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Volume 059-2 - April 2005 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin April 2005
cording to Kitty Taylor’s testimony.
Annie Coughlan died at home on May 1, 1917 (less than
two months after her daughter Annie), with only Kittie Taylor in attendance. The cause of death was Bright’s disease.
Mrs. Coughlan’s will was filed for probate on May 3, 1917.
However, her other daughter, now Sister Teresa, through
San Francisco attorney James Gartlan, stopped probate of
her mother’s will by filing an “Opposition to Probate.”’ The
grounds for opposing probate were that Sister Teresa, as the
only surviving heir-at-law, was entitled to the entire estate.
Further, that Annie Coughlan was mentally incompetent to
make a will, and lastly that attestation of the will was improper. Sister Teresa requested a jury trial on the issues; as
she had taken a vow of poverty, it is assumed that the
Church instigated the will contest.
Attorney Carroll Searls’ files reflect that in preparing for
trial, he expended much energy researching support for his
position that Annie Coughlan could leave her assets to
whomever she wished. Searls also consulted with Coughlan’s physician and concluded that mental illness was
neither a component nor a result of Bright’s disease.
Searls interviewed several of Coughlan’s acquaintances,
including Mose O’Connor and Edwin Thomas Powell, none
of whom expressed any concern that she was mentally incompetent. Concerned that Sister Teresa might employ the
services of an alienist (archaic term for psychiatrist), Searls
considered doing the same but ultimately deemed it unnecessary.
After several months of delays and continuances, the
matter went to trial on October 25, 1917. Attorney Gartlan
associated himself with Nevada City attorney Judge Frank
T. Nilon for purposes of trying the case. During trial, testimony was received from Mrs. George Calanan and Mrs.
Helena Kornhamer as to Mrs. Coughlan’s “excitement” over
her daughter Lillian becoming a nun. Father O’Reilly
detailed numerous conversations he had with Annie Coughlan. All testimony apparently was directed toward establishing Coughlan’s state of mind at the time she drafted her will.
Sister Teresa testified that she entered St. Mary’s
Academy when about 11 years old; at age 14 she decided to
become a nun. She testified that her mother became “violently enraged” when she announced her final determination to become a Sister of Mercy. Lillian concluded her
testimony by stating that her mother eventually became reconciled to her vocational choice.
The only other testimony was that of City Marshal Hiram
D. Shearer and Sheriff John R. Martin to the effect that
Kittie Taylor lived in a house of prostitution. On October
27, 1917, after two days of trial, contestant Sister Teresa
was non-suited (i.e., she didn’t prove her case) and the will
was admitted to probate.
Assets of the estate were distributed to Kittie Taylor on
April 5, 1918. They consisted, except for $10.00
bequeathed to daughter Sister Teresa, of about $4000.00 in
cash and two pieces of Nevada City property. One parcel,
unimproved, was located on the southeast corner of Coyote
and Washington Streets. The other parcel, where Mrs.
Annie Coughlan lived, was located at the corner of Spring
Street and the alley east of the National Hotel.
Kittie Taylor sold the Spring Street lot and house to Alice
Watkins on November 7, 1918 for ten dollars. She sold the
Coyote Street property to George B. Finnegan on October
18, 1919, for fifty dollars. Both parcels were subsequently
absorbed by the 1960s construction of the Golden Center
freeway.
Little else is known of Kittie Taylor’s life. Between 1907
and 1921 she bought or sold several pieces of property
other than those parcels bequeathed to her by Annie CoughSister Mary Ursula
O’Connell (on stage)
and her music students
in St. Cecilia’s Hall at
the Mount Saint
Mary’s Academy in §
Grass Valley in 1893.
Lillian Coughlan is
standing at the extreme
left, leaning on a piano.