How were estates passed on, 1800 to 1914?
A power of attorney given to a live-in employee puts the employer's money and good name in the employee's hands, and a family dispute can rewrite the record. A family that hides a bigamous second marriage gives up control of the burial; the second wife buried him under the false name and paid for the stone.
- Stories
- 249
- Main regions
- Europe, North America, South Asia
- Main subjects
- Literature and art, Science and medicine, Secret heirs
- Legal traditions
- Common law, Civil law
- Updated
- 30 October 2026
Every story, 1800 to 1914
- 1913Menelik II's death was kept secret in 1913, and his named heir Lij Iyasu was deposed in 1916 and died a prisonerWikisource (primary text) and 7 more
- 1913Rudolf Diesel vanished from a Channel steamer in 1913 and left his wife a bag of money with papers showing his debtsSmithsonian Magazine and 3 more
- 1913Adolphus Busch's widow stayed in Germany during World War I, and the US Alien Property Custodian took her share of the brewery until she came homemissourioverthere.org and 3 more
- 1913Under the 1913 Natives Land Act a farmer named Kgobadi was ordered off his land by sunset, and his baby died on the road and was buried at night in a stolen graveProject Gutenberg and 2 more
- 1912Scott's last plea raised £76,000: widows were paid by their husbands' rank, and £10,000 founded the Scott Polar Research Institutespri.cam.ac.uk and 5 more
- 1912Bram Stoker's widow sued over Nosferatu, and a German court ordered every copy of the film destroyedEncyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more
- 1911Nine Americans won $41.3 million from China on 1911 imperial railway bonds, and the judgment was set aside after Beijing protestedcase-law.vlex.com and 3 more
- 1911Alma Mahler held Mahler's unfinished Tenth Symphony for decades and first demanded a veto over Deryck Cooke's completionmahlerfoundation.org and 2 more
- 1910Tolstoy signed a secret will in the woods to give his copyrights to the publicProject Gutenberg and 4 more
- 1910A duke bought Kylemore Castle with an American heiress's family money, lost it to debts, and later went to prisonThe Irish Times and 5 more
- 1910A prince left the family emeralds to his mistress in 1910, and every senior British royal will has been sealed sinceCourts and Tribunals Judiciary and 4 more
- 1910On Yap, a family stayed rich for generations on a stone coin lying at the bottom of the seaInternet Archive and 2 more
- 1910Dr Crippen was hanged for killing his wife, and the court refused to let his mistress take the wife's estate through his willThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 more
- 1910Mark Twain fired his secretary Isabel Lyon in 1909 and wrote 429 pages accusing her and her husband, a text kept private until 2015lynncullen.com and 1 more
- 1909Leopold II owned the Congo personally, married his 26-year-old mistress five days before he died, and his daughters sued for the moneyWikipedia (English) and 2 more
- 1909A Bengal prince was cremated in 1909, a holy man claimed to be him, and the Privy Council confirmed it in 1946; he died two days laterCaseMine and 3 more
- 1909Geronimo's descendants sued Skull and Bones in 2009 for the skull a member's 1918 letter says was taken from his grave, and a federal judge dismissed the casehistorynewsnetwork.org and 5 more
- 1908Lord Sackville's son by a married Spanish dancer sued for Knole and the peerage, and the court ruled all her children illegitimateInternet Archive and 4 more
- 1908A Nawab of Dhaka pledged the Daria-i-Noor to the British in 1908, and Bangladesh has not opened the vault to see if it is still thereen.banglapedia.org and 3 more
- 1908Cyrus Teed's followers watched his body waiting for him to rise, until the county health officer ordered him buried; a hurricane later took the tombwrldrels.org and 2 more
- 1907Cassie Chadwick said she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter, borrowed against forged Carnegie notes, and broke an Ohio bankcase.edu and 3 more
- 1907Ilia Chavchavadze was shot dead on the road to his Saguramo estate in 1907, and the Georgian church made him a saint in 1987oca.org and 3 more
- 1906John D. Rockefeller's father lived 50 years as "Dr. Levingston" with a second wife and was buried under the false nameLibrary of Congress and 4 more
- 1906Marshall Field's son was shot two months before he died, and his will locked his fortune away for the grandsons until 1943Time and 3 more
- 1906Cézanne's 1902 will left everything to his son and nothing to his wife Hortense, and they sold his studio to Vollard for 275,000 francsspectator.com and 3 more
- 1905Jane Stanford, sole funder of Stanford University, died of strychnine in 1905 and the university president said it was natural causesInternet Archive and 2 more
- 1905The Bishop Museum lent 83 burial objects to a Hawaiian group for one year, the group sealed them in a cave, and a federal judge jailed its leader until they came outarchive.archaeology.org and 4 more
- 1905Savva Morozov's mother pushed him out of the family mills, he was found shot in Cannes, and his insurance went to a Bolshevik actressgw2ru.com and 3 more
- 1905Ernst Abbe gave the Zeiss works to a foundation, and after 1945 a western and an eastern Zeiss sued each other over the name for 17 yearscarl-zeiss-stiftung.de and 2 more
- 1905The celibate Harmony Society dwindled to eight members, the US Supreme Court refused the heirs a share in 1902, and the last trustees split the fortune with PennsylvaniaCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
- 1905Jules Verne's son rewrote his posthumous novels, and Verne's lost 1863 novel stayed in a locked safe until his great-grandson forced it open in 1989depauw.edu and 3 more
- 1904Stanley was refused burial beside Livingstone in Westminster Abbey, and his papers were sold to Belgium in four partsafricamuseum.be and 6 more
- 1904Germany sent the heads of Herero and Nama prisoners to Berlin for race research, and the Charité returned 20 skulls to Namibia in 2011thenationalnews.com and 2 more
- 1904Three Lemps shot themselves in the family mansion, Prohibition closed the brewery, and the house now sells haunted toursstlouis-mo.gov and 4 more
- 1904Herzl's testament asked for his children to lie beside him; Israel buried his suicide son and his daughter there 76 years after their deathshnn.us and 2 more
- 1903Paul Gauguin died in the Marquesas with no will, the colony auctioned his paintings for a few francs, and his widow Mette got about 4,000 francsgiquelloetassocies.fr and 3 more
- 1902Parliament cancelled the Kaiser's 15 Rhodes Scholarships in 1916, and Zimbabwean officials called for Rhodes's body to be removedInternet Archive and 5 more
- 1902In Brewster's Millions, a man must spend a $1 million inheritance in a year with nothing to show for it in order to inherit $7 millionProject Gutenberg and 2 more
- 1902A 1953 newspaper said a chimney sweep blocked Émile Zola's flue in 1902, and the Panthéon ceremony for his remains ended with a gunman wounding Dreyfushistorytoday.com and 3 more
- 1901Giuseppe Verdi's villa was closed by a Parma court in 2022 over an heirs' fight, then taken by the state for about 7.6 million euros against a 30 million appraisalquotidiano.net and 4 more
- 1900Nietzsche's sister took control of his papers while he was insane, published The Will to Power, and Hitler came to her funeralWikipedia (English)
- 1900Oscar Wilde died bankrupt in Paris; his friend Robbie Ross bought back the rights and gave the income to Wilde's sonsthecanadianencyclopedia.ca and 1 more
- 1900A lawyer and a valet killed William Marsh Rice in 1900 to take the fortune he left to found Rice Institutechroniclingamerica.loc.gov and 2 more
- 1900The Golden Dawn expelled its founder in 1900, his envoy Aleister Crowley tried to seize the London vault in a mask, and Yeats and the landlord threw him outholythornpress.com and 2 more
- 1899Horace Tabor left his wife for Baby Doe, lost his silver fortune in 1893, and Baby Doe was found frozen at his last mineWikipedia (English) and 2 more
- 1899The House of Lords gave the Poulett earldom to the 6th Earl's 15-year-old son over the elder son the Earl disownedUK Parliament, Hansard and 6 more
- 1899Johann Strauss II gave up Austrian citizenship and his church to remarry, then left his fortune to a music society instead of his familyprojekt-gutenberg.org and 3 more
- 1898Peary brought six Inuit to New York in 1897, and the museum faked a funeral and kept Minik's father's skeleton until 1993nunatsiaq.com and 3 more
- 1898A Wapping butcher's son claimed the Tichborne baronetcy, and a 188-day perjury trial sent him to prison for 14 yearsUK Parliament, Hansard and 4 more
- 1898Lewis Carroll's diaries lost four volumes and ten pages before reaching the British Library in 1969; his Alice manuscript sold at Sotheby's in 1928contrariwise.info and 3 more
- 1897The last Prince of Condé was found hanged after willing Chantilly to an 8-year-old prince, who later gave it to the Institut de France while in exileWikipedia (English) and 5 more
- 1897Diamond magnate Barney Barnato went overboard from a mail steamer in 1897, a blackmailer shot his nephew Woolf Joel dead the next year, and his son inherited at twojewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
- 1897George Pullman's will cut his twin sons to $3,000 a year for lacking "a sense of responsibility," and his family buried him under steel rails and concretearchive.archaeology.org and 3 more
- 1896Alfred Nobel gave 94 percent of his fortune to prizes, and his relatives and the King of Sweden tried to stop itnobelpeacecenter.org and 3 more
- 1896Baron Maurice de Hirsch left his fortune to his widow, who gave it away and passed the rest to an adopted sonjewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
- 1896The British Museum bought the Broighter gold boat for £600, and the Crown sued the Museum in 1903 to send it to DublinInternet Archive and 2 more
- 1895The Dukes of Hamilton sold Hamilton Palace's collections in 1882 and 1919, then demolished the palace over mining subsidenceUK Parliament, Hansard and 7 more
- 1895Dutch troops took a quarter tonne of gold from the Lombok palace in 1894, and with it the only manuscript of Majapahit's royal chronicleamsterdam.wereldmuseum.nl and 4 more
- 1894A widow inherited a Kobe sugar trader, her manager made it bigger than Mitsui, rioters burned it, and it failed in 1927kotobank.jp and 3 more
- 1894California's last Mexican governor signed what he said was a mortgage, the courts called it a sale, and he lost his last ranch at 90homesteadmuseum.blog and 2 more
- 1894Senator James Fair locked his fortune in a trust, a school principal produced a pencil will and a marriage contract, and his children turned on hercslfdn.org and 2 more
- 1894Gustave Caillebotte left France more than 60 Impressionist works in 1894; the state refused part and hung 38 in 1897musee-orsay.fr and 3 more
- 1893A 10-year-old Sikh maharaja signed away the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria, and other countries still claim itWikipedia (English) and 2 more
- 1893Bismarck's banker Gerson von Bleichröder left a fortune to his sons; his son's painting went to Göring, and Bavaria returned it in 2017 and bought it back the same daydeutsche-biographie.de and 2 more
- 1892The 3rd Duke of Sutherland left his fortune to his second wife, and she went to Holloway prison for contemptUK Parliament, Hansard and 4 more
- 1892Lizzie Borden was acquitted of killing her father and stepmother, inherited his fortune with her sister, and wrote her sister out of her willus-data.org and 1 more
- 1892A widow left her inherited fortune to a Lincoln charity home; her family said a planchette and her dead husband's spirit guided her, and Nebraska upheld the will in 1895Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
- 1892Borley Rectory passed from father to son for 64 years, drew ghost hunters for a decade, and burned in 1939 with the insurers suspecting arsonpsi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk and 2 more
- 1892Walt Whitman's brain was removed at his autopsy for a brain club and was destroyed within a yearpubs.lib.uiowa.edu and 2 more
- 1891Moltke bought Kreisau with his 1866 war grant; his great-grandnephew was hanged in 1945 and the family lost the estatekrzyzowa.pl and 4 more
- 1891Pedro II's heirs still collect 2.5 percent of every land sale in central Petrópolis, 137 years after the empire fellub.edu and 2 more
- 1891Jacob Waltz died in 1891 and his carer sold maps to his supposed gold mine; searchers have died looking for it sinceazstateparks.com and 2 more
- 1891Herman Melville's widow tied his unpublished papers in bundles in 1891, and Billy Budd stayed in a breadbox until a biographer opened it in 1919harvardfilmarchive.org and 3 more
- 1891P.T. Barnum's will paid a grandson to take the Barnum name; sources give the sum as $25,000 or a share of the estatecollections.ctdigitalarchive.org and 4 more
- 1890Richard Burton's widow burned his manuscript of The Scented Garden and his diaries after he diedgrolierclub.omeka.net and 2 more
- 1890Van Gogh's brother died six months after him, and Theo's widow built the reputation from the paintings she inheritedvangoghmuseum.nl and 3 more
- 1890William Waldorf Astor built a hotel beside his aunt's house over who was "Mrs. Astor", and her son built a taller one on hersmentalfloss.com and 3 more
- 1890The Dominican landlords evicted José Rizal's family from Calamba in 1890, and the United States bought the friar estates in 1903Project Gutenberg and 2 more
- 1890Louis Le Prince filmed moving pictures in 1888, vanished from a train in 1890, and his son died after testifying against Edisonmuseumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk and 4 more
- 1890Joseph Merrick's manager stole his savings, the London Hospital took him in, and after his death it kept his skeleton while his flesh went to an unmarked gravelondonmuseum.org.uk and 2 more
- 1890A widow at 19 promised to guard her family's two great bronze cauldrons, hid them through seven Japanese raids, and gave them to the statetouch.shio.gov.cn and 3 more
- 1890Schliemann smuggled Priam's Treasure out of the Ottoman Empire and gave it to Berlin, the Red Army took it in 1945, and Moscow kept it secret for 50 yearssmb.museum and 2 more
- 1889Austria's crown prince shot his 17-year-old lover and himself at Mayerling, and the throne passed to the man killed at SarajevoWikipedia (English) and 1 more
- 1889Antonio Meucci could not pay $10 to renew his telephone caveat, Bell got the patent, and Meucci died before the courts ruledgovinfo.gov and 2 more
- 1889Father Damien was buried on Molokai where he had served leprosy patients, Belgium took the body in 1936, and Hawaii got back his right hand in 1995US National Park Service and 2 more
- 1888John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, sold it off in pieces while addicted to morphine, and died poor in 1888, leaving his widow a pauperhistorynet.com and 2 more
- 1888The Nobel brothers built Russia's largest oil company in Baku; Ludvig's son fled the Bolsheviks disguised as a peasant and sold half the shares to Standard Oilaapg.org and 4 more
- 1887Carlsberg's founder gave his brewery to a foundation after a feud with his son, who built a rival brewery beside itJournal article (DOI) and 3 more
- 1886Bavaria deposed Ludwig II as insane over his castle debts, he died in a lake the day after his arrest, and Neuschwanstein opened to paying visitors within weeksneuschwanstein.de and 5 more
- 1886Emily Dickinson's poems were edited by her brother's mistress, and her sister sued the mistress for a strip of landarchive.emilydickinson.org and 3 more
- 1885Glenveagh's builder evicted 244 people in three days, a later owner vanished in a storm, and the last owner gave the castle to Irelandnationalparks.ie and 5 more
- 1885A Georgia planter left his estate to his daughter by an enslaved girl, and his white relatives lost their challenge in 1887Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
- 1885Grant lost his savings in the Grant & Ward fraud and wrote memoirs that paid his widow about $450,000US National Park Service and 5 more
- 1885Kitchener had the Mahdi's tomb destroyed in 1898 and his skull taken, and Parliament debated it before the skull was buried at Wadi HalfaUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
- 1885Sarah Althea Hill produced a marriage contract and a will from San Francisco's richest man, federal judges ruled them forged, and her husband was shot dead attacking a Supreme Court justiceCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
- 1885Victor Hugo left 50,000 francs to the poor and asked for their hearse; France gave him a state funeral that drew more than two million peopledeslettres.fr and 2 more
- 1885Jumbo the elephant was killed by a train in 1885; his skeleton, hide, heart and ashes went to four different ownerstufts.edu and 3 more
- 1884The last Kamehameha princess left her lands to a school, and a judge removed its trustees for self-dealing 115 years laterarchives.starbulletin.com and 3 more
- 1884A 1997 essay called "Broken Trust" led a Hawaii court to remove the Bishop Estate trustees, who were paid up to $900,000 a yeararchives.starbulletin.com and 2 more
- 1883France seized Chambord in 1915 because its owner served Austria, while his half-brothers, who fought for the Allies, sued him for a bigger sharechambord.org and 6 more
- 1883Emperor Tự Đức's will called his heir unfit, and his regents crowned four emperors in just over a year and poisoned twovi.wikisource.org and 5 more
- 1882A 16-year-old poisoned his grandfather to stop him changing his will, and New York's highest court took the farm from him in 1889Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 2 more
- 1882Robert Lincoln had his mother declared insane the day after detectives saw $56,000 in bonds sewn into her petticoatsencyclopedia.com and 2 more
- 1880Japanese scientists dug up more than 1,600 Ainu remains for study, and Ainu groups sued universities to bring them home47news.jp and 4 more
- 1880Edwin Drake drilled the first US oil well in 1859, lost his savings by 1866, and lived on a Pennsylvania state pensionnpgallery.nps.gov and 2 more
- 1880Gold was found on John Sutter's land in 1848, his son built Sacramento on it against his wishes, and he died in a Washington hotel waiting for Congress to pay himWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
- 1879A widow said the Duke of Portland had faked his own death as a London shopkeeper, and the coffin was opened to settle itUniversity of Nottingham and 2 more
- 1879Thérèse Humbert borrowed for 20 years against an inheritance from an American millionaire who never existed, and the safe held almost nothingcomplaintes.criminocorpus.org and 2 more
- 1877Cornelius Vanderbilt left nearly all of $100 million to one son, and the son he passed over argued spiritualism had unhinged himAmerican Heritage and 3 more
- 1877Argentina confiscated Rosas's property and sentenced him to death; he died a tenant farmer in England and was reburied in 1989infobae.com and 3 more
- 1877Nepal's Rana prime ministers passed the office brother to brother by a roll; in 1934 the ruler struck off the sons of low-caste mothers, and their sons joined the party that opposed itcountrystudies.us and 4 more
- 1877Caroline Norton's husband claimed her book earnings and her inheritance from her mother, and her campaign changed English property lawthegenealogist.com and 2 more
- 1877The church claimed $999,000 of Brigham Young's estate, his heirs sued, and the three apostles who were his executors went to the penitentiarywilfordwoodruffpapers.org and 3 more
- 1877Gustave Courbet was billed 323,000 francs to rebuild the Vendôme Column and died in Swiss exile in 1877bonjourparis.com and 2 more
- 1876Santa Anna sold La Mesilla to the United States for $10 million, mortgaged his estates from exile, and Illinois keeps his leghistory.state.gov and 3 more
- 1876Thieves stole A. T. Stewart's body from his New York vault, and his widow paid $20,000 for a satchel of bonescambridge.org and 2 more
- 1875Cixi made her sister's son emperor, an official killed himself to object to the adoption, and the emperor died of arsenic in 1908zh.wikisource.org and 4 more
- 1875Isaac Singer left a sewing-machine fortune to children by five women, and a former partner claimed to be his widowtorbay.gov.uk and 3 more
- 1874Two Hawaiian kings died without naming heirs, the 1874 election ended in a riot that killed a legislator, and King Lunalilo left his lands to a home for poor Hawaiiansblog.bishopmuseum.org and 3 more
- 1874James Addison Reavis forged a Spanish barony covering 12 million acres of Arizona, presented a ranch girl as its heiress, and went to prisonarizonahighways.com and 2 more
- 1873Livingstone's heart was buried in Zambia, his body was carried 1,000 miles to Westminster Abbey, and his son died in a Confederate prison under a false namewestminster-abbey.org and 8 more
- 1873The Native Land Court declared Ōrākei inalienable, the Crown took or bought almost all of it, and 800 police and soldiers ended a 506-day occupation with 222 arrestsnvdatabase.swarthmore.edu and 2 more
- 1873Johns Hopkins left $7 million in railroad stock to found a hospital, the stock stopped paying, and records found in 2020 showed he had owned slavesSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
- 1873The Army hanged Captain Jack, shipped his head to Washington in a barrel marked "specimens of natural history," and exiled his people to Oklahomaou.edu and 3 more
- 1873Trustees holding a dead man's bank shares for his daughters were made personally liable when the City of Glasgow Bank failedvlex.co.uk and 4 more
- 1870Dickens left £1,000 to the actress he hid for 12 years, and burned 20 years of letters in his gardengresham.ac.uk and 3 more
- 1870Eliza Lynch buried Paraguay's dictator and their son in 1870, was expelled when she came back for his lands, and Paraguay voted in 2025 to move her bones to its Pantheon of Heroesportalguarani.com and 6 more
- 1870Joseph Davis sold his plantations to the man he had enslaved, and his brother Jefferson Davis sued the family for Brierfield and wonmshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov and 3 more
- 1868Tewodros II shot himself at Maqdala in 1868, Britain auctioned his treasury and took his son, and in 2023 Buckingham Palace refused to return the son's remainsarchive.archaeology.org and 8 more
- 1868William Morton patented ether anaesthesia, never collected a royalty, and died in debt while his rivals died by suicide and in an asylumcollection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk and 2 more
- 1868Eilley Bowers took mining claims for unpaid board, became one of the first Comstock millionaires, and lost her mansion at auctionlasvegasnvmuseum.org and 2 more
- 1867Juárez refused to hand over Emperor Maximilian's body after the 1867 execution, and his widow's fortune went home to Belgium with her under her brother's controlhistory.state.gov and 4 more
- 1867Maximilian made the two-year-old grandson of Mexico's first emperor a prince and his ward, and the boy died a Georgetown language teacher with no childrenes.wikisource.org and 2 more
- 1866Bombay Khoja dissidents sued the first Aga Khan for control of the community's funds, and a British judge ruled in 1866 that he was their hereditary imamEncyclopaedia Britannica and 1 more
- 1865Hetty Robinson produced a will page giving her all of her aunt's $2 million, and a Harvard mathematician testified the signature was tracedCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 3 more
- 1865John Banks believed devils and a dead man were pursuing him, left his cottages to his niece, and the court upheld the willThe Gazette and 2 more
- 1864David Sassoon's sons split his firm in two, his daughter-in-law Flora was pushed out, and his great-grandson Victor lost Shanghaismu.edu and 3 more
- 1863Khedive Ismail sold Egypt's Suez Canal shares to Britain for £4 million in 1875, and the Ottoman sultan deposed him four years laterlegislation.gov.uk and 3 more
- 1862Uriah Levy willed Monticello to the United States, the Confederacy auctioned it, and New York's highest court voided the giftCaselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 7 more
- 1862Samuel Colt left $15 million, and the "nephew" in his will was the son of his brother, who died in his cell on his execution dayAmerican Heritage and 3 more
- 1862A British officer shot the last Mughal emperor's sons in 1857, and in 2025 India's Supreme Court threw out his great-grandson's widow's claim to the Red FortLiveLaw and 4 more
- 1861The 2nd Duke of Buckingham owed £1.46 million, fled his creditors, and Christie's sold the contents of Stowe in 1848Google Books and 5 more
- 1860Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, spent the profits in court, and died $200,000 in debt on the way to his dying daughterlemelson.mit.edu and 2 more
- 1860In Great Expectations, Pip's secret fortune comes from a transported convict, and the Crown takes it when the convict is condemnedlegislation.gov.uk and 2 more
- 1860Napoleon annulled his brother's Baltimore marriage, and Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte's son lost his claim to the Bonaparte inheritance in a Paris courth-france.net and 2 more
- 1860Julia Pastrana's husband sold her embalmed body after she died in 1860, and it was exhibited, stolen and stored in Oslo until Mexico buried it in 2013publicdomainreview.org and 3 more
- 1859Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy's baronetcy fund pays only an heir who gives up his own name, and every holder since 1859 has taken hisWikisource (primary text) and 3 more
- 1859The British refused the last Peshwa's adopted son his father's pension, and after 1857 dug his treasure out of the wells at BithurThe Gazette and 2 more
- 1858Maniram Dewan, the first Indian to plant tea commercially in Assam, was hanged in 1858, and the British auctioned his tea gardenslivehistoryindia.com and 2 more
- 1857The Lee family lost Arlington over a $92.07 tax, the Army buried soldiers on it, and the Supreme Court awarded $150,000Cornell Law School, LII and 5 more
- 1857Insurers paid for the SS Central America's gold in 1857 and claimed it again when it was found in 1988; the finder spent ten years jailed over 500 missing coinslaw.resource.org and 2 more
- 1856The 17th Earl of Shrewsbury left his estates to the Duke of Norfolk's baby son; a distant cousin won the earldom and Alton TowersUK Parliament, Hansard and 6 more
- 1856Sayyid Said died at sea in 1856, his sons split Oman and Zanzibar, and his daughter Salme was refused her inheritanceWikisource (primary text) and 6 more
- 1855Prince Diponegoro was arrested at peace talks in 1830, and the kris the Dutch returned in 2020 had been missing for decadesthejakartapost.com and 3 more
- 1854A violin dealer was found dead on a farm with 144 Italian instruments, and his heirs sold the unplayed "Messiah" Stradivariashmolean.org and 2 more
- 1853The East India Company refused the Raja of Jhansi's deathbed adoption, took the state, and kept the boy's inheritance in trust for goodcbkwgl.wordpress.com and 3 more
- 1853One wave took a Manchester family off the wreck of the Dalhousie, and their estates went to strangers because no one could say who died firstThe National Archives, Find Case Law and 2 more
- 1852Belgium bought out the Duke of Wellington's "perpetual" Waterloo rent in 1988 and kept a right to take back the landBoletín Oficial del Estado and 3 more
- 1852Parliament bought Wellington an estate, and the 7th Duke gave Apsley House to the nation in 1947 while keeping a family flatThe Gazette and 5 more
- 1852In Dickens's Bleak House, the Jarndyce will case runs for generations until the legal costs have swallowed the estateProject Gutenberg and 3 more
- 1852Gogol burned the second part of Dead Souls nine days before he died; in 1931 his coffin was opened, and legend says the skull was missingweekend.rambler.ru and 3 more
- 1851Begum Samru's heir was declared insane on his wife's petition, and after his death she contested his will leaving £200,000 to an Indian collegeUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
- 1851Audubon's widow sold the Birds of America copper plates in 1870 and buyers melted most of them for scrapyalealumnimagazine.com and 3 more
- 1850Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson's daughter was ruled illegitimate, and a Kentucky court gave his estate to his brothersLibrary of Congress and 4 more
- 1850John McDonogh left two cities a fortune for free schools, his heirs said Louisiana law voided the gift, and New Orleans pulled down his statue in 2020law.resource.org and 2 more
- 1850Margaret Fuller, her husband and their son drowned 100 yards from Fire Island in 1850, and her manuscript history of the Roman Republic was lostWikipedia (English)
- 1849Edgar Allan Poe's self-appointed literary executor was his enemy, who wrote his obituary under a false name and rewrote his lettersbpl.org and 3 more
- 1849Chopin's sister smuggled his heart into Warsaw, an SS officer took it in 1944, and scientists examined it in 2014 without opening the jarSmithsonian Magazine and 1 more
- 1847Kenesary Khan was beheaded in 1847 and his skull sent to Omsk as a trophy; in 2021 Putin promised to return itrferl.org and 2 more
- 1847In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff takes both families' estates through a mortgage, a marriage and a dying boy's will, and a lawyer showed in 1926 the law holds uplegislation.gov.uk and 3 more
- 1847The Navy declared Franklin's crews dead in 1854 while his wife paid for the search, and the wrecks found 160 years later belong partly to the InuitRoyal Museums Greenwich and 3 more
- 1845Karl Wilhelm Naundorff sued the Bourbons as the lost son of Louis XVI, and DNA from the boy's heart ended the claim in 2000Wikipedia (English) and 2 more
- 1844In The Count of Monte Cristo, a cardinal poisoned for his money left his heir only a breviary, and the will hidden in it passed to a prisonerProject Gutenberg and 3 more
- 1842Mexico seized the Jesuit mission fund for California in 1842, and the claim ran 125 years through the first case at The Haguehistory.state.gov and 3 more
- 1842A Bellary liquor contractor died without a will, his brother claimed the estate as a Hindu joint family, and the Privy Council asked how the family livedassets.cambridge.org and 2 more
- 1842Families who had inherited unpaid Mississippi bonds for 90 years gave them to the Prince of Monaco to sue, and the Supreme Court said a foreign state cannotCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
- 1840The Church refused Paganini burial, and his embalmed body was moved from cellar to cellar for 36 yearshekint.org and 3 more
- 1840Beau Brummell spent his inheritance on clothes and cards, fled London by night, and died in a paupers' asylum in Caenenglish-heritage.org.uk and 2 more
- 1839Stephen Van Rensselaer III's will ordered $400,000 in back rents collected, and his tenants answered with the Anti-Rent WarAmerican Heritage and 4 more
- 1839A banker's nephews fought ten years over his jewels, and the heir who got the Hope Diamond could sell it only with the court's permissiongia.edu and 4 more
- 1838The Maryland Jesuits sold 272 people for $115,000 in 1838 to pay Georgetown's debts, and in 2021 the order pledged $100 million to their descendantsslaveryarchive.georgetown.edu and 2 more
- 1835Raffles made Hussein sultan without the regalia, and in 1897 a court ruled his grandsons' palace land belonged to the Crownsso.agc.gov.sg and 6 more
- 1834A house painter's daughter claimed to be a royal princess, and a jury ruled her proofs forged in 1866 without hearing the Crown's full replyWikisource (primary text) and 2 more
- 1834Pedro I left his heart to Porto, the city council and a church brotherhood fought over where to keep it, and Brazil borrowed it in 2022repositorio-aberto.up.pt and 3 more
- 1834The heiress to the land around New Orleans's main square was shot four times by her father-in-law over her fortune, survived, and built the Pontalba Buildingslouisianastatemuseum.org and 3 more
- 1833Settlers cut off Yagan's head for a £30 reward, it was shown in London and buried in a Liverpool grave, and Noongar elders buried it in the Swan Valley in 2010abc.net.au and 2 more
- 1833Nicéphore Niépce died before photography paid, his partner named it the daguerreotype, and France gave Niépce's son the smaller pensionhrc.utexas.edu and 2 more
- 1833The Korean tale of Heungbu and Nolbu says the elder brother took the whole inheritance and threw the younger out, and a swallow reversed their fortunesjjan.kr and 2 more
- 1833A rumour said Kaspar Hauser was the stolen heir to the throne of Baden; he was stabbed to death in 1833, and a 2024 DNA study ruled out the Baden linebath.ac.uk and 2 more
- 1832Walter Scott owed £130,000 when his printer failed, refused bankruptcy, and wrote until he died to pay itWikipedia (English)
- 1832Jeremy Bentham willed his body to be dissected and displayed, and students stole his head in 1975ucl.ac.uk and 3 more
- 1832The British deposed the last king of Kandy, barred his family from the throne forever, and kept his throne at Windsor until 1934sundaytimes.lk and 4 more
- 1832Heirs of a Mexican land grant raided the Tierra Amarilla courthouse in 1967 to arrest the district attorneyDeseret News and 3 more
- 1831Stephen Girard left $7.5 million for "poor white male orphans", and courts fought over the word "white" until 1968Cornell Law School, LII and 3 more
- 1830Simón Bolívar's will left only the Aroa copper mines, his sisters sold them in 1832, and Hugo Chávez had his bones dug up in 2010es.wikisource.org and 4 more
- 1830Hawaiʻi's young king inherited the chiefs' sandalwood debt, and the governor who sailed to cut more sandalwood never came backmanoa.hawaii.edu and 3 more
- 1830Thomas Lawrence died in debt in 1830 and the nation refused his Old Master drawings for £18,000, so a dealer who was his main creditor took themarchive.spectator.co.uk and 3 more
- 1829A duke's illegitimate son left his fortune to the United States, which used it to found the Smithsoniansiris-sihistory.si.edu and 2 more
- 1829A Tehran mob killed Russia's envoy in 1829, and the Shah paid for it with a diamond carved with the names of three kingsgemdat.org and 3 more
- 1828Dingane and Mhlangana killed their half-brother Shaka in 1828, and their brother Mpande took the Zulu throne with Boer help in 1840Internet Archive and 5 more
- 1828Goya's grave in Bordeaux was opened in 1888 and his skull was missing; he was reburied in Madrid in 1919 without itSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
- 1827Lady Jane Douglas said she gave birth to twins in Paris at 50, and the Duke of Hamilton sued to prove her son was a stolen childWikisource (primary text) and 3 more
- 1827Beethoven took his nephew from the boy's mother in court; the nephew shot himself, then inherited everythingInternet Archive and 2 more
- 1827Rose Hall's heir died in debt, his widow sold her rights for £200, and a novel later made her the "White Witch" who killed three husbandsjamaicanfamilysearch.com and 2 more
- 1827Jamaican legend says the mistress of Rose Hall murdered her husbands; the records say her husband died in debt and she sold her claim for £200jamaicagreathouses.com and 2 more
- 1827George Hudson inherited £30,000 from a great-uncle in "suspicious circumstances," became the Railway King, and died with less than £200british-history.ac.uk and 2 more
- 1826Thomas Jefferson's will freed his two youngest sons by Sally Hemings, and his debts sent 130 enslaved people to auctionnature.com and 4 more
- 1826Worrall held Fisher's power of attorney, said Fisher had sailed for England, and sold his property; Fisher was in a grave on Worrall's landcampbelltown.nsw.gov.au and 2 more
- 1826Masons took William Morgan from a New York jail in 1826 to stop his exposé, and a stranger's body was buried in his namehistory.nycourts.gov and 3 more
- 1826The Sultan abolished the Bektashi order in 1826 and gave its lodges away, Atatürk closed the rest in 1925, and in 2024 Albania proposed a sovereign state for its leadersarakuehn.com and 2 more
- 1825France made Haiti pay 150 million francs in 1825 to compensate its former slaveholders, and Haitians paid on the debt until 1947csmonitor.com and 3 more
- 1825Alexander I sealed his brother's renunciation of the throne in envelopes, Russia swore allegiance to the wrong heir, and the guards revoltedru.wikisource.org and 4 more
- 1825France refused to take back Jacques-Louis David's body in 1825, so he lies in a Brussels cemetery under an obeliskpatrimoine.brussels and 2 more
- 1824Byron's friends tore up and burned his memoirs in his publisher's fireplace four weeks after he diedamdigital.co.uk and 3 more
- 1822Shelley's father would fund his widow only if she published no biography, and she kept the remains of his heart in her deskmentalfloss.com and 3 more
- 1822The Ottoman state killed Ali Pasha of Ioannina in 1822 and confiscated more than 950 farmsislamansiklopedisi.org.tr and 2 more
- 1822An 1885 pamphlet says a buried treasure in Virginia belongs to 30 men and their heirs, named in a cipher nobody has solveddocuments.theblackvault.com and 2 more
- 1821Napoleon's will left 10,000 francs to the man who tried to shoot the Duke of Wellingtonnapoleon.org and 3 more
- 1821The peerage records Lord Glamis's first son as born and dead on 21 October 1821; a legend says he lived, hidden in the castle, and each heir was told the secretmikedashhistory.com and 2 more
- 1821Keats's letters to Fanny Brawne were published in 1878 over objections and sold at Sotheby's in 1885 for £543 17slibrary.harvard.edu and 3 more
- 1820Haiti's King Henry shot himself, rebels bayoneted his 16-year-old heir ten days later, and the queen took her daughters into exile in Pisaageofrevolutions.com and 4 more
- 1820Settlers seized Demasduit to recover stolen property and killed her husband; their remains sat in Edinburgh until 2020Dictionary of Canadian Biography and 2 more
- 1819Soviet soldiers emptied Blücher's mausoleum in 1945, and his family lost the Silesian estatetvn24.pl and 3 more
- 1817Bounty mutineers' descendants argued in 2004 that burning the ship in 1790 put Pitcairn outside British law, and the Privy Council rejected it in 2006search.sl.nsw.gov.au and 4 more
- 1817Kelly Clarkson bought Jane Austen's ring for 152,450 pounds in 2012, and Britain barred export until a museum raised the same summuseumsassociation.org and 3 more
- 1815France passed a law in 2002 to return Sarah Baartman's remains to South Africasahistory.org.za and 4 more
- 1815A Highland prophecy says the last Seaforth chief would be deaf and outlive his sons, Lord Seaforth's death in 1815 matched it, and historians say the seer may never have existedInternet Archive and 2 more
- 1814Patrick Sellar burned houses in Strathnaver for the Sutherland estate, a jury acquitted him of culpable homicide in 1816, and the duke's statue still stands over Golspieher.highland.gov.uk and 4 more
- 1814The manuscript of Sade's 120 Days of Sodom was smuggled into Switzerland in 1982, sold for 7 million euros in 2014, and bought by France for 4.55 million euros in 2021thelocal.ch and 3 more
- 1813Myra Clark Gaines sued for 51 years over her father's lost will and the New Orleans land sold from his estate, and her heirs collected after she diedhnoc.org and 3 more
- 1812William Clark became court guardian of Sacagawea's two children in 1813 and freed York only years after the expeditionUS National Park Service and 5 more
- 1812Mayer Amschel Rothschild's 1812 will shut his daughters and sons-in-law out of the bank; the Frankfurt house closed in 1901 for lack of a male heirrothschildarchive.org and 5 more
- 1811John Knill's will pays ten girls to dance round his empty tomb in St Ives every five years, and they danced again in July 2026stivestowncouncil-cornwall.gov.uk and 2 more
- 1810The Earl of Berkeley's eldest son was ruled illegitimate in 1811 after the church register entry for a secret 1785 marriage proved forgedInternet Archive and 3 more
- 1809Thomas Paine's bones were dug up by an admirer, shipped to England and lostAmerican Heritage and 3 more
- 1809Meriwether Lewis died insolvent with his drafts refused by the War Department, and 198 relatives have not been allowed to exhume his bodyUS National Park Service and 7 more
- 1809Phrenologists stole Haydn's head after burial, and it was reunited with his body 145 years laterclassical-music.com and 2 more
- 1807Zheng Yi's widow took command of his pirate fleets, married his adopted heir, and surrendered to the Qing in 1810 keeping her plunderworldhistory.org and 2 more
- 1807The last Stuart heir lost his fortune to the French, lived on a pension from George III, and left the Stuart jewels to the Prince of Walescol.rct.uk and 3 more
- 1806The Revolution guillotined Nicolas Leblanc's patron, seized his soda works and published his patent, and the state paid his heirs 49 years after his suicidethechemicalengineer.com and 2 more
- 1805Nelson left Emma Hamilton to the nation; Parliament paid his brother and Emma died in debt in CalaisUK Parliament, Hansard and 7 more
- 1805Weimar buried a skull as Friedrich Schiller's in 1827; DNA tests in 2008 showed it and the skeleton were not hisNBC News and 2 more
- 1804A Spanish frigate blew up in 1804 with Captain Alvear's wife and seven children aboard, and in 2007 his descendants sued for its silvermedia.ca11.uscourts.gov and 4 more
- 1804Bavaria banned the Illuminati in 1785 and published their seized papers, and a duke's will sent the rest to Sweden to keep them secretbitterwinter.org and 4 more
- 1803Russia's richest count married his serf actress in secret, she died weeks after their son's birth, and the boy inherited about 150,000 serfsru.wikisource.org and 5 more
- 1801Benedict Arnold was paid £6,315 for changing sides and died in debt; his widow paid the debtsAmerican Heritage and 1 more
- 1801A sea captain's son willed his Manhattan farm to retired sailors, a Loyalist's son sued as heir to the Supreme Court, and the ground rents housed 1,000 sailorsCornell Law School, LII and 3 more
- 1800Georgia's last king asked Russia for protection, Russia abolished his dynasty, and his heirs were suing each other over the royal name in 2019acgs.ug.edu.ge and 5 more
- 1800When the last Jesuit in Canada died in 1800 the Crown took the order's estates, and 88 years later the Pope divided the compensationDictionary of Canadian Biography and 2 more










































































































































