The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1876-02-02
THAT BIG BONANZA.
CONVENTION OF THE JENNINGS
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4
gusta, Ga, January 25. Fon the G7syon
icIe Of the Goth, we learn that half 8
! hundred Of the representatives of oRe OF
the largest estates. in the world, were
present. DR.. Jennings, of Nashville,
was excused from serving rs President,
and Rev. n. A. Duncan, took the chais,
and DR.. j. R. Wilkinson, of Thorn Hill,
Granger county, and P, n. Wood. of
Burke countyy Ca, were appointed Sec
retaries The President stated that the
object of the meeting was to receive the
report of Judge Bacon, Counsellor of
the Association. Judge Bacon there
upon made verbal report, and read the
following article from the London Duly
Telegraph of January %, 1876. a63 slss q
AT this moment, according to popular
report, about third of Birmingham is
built upon land which originally belong
ed to a certain Mr.. William Jennings.
Who or what Mr. William Jennings WAS
nobody now seems to know, but it is
certain that he was a large freehOlder
farming several hundred acres, and that,
as Birmingham grew, his acres were abb
sOrbed into the town. For reasons of
his own, he let out his land on long lcas-
es for Il lump sum in zeady money, and
so, without any trouble or difficulty,
found himself, in virtueof 1.-The iunearn-
ed increment, a rich man. Years went
by and Jennings died clildless, leaving
his estate intestate. Had he had nat
ural heir, or had he left will, there
could have been, of course, no manner
of doubt as to the disposition of his
property. But will there was evidently
none, and no neir came forward to claim
the vast estate. This being so, it seems
that the lessees under the original leases
have gone on paying grOund-rent to no.
body, aud the time is now fast approach
ing when the tepancies thus created will
determine, and an heir TO the property
will have to be found A windfall SO
enormous has put every Jennings in
England on the alert, and a vast gather
ing of that name from all quarters of
the habitable world is at this moment
convened, in order that family registers
may be searched, family documents
compared, and questions of family de-
scent settled, with view to the discov-
cry of the long-lost heir. Students of
the law are probably familiar with ter
rible diagram to be found in the first
volume of 'Blackstone's Commenta-
ries," and which looks like nothing so
much as the chart or record of a gigan-
tic game of K17egspid. In it the line of
real estate in question, is traced up to
the Stileses, the Smiths, the Kempes,
the Hollands, the Bakers, the Willises,
the ThorpcS, and the Whites. Thus
commencing. this fearfully complex
family tree goes on to show chat, in de-
fault of other legal heirs, ''the paternal
grandmOther's maternal grandmother
will be the person next entitled, and so
on in the maternal line ad fnfHttun9."
II is hard tobelieYe of Mr.. William Jen-
nings THAT he is so utterly destitute of
relations as to neceSSitate an ascending
search to his paternal grandmOther's
grandmother" And yet it
would really seem as if such were in
deed the case, for it is certain beyond
all question that out of the whole large
family of Jennings or Jennens, or Jen-
yns-fOr the name is spelt in any num-
Der of ways-there is not one who has
yet come forward to proclaim himself
Mr. William Jennings lawful heir. Ac-
a Jennings Family Associa-
ton" is in process of formation, with
the design" we are informed, .'of pros
ecuting the claim resolutely and effcc-
tually." Imposters, of course, or-tO
use the orthodox phrase-''elaimants
have turned up" in any number, and
il is difficult to say how many pseudo
JcnningseS have not come over from
America to put in their claim to the an
cestral freehold. A great meeting of
the family is to be forthwith held at
and probably never yet
since the memorable meeting of the
Chuzzlewit family, at which Mr.. Spottle-
toe so enthusiastically and energetically
delivered himself of his sentiments
has more important contriyance de-
bated an absorbing topic.
A. al ks
not but point out-certafn elements of
doubt in this wonderful story. AccOrs
ding to the. theory of English law, the
tenure of.all freehold land is by grant
from the Crown, and, when the grantee
dies intestate and without heirs, the land
reverts to the Crown as the original gran
tee. This is what conveyancers call an
''eschcat," and we confess ourselves un-
able tOsee how it is that the estates of.
William Jennings, deceased, have not
long ago escheated to the CFewn.r That
the man left no will is fact It seems
almost equally certain that he had no
heirs. And it ought consequently to
follow that, pr0pteT dejectune Adngttinas,
his estates should vest in the Crown as
original possessor and grantor of the fee. 1
1t is true, no doubt. that in these days
the Treasury seldom takes advantage of
Indeed, a special act of Par
lament has been passed which enables
tlfe Crown, in the case of an escheated
estate, to so ALLEVIATE the fee as TO restore
it to the family of the1origihal owner, or
to carry into effect any grant, convey
lnce, or devise of it that he may have in 1
,cnded to make. But, on the other hand, !
he difficulty in the present case seems
o be thattherc is, as tar as GAN be made
,ut, no family of the forniefSowner, and
10 evidence that he ever intended to ef-
ect any grant, conveyance or devise of |
lis property whatsoever. This being so,
{ is not easy La understand why the |
Crown has not long since claimed the |
,scheat. 1t would seem that, fer the
present the Jennings estate consists al |
most entirely of ground rents, With |
'ut any wish to prejudice question /
which only a skilled and long-experi- |
need conveyancer is fit to determine, |
We yet imagine that the position of af-
airs is, in the main stnisLt that Mr.. sIVilzzi
lm Jennings collected the ground rents
p to his death, and that since then mo- I
ody has collected them. There is, it is
rue, terrible maxim, that "Nullum
empus occurrit regi." But the practi-
al result of the whole matter will he
nat, unless an heir to Mr.. William j en-
ings presents himself without much
)ss of time, the fee of the Jennings es-
ates will vest in the individual ground
enters by Yiftue of undisputed possess
)n without payment of rent. Such a
esult would be, for many and obyious
easons, eTninently unsatisfactory, and II =
consequently devoutly to be hoped ei-
Ter that the legal heir of William Jen- E
ings, deceased, may be forthwith found,
r else that the Treasury may end tllc mat r
It at onceSby claiming the Jennings es- /
tie as an escheat to the Crown.
The chieftrouble in the way at pres
lt, continued Judge Bacon, was the
nglish statute of limitations. and the ]
QUITS were now engaged upon that ,
atter, The claimants at first desired
, keep the affair out of the newspapers,
ecause it was thought best to have the
lse under way in the English Courts /
efore anything was said about it in ,
Iblic way. -NTOlS
Judge Branch, of Lynchburg, Virgin