sharmer, and I hereby declare that I have and claim no ownership whatever in said cattle.
Second:— I hereby give devise & bequeath to my beloved wife Katie Sharmer all of my property both real & personal of whatever kind or description.
Third:— I hereby constitute & appoint my wife Katie Sharmer sole executrix of this my last Will & Testament & Guardian of my minor children, without bond; and I hereby request & direct her to use her best judgment in the administration of my estate, paying my funeral expenses & all my legal debts as soon as practicable.
In Witness Whereof in the presence of the witnesses whose names are subscribed hereto I sign my name at the same time declaring this to be
PAGE 2
my last Will & Testament on this 13th day of June 1898.
Joseph Sharmer
We, D. P. Harrington & A. D. Hewitt [?] hereby, at the request of the testator Joseph Sharmer who in our presence signed the foregoing instrument subscribe our names in his presence and in the presence of each other, as witnesses to said testator’s last Will & Testament.
D. P. Harrington
A. D. Hewitt [?]
Notes & context
Signed the day before he died. Joseph Sharmer died at his home in Sidney on Tuesday, 14 June 1898, aged 69, after a year’s illness; the newspapers said he became unconscious about twenty-four hours before his death (Uncle Joe and Katie). This will is dated Monday, 13 June — so he signed it at almost the last moment he could. The signature on the copy is badly shaken.
The family he left. His wife Katie was thirty-six years younger than he was, and their four children were all minors: Laura (Aunt Larry), Kathryn, Josephine (Dodie), and Joseph — the Joe of the letters on this site — who was seven months old.
“Sharmer cattle.” Joseph I had raised cattle in three states (Joseph Sharmer I). By declaring that the herd known as the “Sharmer cattle” already belonged to Katie, and leaving her everything else besides, he made sure she would control the family’s property without delay. Nine years later Katie herself died, in April 1907, when Joe was nine.
Uncertain readings: The second witness’s name is hard to read; “Hewitt” is a best guess. The original will may survive in the Cheyenne County court records in Sidney.
