Family Disputes Will of Charles Overton, April 24, 1926

Fight Over Aged Man’s Property Flares Up Again. . . Kith and Kin of Charles Overton, Who Died at Hospital a Few Days Ago, Battle Over Body. . . Litigation Likely. . . Granddaughter Concerned Over Intimation Adopted Daughter’s Husband Is Executor of Will

The fight over the worldly assets of Charles Overton, aged resident of the South Mills section of Camden County, which began in Camden County Superior Court, began all over again this week after the death of the old man in the Elizabeth City Hospital.

Mr. Overton was nearly 90 years old at the time of his death. In the course of his long lifetime, he had accumulated considerable property, this said to have included several valuable farms, and a considerable sum invested in bonds, together with a substantial amount in cash.

The contestants in the present squabble over the property are Mr. Overton’s granddaughter and nearest surviving relative, Mrs. Mary Rhodes, and his adopted daughter, Mrs. Charles L. Albertson. Both live in the South Mills section.

Mrs. Rhodes instituted an action in the Camden Superior Court last summer before Thomas H. Calvert to have a guardian appointed for her aged grandfather. She lost the suit without it ever having reached a jury, Judge Calvert deciding that Mr. Overton was capable of administering his affairs. The old man himself took the stand during the trial, and answered the barrage of questions fired at him such fashion that Judge Calvert apparently was convinced that he was fully competent mentally.

Mr. Overton died at the hospital last Tuesday night from a complication of ailments ascribed to advancing age. Immediately the Albertson and Rhodes families demanded the body. The aged man had been taken to the hospital by the Albertsons, and they won out, the hospital authorities deciding that, inasmuch as they carried him there, they had the right to carry his remains away.

The body was interred in the Overton family burial ground near South Mills. Scarcely had earth covered it when the old controversy over the property broke forth again.

Mrs. Rhodes and her husband claim that the Albertsons have made away with much of the old man’s property in the last few years, and that they have exercises an undue influence over him which has militated against the rightful claims of the granddaughter. They are much concerned over an intimation that Mrs. Albertson’s husband was named executor in Mr. Overton’s will, and are preparing to carry their quarrel again into the courts, unless some satisfactory adjustment can be reached in the early future.

Thus, while Old Man Overton rests in such peace as he may find in the sanctuary of his grave, he has left anything but peace among those of his nearest kith and kin left on earth.

From the front page of The Daily Advance, Elizabeth City, N.C., Saturday evening, April 24, 1926

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