Times Observer photos by Josh Cotton Ezra Trim’s grave at - you guessed it - Trim Cemetery on the top of Mickle Hill in Eldred Twp.

“Some time ago, Ezra Trim, an aged and well-to-do citizen of Eldred township, Warren County, died and it was found that by his will he had left all his estate to the poor of the township,” the paper reported in Nov. 20. “It now turns out that he has relatives and they have commenced proceedings to have the will set aside.”

One quick diversion before we get into that fight.

Evidence in support of Johnny Appleseed planting his first orchard in Warren County comes from Trim.

From a story I wrote in 2018, where Trim was a sidenote: “No actual documentary evidence had ever been found to confirm Chapman’s having lived in Warren County – until one day in 1953 when County Commissioner George Seavy had occasion to consult some ancient records in the Courthouse. Seavy was attracted by a beautiful old leather volume which had been used as a scrapbook, with old clippings pasted in it. It had come to the Courthouse with the papers of Mr. Ezra Trimm who died in 1893, leaving his estate for the benefit of the poor in Eldred Township.”

The Trim Cemetery.

Local officials would like to see a state historical marker placed for Appleseed here.

But back to the will….

The Caselaw Access project from Harvard Law School, believe it or not, has posted online the 1895 state Supreme Court decision in the case regarding Trim’s will.

The case was decided on May 20 and had been appealed by a “W.P. Trim” and found that a “testimonial disposition for the benefit of the poor” is considered a “charitable use.” The case had bene argued and the appeal originated in Warren County Orphan’s Court in January.

The court, in reviewing the will, reiterated that the benefit was to the poor “to have the use and nothing more…. for their benefit and use….”

Trim had “only collateral kin” and rehashed the “material portion” of the will: “As soon after my decease as conveniently may be I give and bequeath unto Each and all of my Legal heirs one dollar a piece after the same is fully paid and Satisfied I Give and bequeath all of my real and personal property including Lands and tenements and all personal Effects to Go to the benefit Of the poor of Eldred Township Warren County Pa to have the use and Nothing more.’

President Judge Charles H. Noyes, the third Warren County judge to hold that title per the Warren County Historical Society, issued an opinion that the justices cited heavily.

“A testamentary disposition for the benefit of the poor of a defined locality is clearly a charitable use, and will be sustained even although it would fall under the condemnation of some rule of law if it were a private or merely benevolent disposition,” Noyes wrote.

For the next part of the opinion to make sense, it’s important to note that a “testator” is simply a person who makes a will.

“Now, is there any doubt as to the trustees designated by the testator? He has not given their correct corporate name, but he has used terms which describe them perfectly, and are applicable to no one else.They are by express provisions of the act incorporating them, ‘the overseers of the poor’ in said (Warren) county. The words ‘ for the benefit of Eldred township,’ which the counsel for the appellant treat as part of the description of the trustees, are not so intended, but are plainly a repetition of the terms and purpose for which the overseers are to manage the property.”

Noyes continued: “It is true that this disposition will enure to the benefit of the taxpayers, but that is the effect of every benefaction which provides for any of the burdens of government; and it is also true that inasmuch as Eldred township is not a poor district, some complication may arise in the administration of this trust so as to limit its benefits to the inhabitants of Eldred township, but these difficulties cannot prevent the vesting of the estate.”

Noyes rules that the commissioners of the Rouse Estate – the county commissioners – are equipped to receive such a gift but points out some lack of clarity in the will.

“The testator’s will, though not elegantly expressed, is not ambiguous or doubtful, nor is his disposition illegal,” Noyes ordered, “but on the contrary it is highly meritorious — charitable in the broad and legal sense of the word. It is clearly our duty to sustain it.”

He dismissed the appeal.

The appeal is dismissed and the decree of the register affirmed at the costs of the appellant.

The Supreme Court included the test of that entire opinion and then affixed the following: “The question involved in this appeal was rightly decided by the learned president of the orphans’ court. For reasons given in his opinion, the trust created by the will of defendant’s testator for ‘the benefit of the poor of Eldred Township Warren County Pa’ should be sustained.”

A legal notice published in a local paper in 1914 indicated that the county put the property up for sale.

He then appears in the Warren Times-Mirror in the 1940s.

“Ezra Trimm, pioneer farmer and lumberman of Eldred township who left a bequest to the County of Warren… has been honored by the hanging of a handsome new portrait in oil in the Tax Office of the county,” the report said. ” The presentation of the portrait took place Saturday and it replaces one which ung in the courthouse for 57 years.

“The portrait was painted by Lee S. Trimm, internationally known artist of Syracuse, NY, who now owns the original Trimm farm in this county. The original painting of Ezra Trimm, great uncle of Lee S. Trimm, was done when Lee S. Trimm was a lad of 18. The new painting is a magnificent one and has been exhibited at the National Art Exhibition in Chicago and also at Daytona Beach, Fla. in 1940.”

The reporter noted that Lee Trimm visited Warren when the portrait was unveiled along with his two sons, who were both mural painters.

That portrait hangs just inside the front doors of the Warren County Courthouse today.

Last year, the Times Observer looked into the county’s endowment funds.

The current value of Trim’s gift?

Nearly $105,000.