Will of William Clifford LeMaster (1871-1922)

Record of the Last Will and Testament of W.C. LeMaster, Deceased


Victor, Colorado, July 10, 1922


I, W.C. LeMaster being of sound mind declare this my last will;


I give to my sons Ralph M. and W.C. LeMaster Jr. and my daughter Lella E. LeMaster the sum of one dollar each.


To my wife Pannel Brown LeMaster I will 25 shares of New Isis Theatre stock and M.W. Kersey notes of 600 - interest one half of stock in Foster Oil Co., and one half in J.W. Carruthers Oil stock.


To my daughter Gladys A. Moser all stocks, bonds & property of every description not mentioned above, including Chevrolet car - and, I request all funeral expenses, be paid jointly by my wife and daughter Gladys - as well as hospital bill, first exhausting any money I may have in bank toward same -


I ask the Court to appoint my wife Pannel B. LeMaster & daughter Gladys A. Moser joint executrixs without bond.


Witness my hand & seal this 10 day of July, 1922


W.C. LeMaster


Witnesses: Robert E. Roberts, Chris Larsen


Presented for filing and probate by Pannel B. LeMaster this fifth day of September, A.D. 1922


K.C. Gustin, clerk


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This transcription is of the last will and testament of my paternal great-granduncle, William Clifford LeMASTER (1871-1922).  There is much of interest in this will, not the least of which is that he remarried after divorcing his first wife, Lella Edith LEWIS.


In the 1920 census of Victor, Teller County, Colorado, William and his son Ralph were living in the household of Francis Hall, the proprietor of a restaurant.  William's occupation was listed as the proprietor of a theatre.  Also living in the household was 34 year old Pannill W. BROWN, born in Texas, an organist in the theatre.  

Sometime between 1920 and 1922, William and Pannill must have married.  I wrote to the clerk's office in Teller County, but was unsuccessful in obtaining a record.

The Importance of Staying Connected

In going through my inbox, I re-discovered an email from Jill at Adventures of Grandma Honey, my cousin through the LEMASTER side.  Jill and I are third cousins, her great-grandfather William Clifford and my great-grandfather, Luman Cooper LeMASTER(s) were brothers.


Her ancestor "went west" to Colorado and our families have not been in contact for many years.  Thank you internet for allow us to reconnect and learn more about each other.  I enjoy reading her blog and hope she does the same with mine.


The importance of staying connected hit home when I re-read her initial email to me where she quoted her uncle Don, who knew a bit about the family and after being directed to my blog discovered things he didn't know about the family.  One of the most interesting quotes about his knowledge of the family history was this:

"By the time I was born in 1925, both of my grandfathers were dead. My father's father expired in 1901, my mother's father in 1922. I did not learn until many years later that a great-grandfather survived until I was 6! Here he was a Civil War hero and my mother never mentioned him! If my memory is correct, he had 12 children."

 Here, just a few generations removed, the fact that a great-grandfather had served in the Civil War was lost to that branch of the family!  That is why we do this research - so that other generations do not lose their history.


Later in the email, Jill's uncle Don mentioned Dr. Ord Otterbein LeMASTER, a younger brother of our great-grandfathers:

"I noted in that genealogy website a man named Ord LeMaster, who was a physician from Sidney, Ohio.

When he retired — it could have been the late '40s — he came to California and my mother and I went to Los Angeles to meet him at a family reunion."

Dr. Ord died in 1937, so it must have been in the mid-1930s when he visited.  So at least 70 years had gone by since our families have reconnected again via the Internet.


If you get a chance, take a visit over to the Adventures of Grandma Honey and say "hello" to cousin Jill.

Civil War Pensioners: Jay County, Indiana

While scrolling through Google books on Memorial Day weekend, I came across the Congressional Set list of Civil War pensioners of Jay County, Indiana published in 1883.





Scrolling through the names I discovered several familiar ones, including the following relatives:

• William F. METZNER, of Bryant, wounded in the right thigh, receiving $ 6.00 per month, on roll since October 1867.  [William was the son of John and Catherine (YOUNG) METZNER; he served in Company E, 89th Indiana Infantry; after the war he married Mary Ann HALEY, daughter of Sebastian and Lydia (RADER) HALEY.]