Famous Last Will and Testament Author Henry David Thoreau

About the last will and testament of famous American naturalist Henry David Thoreau.

WHERE THERE'S A WILL

HENRY DAVID THOREAU, U.S. naturalist, author, philosopher, died 1862

Last Will: "You know, it's respectable to leave an estate to one's friends," joked a mortally ill Thoreau to a visitor as he prepared his last essays for publication. No believer in the sacredness of private property, Thoreau designated several books from his library for such friends as Bronson Alcott and Ellery Channing. He gave Emerson's children his microscope and a collection of shells, while the Natural History Society of Boston received his herbarium, birds' eggs, and Indian relics. Louisa Dunbar, his affectionately tolerated aunt, received $50, and his sister Sophia was left as zealous (and jealous) caretaker of his literary estate.