The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-26
Fortune-IIuntinR.


From he Tribune.
The Bard of Stratford was a little wrong
when he asserted that there was nothing in
name, as he admitted afterwards, when he
declared a ''good name" to be the souls inn
mediate jewel; and, perhaps, if he were living
now, he would have something additional to
saw of its value in Wall street. We do not re-
member a time when by virtue of the family
name numerous enthusiastic folks upon the
strength of being Joneses or Smiths, Thomp-
sons with a ''p,'' or Thomsons without 'p,"
were not expecting to come into something
comfortable in the shape of money wickedly
detained by the British Chancery or the
Rank of England. We once knew an excel
lent er'who seriously thought himself en-
titled to millions of pounds sterling, and who
spent more time and money than he could
well spare in the unsuccessful endeavor to
reduce his fairy gold to possession. 1t would
he a melancholy business to attempt a
computation of all the deferred hopes, the
blasted expectations, the fierce but fruitless
struggles, and the wasted lives which are to
be attributed to such dreamy and dreary delu-
sions. Circumstances make them very COM
mon in this country, in which it is almost i'm
possible to prove a clean and unbrol1en de-
scent for more than five or six generations.
Not long ago in Boston two hundred and fifty
people held a meeting, all of them being named
Church. to take measures for securing the
snug little sum of$55 600, 600 said to belOngto
them as the descendants of Thomas Church of
Plymouth Mass. The property consists of
$40 OOO, 600 in the Bank of England, and the
balance in real estate ''upon the River
Thames" The Churches went to work with
great regularity. They formed a society. They
adopted constitution. They elected officers.
FT,r i g..
Now begins the hOpe-sOon will follow the
WEAKNESS of waiting-when does the reader
suppose that the money will begin to come in ?
The main difficulty, as we have intimated,
in such cases as these, is to prove descent.
Family records and registers of birth in New
England are few, and even these have been
kept loosely and with many mournful inter
missions. Every lawyer there knows how
hard it is sometimes to make out title to
real property against adverse possession by
proving a genealOgy. In the course of years
surnames undergo curious transformations,
and there is many Yankee who, to save his
soul, or even to make a little money, could
not show who his great-grandtather was.
Surnames are at the mercy Of bad spelling
and of local pronunciation. The name of
"Devol," for instance, common one in
New England, was formerly written "Duell, -
and, no doubt originally was 'Du Val, -
/
a frequent and respectable name in New York.
How is descent, in the absence of records, to
be proved when names are twisted about in
this way ? So 'Church" is one of the most
frequent of surnames having its equivalents
in Kirk, and even ''Chappel" and entering
into several compounds such as Churchill "
"Churchman, ct al. Analogous names are
"Clerk" ''ParsOn," "Priest," " Sexton, -
"Bishop," ''Singer," ct al. In the days of
ecclesiastical greatness there were thousands
upon thousands of servants who wrote or
| called themselves ''of the Church. - and who
in time became Churches. 1t is jumping
rather extensively to conclusion to assume
that because a man is now named "Church'
| he is entitled to $55, 600 000 There are scores
upon scores of families of the name who have
! not a globule of common blood. No similarity
OF name can ever be safely considered as indi-
eating affinity. We might as we'll suppose all
| the blacksmiths, glovers, carriers, wheelers, to
| be first or second cousins, or all the Jacksons
to be descended from one ancient original Jack.
Thomas Church of Plymouth, Mass, un-
doubtedly had descendants; but how many
! Churches, of the thousands of that name are
prepared to prove, not by guess-work, or sur
mise, or any rule of probability, but by such
! evidence as an English Court of Chancery will
accept, that they are in the direct line of de-
scent from Thomas That which satisfies
them that the money should be instantly paid
| over to their agent, with interest since the
demise of old Mr.. Church, may be very unsat
isfactory indeed to the Lord Chancellor. Miss
Elite, in Bleak House, expected a judgment
but how vainly the readers of that useful story
| know.
The truth of the matter is that, in cases like
these, everything is shadowy and uncertain
1t is by no means probable that there are
seven millions sterling lying unclaimed and q
begging for an owner in the Bank of England
1t is by no means probable that real property
in the heart of London valued at four millions
sterling should remain so long in allegiance
and without the creation of good adverse
title by lapse of time. 1t is by no means pro
bable that the American Churches have
better title than the English "Churches." L
is by no means probable that if suits wer,
instituted any living "Church, or the son o
any living Church. would see the end o
them. 1t is possible that some Church
family may have a title; but we warn all of thu
name that the name is of little or no value
and that enormous estates are not transferred
as matter of course by English Courts to TIN
first applicants.
The War Panic In Europe.