100 YEARS AGO Will: Disown Mom or lose out

When the will of wealthy Syracuse man Charles H. Perrin was filed in Albany, it included an amazing provision for his children and potential heirs: disown their mother, now an Albany resident, or give up claims to his estate. Perrin divorced his wife three years before and she left Syracuse with state employee William Daniels to live in the Capital City. At the time of his death, Perrin’s estate was described as worth “over $5,000,” but it was widely known that he was actually leaving behind a small fortune.

The part of his will directed at seven of his nine children — Arlington, Jennie, Lottie Bernice, Bertha, William, Gertrude and Dorothy — all under the legal age of 21, stated that the estate would be divided among them “with the one exception that none of them shall harbor or keep the woman known as my wife, whom I have divorced, known as Lottie May Perrin, but now going by the name of Daniels. If any of my said children does harbor, keep or befriend this person, they are to forfeit all right and title to my property.”

— Times Union, Jan. 21, 1921