1842.

4. His will also establishes, upon its face, that the state of his relations, at its date, toward his wife and the members of her family, and his other relatives, as cordial and sincere. It will be important to inquire whether subsequently these relations were in any degree changed, for better or for worse.

5. His will also bears internal evidence that it was intended as the permanent disposition of his estate. This idea is also confirmed by the history of its preparation and execution, detailed by Mr. Havens; and is further confirmed by the characteristics of the testator. He is uniformly spoken of by all the witnesses as a man of sound judgment, but very slow in his intellectual processes, and very decided, even obstinate, in his determinations once made. It is a matter of common observation, that men whose minds are not rapid, and who, therefore, reach their results by slow and painful processes, are distinguished for their tenacity to a judgment once formed, and for their extreme reluctance to change. i. 194, 257, 309, 624, 746. ii. 21. iii. 9.

In addition to the evidence upon the face of the will, his consultations with Mr. Havens establish other particulars.

1st. The amount given to his wife would have discharged his duty to her if it had been limited to her life; but he gave her the absolute disposal of it after her death, knowing, from her devotion to her family, that it would ultimately go to them. His pride was involved that he should not disappoint their expectations, ante, S. i. 202.

2d. He named no one to Mr. Havens as having his affection and entitled to his gratitude, but his brother Daniel; his large and expensive family excited his consideration, and his devotion to his business, at the ruin of his health, but to the increase of their mutual wealth, made him grateful. Says Mr. Havens, "He spoke distinctly of Mr. Daniel Parish-that he had been his partner a long time that they had made his money together-and, although he was a man of handsome fortune himself, he had a large and expensive family-and he, Henry Parish, seemed to feel particularly anxious Daniel Parish and his family should be provided for liberally by his will." Daniel was his youngest brother; brought up and cared for by him from boyhood, and Daniel had repaid his almost paternal regard. i. 109.

1842.

3d. Although his relations with his brother James were very different, yet, in view of his large family-in view, perhaps, of his ill-success, and in atonement, perhaps, of his own past neglect-in the last solemn act of his will, he said to Mr. Havens," he did not wish to make a distinction between his brothers." In the same spirit, in respect to his two sisters, although one had a family and the other had none, he discarded the idea he first entertained of making a larger legacy to the one than to the other, and finally made no difference between them. These considerations elevate the character of Henry Parish.

i. 202. iii. 22.

It will be curious, in a subsequent page, to inquire whether Henry Parish, thus careful of his own family, would, in his sound mind and of his own free will, have changed all the characteristics of his life so far as to strip his only brothers of the accumulated residue of his estate, which he had so thoughtfully given them by his will, and to give such residue to his childless wife, to whom and to whose relatives he had already given no less a sum than $426,000.

And it will also be curious, though sad, to inquire what was the subsequent conduct of this wife toward this husband. Did she evince her gratitude by accepting this munificent provision with a grateful heart? or, when he was stricken down with apoplexy, paralysis, and epilepsy, did she take advantage of his helpless, imbecile condition, and get up pretended codicils to his will? Did she endeavor to pervert one of the most cherished provisions of his will, ignominiously strip his brother Daniel of his honorary position as an executor, and deprive both brothers of every farthing of his estate, intending to sweep the entire accumulated residue into her own coffers? Shall we find her, with the same purpose, even engaged in an effort to take to herself the several ten-thousand-dollar legacies fondly intended for his own nieces and nephews? We shall see.

The will was executed in duplicate; one of them he took into his personal possession; the other, under sealed envelope, was put and permanently kept in his tin box, deposited in the Phoenix Bank. It was endorsed "Last Will and Testament of Henry Parish." This tin box also contained his securities, and was taken from the bank to his office from day to day, as wanted in the i. 195, 200, 310.

transaction of business.

1842,

The contents of this will were unknown, except to the testator and his counsel; he preserved unbroken silence.

Sept. 20.

i. 225, 258, 310, 347, 369. iii. 51.

He executed an unlimited power-of-attorney to Daniel Parish and Mr. Kernochan, joint and several. iii. 550.

Sept. 26.

1843.

Sailed for Europe with his wife and her brother, Henry Delafield. iii. 68.

Daniel attended to the joint and private business, with the aid of Mr. Folsom, and wrote to and received from Henry letters by every packet. The business consisted in getting in the, as yet, unrealized assets of the old firms, making permanent investments of the realized capital of H. & D. Parish, and in continuing the cotton speculations, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. iii. 393.

i. 344.

Daniel made large permanent investments in United States and State stocks, and in bond and mortgage, at very favorable iii. 19.

rates.

Henry continues the cotton speculation in Europe, buying in Havre, and relying upon a short crop. iii. 363.

Daniel buys for himself and Henry, for residences, two lots on the north side of Union Square, each 50 feet front, and, unable to buy them together, selects for Henry the most valuable of the two, being next to the corner of Broadway. Cost $24,000. iii. 373. i. 603.

Henry approves the purchase, regrets that the lots are not together, and urges Daniel to make exchanges with intermediate owners, so that they can build their residences "side by side," as they had done in Barclay street, and had intended in Washington Place. iii. 375.

Affliction falls heavily on his brother James, in the death of two daughters, each a legatee under his will of $10,000.

i. 593.

1843.

1844.

The ninth and last child of Daniel was born, named Helen; also the second child of Mrs. Sherman, named Margaret. b. iii. 407.

At Baden-Baden, Henry is again struck with a fit of apoplexy,
the second warning of his hereditary disease of the brain; his at-
iii. 403, 512.
tack is described by his wife as "frightful."
i. 707.

Cotton falls, and Daniel forsees a loss to the firm. Chagrined that this should occur under his management, he purchased cotthe up ton in his own name, and at his own risk, hoping to make loss, and intending to divide the gain, if any, with Henry, but to foot the losses himself. This intention was not known to Henry, i. 405. but was known to Mr. Folsom.

Cotton continues to fall upon the prospect of a large crop, and Daniel plunges deeper and deeper on his private account.

The result was, that the losses of the firm in cotton speculations 1, 2, and 3, amounted to about $22,000, of which $11,000 arose upon the purchases made by Henry in Europe. The private losses of Daniel reached the frightful amount of upward of $200,i. 243, 398. 000.

The letters of Henry to Daniel are most affectionate and full of sympathy, and blame himself for his own sanguine letters predicting a short crop as the probable inducement to Daniel's operaiii. 361-391. tions.

The wife of Henry, in postscripts to Henry's letters, wrote several times to Mrs. Daniel Parish and her two daughters, Mary iii. 397-414. and Sarah.

Mr. Kernochan also corresponds with Henry.

iii. 391-397.

These letters are of the first importance, to show the close affection between the two brothers, and the real or feigned regard of Henry's wife for Daniel and his family. They also define the relation of Mr. Kernochan to the two brothers, the friend of both, but the close, intimate, and social companion of Henry.

July 20th.

Henry remained abroad as long as he intended, and arrived iii. 68. in New York.

2

1844.

1845.

Prompt, as usual, in attending to matters of business, and without delay, he called on Mr. Havens to know the effect of the deaths of James' children upon his will. He was informed of the legal effect, which was no other than this, that their legacies had lapsed and would fall into the residuary estate given to the two brothers. He was satisfied. At the same time, but incidentally, he stated that he had bought lots on Union Square for a residence, and, intending to sell his house in Barclay street, had some idea of adding a codicil to his will, substituting for his wife one for the other, but that he had not yet made up his mind about it. He spoke of no other change whatever. He called again in a short time, but to the same purport and to the same effect. After the second visit he never called again.

i. 196, 200.

By the end of 1844, the exact losses on cotton, both of the firm and of Daniel, had been ascertained at the amount before stated, and accordingly we find that, with the prompt attention for which he was distinguished, he had marked out his course in regard to them, which reflects upon him the highest credit, and demonstrates his deep though quiet affection for his brother. His sympathy was not in words only; he carried it out into substantial deeds. i. 337, 398, 404, 408, 436. iii. 18, 19.

February.

He requested Mr. Folsom to make out an account showing the losses of the firm on cotton, and another showing the gain of the firm upon the permanent investments made by Daniel during his absence. This gain was calculated solely upon the market price, but was not realized, nor expected to be realized, because he intended to and did keep the investments; and this calculation could therefore have been made with no other motive than to accomplish his object in a delicate way, and with a due regard to the pride of Daniel. Ib.

The losses of the firm upon cotton were found to be $22,311 14, and his half of the imagined or unrealized gain upon the investments was found to be $22,749 24. He requested Mr. Folsom to debit his own account with the sum total, and thereby made Daniel a present of the sum of $45,060 38. 1b.

Henry Parish was not only undemonstrative, but extremely reticent; hence no one ever knew of this affectionate conduct, except the two brothers and Mr. Folsom. His wife did not know it, but she did know of the losses, and, supposing that losses would excite anger and dislike, she expected to justify her future invasion