William Alfred Yoakum

     William Alfred Yoakum was born on 6 September 1863 at Ray County, Missouri.¹ He was the son of George Washington Yoakum and Julia Ann Schooler.¹ William Alfred Yoakum married, at age 43, Mary Madison Hutchings, age 49, daughter of Henry Hutchings and Eliza Jane Kincaid, on Tuesday, 25 September 1906 at Ray County, Missouri.¹ William Alfred Yoakum died on 4 August 1946 at Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, at age 82 years, 10 months and 29 days.¹
     He became a widower at the age of 64 with the death of Mary on 20 November 1927.¹ From Gary R. Hawpe, ed. and comp., 'Last Will and Testament of William Alfred Yoakum,' Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol. 4 No. 6 (April 2001), pp. 9 - 10.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM ALFRED YOAKUM

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: That I, William Alfred Yoakum of the County of Caldwell, State of Missouri, being of sound mind and memory, and realizing the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death, do make and publish this my LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT, in manner and form following:

FIRST: I direct that all of my just debts, including the necessary expenses of administration be first paid.

SECOND: I direct that my executor hereinafter named shall purchase a suitable monument to be erected at my grave, at a minimum cost of Five Hundred Dollars, and a maximum cost of One Thousand Dollars, as in the judgement and discretion of my said executor shall seem proper.

THIRD: All of the rest, residue and remainder of my property, real, personal and mixed and wherever situate, I give, devise and bequeath to Mert Yoakum, the widow of my deceased brother, Benton Yoakum, and to Velma Yoakum, daughter of my deceased brother, Benton Yoakum, equally, share and share alike. In making the above disposition of the residue of my estate I am not unmindful of my brother, Moses Yoakum, and my several nieces and nephews, it being my will that they receive nothing from my estate as such brother and nieces and nephews.

And, Last, I hereby constitute and appoint J. Grimes Withers, of Polo Missouri, to be the Executor of this, my Last Will and Testament, without bond, revoking and annulling all former wills be made, and ratifying and conforming this, and no other, to be my Last Will and Testament.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this the 13th day of September, A.D. 1944.

Witness to mark: William (X) Alfred Yoakum (SEAL)

John G. Withers
Mrs. Grimes Withers.

The foregoing instrument consisting of two pages, was, at the date thereof, to wit: September 13th 1944, signed and declared by the said William Alfred Yoakum to be his Last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who, at his request, and in this presence, and in the presence of each other, have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto.

John G. Withers, Polo, Mo.
Mrs. Grimes Withers, Polo, Mo.

Filed August 8th 1946.
A.B. Cleveland, Judge of Probate Court.
Admitted to Probate August 8th 1946, and recorded in Book 'E' at Page 531, in the record of Wills, in the records of the Probate Court of Caldwell County, Missouri.