"Ordinarily, extrinsic evidence is admissible to identify persons embraced within a class to whom a devise or bequest has been made. However, in the absence of ambiguous language in the will, extrinsic evidence, either parol or written, may not be admitted `to vary, contradict, or add to the terms of the will, or to show a different intention on the part of the testator from that disclosed by the language of the will, * * *.' 57 Am. Jur., Wills, 1040, page 674; Field v. Eaton, 16 N.C. 283; Reeves v. Reeves, 16 N.C. 386; Blacknall v. Wyche, 23 N.C. 94; Kinsey v. Rhem, 24 N.C. 192; Barnes v. Simms, 40 N.C. 392, 49 Am. Dec. 435; Thomas v. Lines, 83 N.C. 191; Wooten v. Hobbs, 170 N.C. 211, 86 S.E. 811; Trust Co. v. Wolfe, ante, 535, 96 S.E.2d 690, and cited cases; Anno. — Will — Construction — Extrinsic Evidence, 94 A.L.R. 26."
However, in the absence of ambiguous language in the will, extrinsic evidence, either parol or written, may not be admitted "to vary, contradict, or add to the terms of the will, or to show a different intention on the part of the testator from that disclosed by the language of the will, . . ." 57 Am. Jur., Wills, section 1040, page 674; Field v. Eaton, 16 N.C. 283; Reeves v. Reeves, 16 N.C. 386; Blacknall v. Wyche, 23 N.C. 94; Kinsey v. Rhem, 24 N.C. 192; Barnes v. Simms, 40 N.C. 392, 49 Am. Dec. 435; Thomas v. Lines, 83 N.C. 191; Wooten v. Hobbs, 170 N.C. 211, 86 S.E. 811; Trust Co. v. Wolfe, ante, 535, 96 S.E.2d 690, and cited cases; Anno. — Will — Construction — Extrinsic Evidence, 94 A.L.R. 26. The remaining assignments of error, in our opinion, present no prejudicial error.
As by law a will like that we have before us must be in writing, it cannot permit parol evidence to (244) be adduced, either to contradict, add to or explain the contents of such will. 1 Jarman Wills, sec. 349; Kinsey v. Rhem, 24 N.C. 192. "But though it is the will itself, and not the intention as elsewhere collected, which constitutes the real and only subject to be expounded, yet in performing this office a court of construction is not bound to shut its eyes to the state of facts under which the will was made.
The terms, "my house and lot in the town of Jefferson," if contained in a will, would undoubtedly be sufficient to pass the testator's house and lot, in the absence of any proof to show that he had more than one. Thus it was held in a strongly analagous case that a bequest of "my twenty-five shares of bank stock," when the testator had just that number of shares, was a specific legacy, while a designation of them as simply "twenty-five shares of stock," without the prefix of the word "my," was a general legacy. Kinsey v. Rhem, 24 N.C. 192. If, then, such a description would be sufficiently certain in a will, we cannot perceive any reason why it should not be so in a deed, as, in both instruments, the only requisite as to the certainty of the thing described is that there shall be no patent ambiguity in the description by which it is designated.