Katie Hales referred to herself as Mrs. Dr. Miner, which says a lot about her personality. There was perhaps some scandal involved in her earlier life. We find her as a 19-year-old in the Oshkosh household of Seldon and Mary Miner and their two children in 1860. By 1870 she and Seldon have married and live in Hancock. (Mary Miner marries Albert Blodgett in 1866. Ten Generations of Blodgetts in America by Edwin A. Blodgett says Mary Strong Miner was a widow, but that is not true.)
Seldon Miner died in April 1891 about two weeks after his brother-in-law Robert Scott. Since the story is that he developed pneumonia while waiting at the train station, it is probable that this happened after Robert's funeral.
Katie left an interesting will when she passed away in 1925 that detailed and explained several family relationships. Even though she was careful to write the will, it was not updated after her brother and his wife died.
She left the house on the corner of State and Mill Street in Waupaca to her brother Robert and $200 to his wife Rachel, who had both passed away by 1925.
She left her brother Benjamin's children $100 to be divided among the five of them, and stated that "I have given to my nephews what I wish them to have." Others mentioned with small bequests include Mrs. Stena Smith, Mrs. Annie Markussen, Dr. L. H. Pelton and Mrs. Thomas Davidson.
She specifically requests that "my grave be walled from bottom eight inches above the surface with hard brick and a marble slab bearing name, date of birth and death. If advisable the casket of Mrs. Jane L. Fletcher is to be taken up and placed beside my own and treated the same. If otherwise it is to be bricked eight inches above the surface and that of my husband's the same with marble slab covering each bearing name and dates as above mentioned. I also want suitable marble markers placed at grave bearing name."
There is a final bequest: after all expenses are paid "I give and bequeath all the remainder of my estate real and personal including two cottages on corner of Oak and Mill Streets also my best clothes bedding and table linen to Maud E. Lansing, Copperfield, Oregon." (Maud is Katie's sister Martha's surviving daughter.)
The will was written in 1915. Three years later, she wrote a letter to Robert Hales telling him of her wishes that Mrs. Margret Davidson should have the house on the corner of State and Mill Streets and that he could have the $200 she left to his wife Rachel. Stena and Fred Smith signed this letter as witnesses.
Thomas Davidson appeared in court as executor of her will in June 1925. He explained to the court that the deceased at various times after making the will informed him that she had changed her mind in regard to the manner of constructing the graves. Her final wish in that regard was that the casket of Jane Fletcher be moved to the lot owned by Katie Hales. His petition was granted.
*52 Ancestors: "Where There's A Will"
