First Will Written on a Typewriter

This appears to have been the first typewritten will to be “held to be written within the meaning of the statute”. It was typed on January 30, 1882. On March 8, 1883, Judge Samuel Amos York (1839-1898) found in the New Haven, Connecticut, probate court that the will of James H. Willey of East Haven, who died in Wilmington, Delaware, in December 1882, fell within the legal definition of writing, which Judge York said included printed, and therefore typewritten matter. A question had arisen as to whether Willey’s will was valid. Judge York said he was basing his finding on Massachusetts decisions, but it took another 12 years before a new law in Pennsylvania provided that all typewriting, for any purpose, would have the same legal force and effect as ordinary writing. I’d love to know what typewriter was used for Willey’s will. There weren't all that many models around in early 1882.

Judge York was born in North Stonington, Connecticut, on May 25, 1839, He graduated at Yale in 1863, and at Albany Law School in 1864. He was admitted to the Bar of New York and Michigan in 1865, and in New Haven in 1867. He was clerk of the House of Representatives in 1873, of the Senate in 1874 and judge of probate for the district of New Haven, 1876-87. He was mayor of New Haven in 1887-88. Judge York started practice in Michigan before going to New Haven, where he was editor of the Register. He was appointed on a commission to revise the probate laws of Connecticut in 1885. He died November 5, 1898.