Deconstructing Hannah (and her will) Part 3

My great-great-aunt Hannah O'Sullivan died on May 6, 1933.  Her will contained 3 bequests of jewelry, and 2 of real estate. 

The sixth bequest was as shown below:

"SIXTH: I give and bequeath to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, in memory of my mother, Hannah O'Sullivan, the sum of Forty (40) dollars."


To learn more about the Society, click here. 


This may not seem like a large bequest, until you compare it to the value of the jewelry she left to her three grand-nieces, Caroline Mann, Elfrieda Mann and Madeleine Egan.  Her jewelry was as follows:


a.  Gold chain      9.50
b.  Gold watch     8.00
c.  Cameo pin      3.00
d.  Ring               1.00

These 4 pieces of jewelry total $21.50, about half of the bequest above.  In 1933 $40.00 had the same buying power as $669.25 in 2011.  The annual inflation over this period was 3.68%,

Click below to access the inflation calculator.

Inflation Calculator

Copyright 2011 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved