author
Virgil M. (Virgil McClure) Harris
1862–1923
A St. Louis lawyer and trust officer, he turned the dry subject of wills into a lively tour of human character, history, and oddity. His best-known book gathers remarkable testaments from many eras and shows how much a final document can reveal about a life.
1 Audiobook
Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills
by Virgil M. (Virgil McClure) Harris
About the author
Born in 1862, Virgil McClure Harris was an American legal writer whose work centered on estates, trusts, and wills. Contemporary editions of his books identify him as a member of the St. Louis bar, a lecturer on wills in the Saint Louis University Institute of Law, and a trust officer with the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis.
He is best known for Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills (1911), a wide-ranging collection of unusual and historically important wills. Rather than writing only for specialists, Harris used legal documents to tell vivid stories about the people behind them, blending law, biography, and social history in a way that still feels approachable.
Harris also wrote on trust companies and estate matters, bringing practical professional knowledge into his books. He died in 1923, leaving behind work that remains of interest to readers curious about inheritance, legal history, and the strange ways people try to shape their legacy.