Readers who picked up the May 30, 1930 issue of The Newtown Bee learned exactly what Mary Hawley wanted done with her vast estate. Taking up nearly half of the front page of that week's paper, the will outlined dozens of gifts and bequests left by the woman known as Newtown's Benefactress.

(Read more here: The ABCs Of Newtown: H Is For (Mary) Hawley, Part Two)

Local Beneficiaries

In addition to the relatives, friends, and employees recognized in Mary Hawley’s will, the following provisions of interest were made that directly affected the Newtown community:

*The Town of Newtown received $200,000 for Edmond Town Hall’s construction — it was named for her great-grandfather;

and $100,000 to establish The William Edmond Fund, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest for the care and upkeep of the grounds and premises;

*The Town of Newtown, $200,000 for construction of a public library, to be named for her grandfather and to house her “antique furniture, furnishings, and family portraits”;

and $250,000 to establish a permanent fund called The Cyrenius H. Booth Fund, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest for maintenance, upkeep, support, etc;

*The Town of Newtown, $25,000 for erection and completion of a Soldiers’ Monument “to perpetuate the memory of soldiers and sailors in the Revolutionary, Civil War and the World’s War, said monument to be erected on the site formerly occupied by the North Center school house on Newtown Street in said town of Newtown”;

*The funding of any buildings under construction at the time of her death — specifically, “The Town Hall, Free Public Library or the Soldiers’ Monument” — were to be completed “the same at the expense of my estate, following as far as shall seem suitable to them in their discretion the plans, if any, existing thereof”;

*$35,000 in trust (“to hold, manage, invest and reinvest”) to Newtown Village Cemetery Association, to care for Hawley Memorial receiving vault and gateways, and “the old part of Newtown Village Cemetery”;

*$100,000 in trust to be named The Marcus Clinton Hawley Fund, in memory of her father, to First Ecclesiastical Society of Newtown, Conn. (a/k/a the town’s Congregational Church); and

*$50,000 in trust to her friend Arthur T. Nettleton, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest, and pay net income therefrom semiannually “during the term of his natural life, in recognition of his long, and untiring devotion to my interests.”

(Nettleton and The Travelers Bank and Trust Company were named Executors of her will.)

Beyond Newtown

Mary Hawley shared her family’s wealth beyond Newtown. Provisions in her will included:

*$100,000 in trust to be named The William Edmond Booth Fund, in memory of her mother’s only brother, to Danbury Hospital, for general uses and purposes and $25,000 to endow, establish and maintain a free bed or beds at Danbury Hospital “in the use and occupancy of which residents of the town of Newtown are to be preferred”;

*$250,000 in trust to be named The Marcus Clinton Hawley and Sarah Booth Hawley Fund, in memory of her parents, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest, to Bridgeport Hospital, for general uses and purposes, and $50,000 to endow, establish and maintain free beds at that hospital, with preference for use to be given to Newtown residents;

*$100,000 in trust to be named The Thomas Hawley Fund, in memory of her paternal grandfather, to hold, manage, invest and reinvest, to Bridgeport Protestant Orphan Asylum, for general use and purposes;

*$25,000 in trust as permanent fund to American Bible Society, New York City, for general use and purpose;

*$25,000 in trust as permanent fund to Connecticut Children’s Aid Society, for general use and purpose;

*$25,000 to State of Connecticut for Connecticut State Park and Forest Commission, with request, “but do not direct,” that funds be focused on use in Fairfield County “so far as possible”;

*$25,000 in trust as permanent fund to Connecticut Humane Society for general uses and purposes;

*$25,000 in trust as permanent fund to New Haven Anti-Tuberculosis Association, for general uses and purposes;

*$25,000 in trust as permanent fund to Connecticut Institute for the Blind, for general uses and purposes;

*$25,000 in trust as permanent fund to American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Inc, for general uses and purposes; and

“The rest, residue and remainder” of her estate went to Yale University, as a permanent fund to be called The Mary E. Hawley Fund, for general uses and purposes of the university.

Ram Pasture was not disposed of in her will, so it initially went with the rest of her undistributed estate to Yale University. The property was later sold to Newtown Village Cemetery Association, reportedly for $1, putting ownership back in the hands of local residents.