Smyrna times., 1867-05-01
Fortune Hunting.

@ULIunc huuCtuS'
The Bard of Stratford was a little wrong |
when he asserted that there was nothing in |
name, as he admitted afterward, when he de. |
clared good name" to be the souls imme- |
diate jewel; and, perhaps, if he were living |
now, he would have something additional sto |
say Of its value in Wall st. We do not remem-
Der time when by virtue of the family name
numerous enthusiastic folks, upon the strength
of being Jonses, or Smiths, Thompsons with
"p, or Thompsons without "p," were
not expecting to come into something comior
table in the shape Of money wickedly detained
by the British Chancery or the Bank of Eng
land. We once knew an excellent lawyer who
seriously thought himself entitled to millions
ofpOunds sterling, and who spent more time
and money than he could well spare in the un-
successful endeavors to reduce his fairy gold to
possession 1t would be a melancholy busi-
ness to attempt a computation of all the de-
ferred hopes, the blasted expectations, the
fierce but truitless struggles, and the wasted
lives which are to be attributed to such dreamy
and dreary delusions. Circumstances make
them very common in this country in which it
is almost impossible to prove clean and un-
broken descent for more than five or six gene
rations. Not long ago in Boston $50 people
held meeting, all of them being named
OuulCui W IdhS Tue snug
little sum Of $4,000 600 said to belong to them
as the descendants of Thomas Church of Ply
mouth, Mass. The property consists of $20,-
000,000 in the Bank of England, and the bal
ance in real estate "upOn the River Thames.
The Churches went to work with great regu-
larity. They formed society. They adopted
q constitution. They elected officers They
employed an agent. They raised fund Now
begins the hOpe-soon will follow the weariness
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 Fam
| lily records and registers of birth in New Eng
land are few, and even these have been kept
loosely and with mournful intermissions. =
Every lawyer there knows how hard it is some
times 10 make out title to real property against
adverse possession by proving genealogy. In
the course of years, surnames undergo curiOu,
transformations, and there is many a Yankee
who, to save his soul, or even to make little
money, could not show who his great great
grandfather Was. Surnames are at the mercy
OF bad spelling and of local pronunciation. Th'
name of "Devoll," for instance, a common
one in New England was formerly writer
Duel, and no doubt, originally, was "Du
"Val, and precisely the same name as yale.
a frequent and respectable name in New York
How is descent, in the absence of records, Il
, be proved, when names are twisted about il
this way? So Church" is one Of the mos
J frequent Of surnameS, having its equivalents i
Kirk, and even Chapel" and enterin
. into several compounds, such as Churchill,
Churchman, ct al; Analogous names ar
CLERK" . Parson," Priest" Sexton,
"Biihop," Singer" ct al. In the days {
ecclesiastical greatness there were thousand
fboUvonIS ~ ybO oal
d ed themselves g of the Church" and who i
: time became Churches. 1t is jumping rathe
b extensively to a conclusion to assume that be
cause a man is now named Church" he
q entitled to $55, ,000 600. There are scores upo
It scores of families Of the name who have not
n globule of common blood. No similarity {
= name can ever be safely considered as indicS
II ing affinity. We might as well suppose all tE
l. blackSmiths, glOvers, carriers, wheelers, to
IS first or second cousins, or all the Jacksons
be descended from one ancient original Jacl
/ Thomas Church of Plymouth, Mass, III
r doubtedly had descendants, but how MAJ
. Churches, Of the thousands of that name, a
n prepared to prove not by guesS-work, or su
l. mise, or any rule of probability, but by sue
ID evidence as an English Court of Chancery W
4 accept, that they are in the direct line Of d
e scent from Thomas. That which satisfies the
Is tudb TIC iuOucy SHuulu Uo lhStdNbly paiu Wv
a to their agent with interest since the demise
re old Mr.. Church, may DO very unsatistacto
re indeed to the Lord Chancellor. Miss Elite,
n Bleak House, expected Judgment, but he
* vainly the readers of that useful story know.
ut The truth of the matter is that, in cases Iii
n these, everything is shadowy and uncertain.
ln 1t is by no means probable that there are sc
a en- millions sterling lying unclaimed and be
ch ging for an owner in the Bank OF England.
ly It is by no means probable that real proper
in the heart of London valued at four miliC
IT. sterling should remain SO long in allegiance a
he without the creation of good adverse title
IRE lapse of time. 1t is by no means probable Il
ric the American ''Churches" have better ii
err than the English Churches. 1t is by
is means probable that if suits were institu
any living " Church" or the son of any ly
.ps "Church, would see the end of them. 1t
in possible that some Church" family II
as have title; but we warn all Of the name ii
is the name is of little Of no value, and that en-
of mous.estates are not transferred as matter
,ss- course by English courts to the first applicar
M Y. Tribune