| Notes |
- Niagara Gazette - 4/14/1971
LOCKPORT - . The will of
John T. Symes Jr., a missing
Lockport attorney and banker,
is expected to be probated
within a week after he was
declared legally dead by
Niagara County Surrogate John
V. Hogan.
Mr. Symes was declared dead
after Judge Hogan ruled a preponderance
of evidencel met
legal requirements covering the
presumption of death five years
after the disappearance.
The decision stated that Mr.
Symes walked out of the
Lockport Savings Bank, where
he was being groomed to be
president, on Aug. 26 Ts&^s.(sic)
president, on Aug. 26 1963, and
was not heard from after September
1963.
The will of the president
and attorney for the school
board and active member of
the Chamber of Commerce was
dated April 13, 1960.
The petition, asking that the
will be probated, estimated the
estate at between $20,000 and.
$50,000.
Mrs. Dorothy Symes obtained
a divorce from Mr. Symes last
year on grounds of desertion
and married George W. Bewley,
a contractor.
The decision, based on hearings
April 29, 1970, and January
14, 1971, noted that Mrs. Symes
had made extensive attempts
to locate her husband, without
success.
T w o psychiatrists testified
that it was likely he had com
mitted suicide.
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