From the Richmond Dispatch, 10/5/1900, p. 3, c. 1

THE VAN LEW ESTATE
IT WILL PROBABLY BE SOLD TO THE SISTERS OF MONTE MARIA.
THE CONVENT TO BE ENLARGED.
Three Bidders in the Field for the Property – An Old Benefactor of the Deceased Comes Here to Qualify as Executor.

Mr. John Philip Reynolds, of Boston, arrived in the city last night, and will qualify as executor of the late Miss Van Lew’s estate this morning.

Mr. John T. Goddin, of this city, who was named as the other executor, declined to act, on the grounds of pressing business.

Mr. Reynolds has for many years past been one of Miss Van Lew’s benefactors. Her service to the North, her pathetic position, isolated as she was from her relations and friends, appealed to the sympathies of many citizen of the Hub, and no one who knew Miss Van Lew could say she was ungrateful for this solicitude, for she spoke of the many favors she had received frequently and with deep feeling.

It was her friends in Philadelphia who rescued her property from the hands of the land-grabbers a year or so ago, but it was her Boston friends who assisted her through the many difficulties that beset her path towards the end of her life.

The affairs of the deceased lady will be wound up as quickly as possible.

Representatives of the thirteen heirs are still in the city, and their disposition is to sell the property as soon as possible, with the simple proviso that it is preserved as a whole and not divided. There are said to be three offers pending for the estate, and these will all be considered by Mr. Reynolds this morning.

THE CATHOLICS WANT IT.

It is believed that the Sisters of Monte Maria Convent, whose property is separated only by Twenty-third street, will be the successful bidders. The intention is to enlarge the convent and academy, and the Van Lew homestead will make an ideal guest-house and boarding-house for pupils at the academy.

Cardinal Gibbons, when he was Bishop of Richmond, offered $25,000 for the house and land, but Miss Van Lew declined the offer, preferring to occupy the house herself. Another offer will be made by a Boston syndicate, and a third by persons desiring to turn the establishment into a sanitarium.

DISPOSITION OF THE ESTATE.

There is a mortgage on the property for $10,000, and by a provision of the late John Van Lew’s will, father of Miss Van Lew, the residue of the property is to be divided amongst the issue of his sisters.

These have increased and multiplied to the number of thirteen.

Miss Van Lew left her property, over and above the amount disposed of by her father’s will, to her niece, Mrs. Hall. It is regarded as another indication of Miss Van Lew’s eccentricity that she chose as her sole legatee one of her relatives, whom she had not seen for eighteen years, while other members of her family visited her frequently and constantly ministered to her necessities in many practical ways.

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