Wilmington journal., 1876-02-04
A HUNDRED CEeTUKIEs AGO.
The Rrumn8gem Fortune and its
Many Claimants Nee ing OF the
Heirs of the jennings Estate
Judge Bacon Reports Progress.

was held in Edgefield, S. c., of a por-
ton OF the heirs of William jennings.
who "died in estate, in Birmingha. .,
England, in 1913. The heirs are scat
tered all over the country, but princi-
pally hail from Tennessee, Virginia,
Georgia and South Carolina, although
some of them are located in the North
ern States. principally in Vermont,
TIE American heirs claim descent
from Edwald Jennings. a nephew OF
William Jennings, who emigratvd t.,
Virginia. where he died. leaving a
family of ten children.
Yesterday, Tuesday, another con
veution was held in room forty-seven.
of the Central Hotel. There was
present about fifty persons. half a
dozen of whom were ladies. The
company was most intelligent look
Jag set of people, and took deep IN
/ terest i'll the proceedings.
Rev FL. A. d mean was called to
the chair, J. r. Wilkinson acted as
tinancial secretary, and 2. Il. Wood
recording secretary.
Judge John E. Bacon, Of Column bia,
| who has been to England on behalf
of the heirs, made II most elaborate
rsport. In his opening remarks he
| stated he III 1t nded TO use no ciaptiai.
| i'll the business, but would deal piainly,
| frankly and openly in the III alter. H
| called on the Secretary to read th'
letter of irstruct;o ;ons under which Ia,
acted ill his journeying to England,
After the reading of the minutes
Judge Bacon teaumed his rem aTks
! He said the estate. III que-tIun va
worth $3.50, 900, 600, but be had latei
| 80, ID IL, -
| Wing, placing the amount at $4U0,-
| 000 900. He was sorry the value wa
raised, because it would only max
the struggle a more protractod one.
He then read letters addressed to hin
while in England, two of which were
from Hon. Judah Benjamin, the las
letter from that distinguished gentle
man being very brief, nnd declining
to answer ary legal or other question
in regard TO the subject matter, on the
ground that he was law officer of the
| English Grown. The learned gentle
man then recited the difficulties he
met with in England in prosecuting
bis So arch. and the very evld Mt de
sire to keep information away from
the Amer Can claimants. He read All
editorial from the Lordon Telegraph,
Il leading authority on law matters,
favoring the idea that there was a
d chance for the heirs eventually IS
'ablishiDg their claim. The Judge cx-
hibited a pedigree which had Ieen
prepared at great expense and labor
The remarks OF Judge Bacon wers
listened to with great interest, and
were delivered with the ease OF til,
gent eman, the prufOuuduess If the
jurist, and the honesty af expression
which are marked traits OF his charac
ter. He took pains to avoid exciting
false hopes, or expressing any decided
opinions. He simply reiated the cir
cumstances connected with the search
for info, nation.
| Judge Branch, of Lypchburg, Va
being called upon, sui,i s... presented 4
sone of the Virginia hei,S, ard cam
simply as All enquirer. He would ad
wise his clients TO JOIN the present as
sociation,
j. ii p. Folks made some very sen.
sibie remarks about each claimant es
tablishing his claim to kinehip b. for,
engaging IN unnecessary trouble Oh
expense.
MIR. Shand, of Spartanburg, aske
if the American claimants could in
herit and claim real estate in Eng
land.
Judge Bacon replied that the we
kncwE principle of England, "once Al
Eug!ishman. always an EngIishman,
would hold in this case, and he shoulG
decide they could. True it vas that
English lawyers had stated there
might be obstacles raised on this
question of real estate, but there
could be no difficulty about the per
70 a.
tablish the claim. The rule of the
| English courts was to hear pleas un-
der the statutes of limitations first, be
fore deciding on the other branches Of
cases, and this most important point
was the first to be decided III the pros
ecution of the claim.
| Judge TwIggs said although he was
not member of the convention, he
would suggest that one important part
to be decided was the amount each wss
to contribute to the fu:d to defray the
! expenses of the litiga ton. The Ques-
ton of the degree of kinmansnip wur
a most important one, and should reg
uiate the quota each was to contribute
to the fund. He suggested al addi-
ton to th. committee on lineage. The
question was put into a motion, t.
have three men added 10 that com
mittee.
The chairman appointed J. H ?.
Folks, Judge Twiggs and A. Y. Early
as such committee.
Judge Twiggs moved that R;v. Mr.
Duncan be added to the committee.
1t was announced that the several
committees would meet through tile
day. and the convention adjourned.
At Fall fern, 1870, on affidavit of
defendan 8, the case was continued,
by reason of the absence OF material
witnesses, and they were remanded to
Jail, not being able to give bail The
case WIS continued until Fail Term,
1871. Amos was tried. found guilty,
aud sentenced to the penitentiary.
But the case as to Hugh vas con
tinued, he having broke Jail on or
| about the 7th OF February, 1870.
Alias capiases were issued for Hugh
and the case continued from term to
term to tie present time.
One HUNDRED Years Ago.
Some wise wag has summed up fur
| the Augusta COnstittGtiUn0tist The
| changes thst nave taken place during
IA CENTURY. in tins way:
One hundred veurs ago wedding
tours wece not fashion ble.
One hundred years ago farmers did
not cut their legs off with moving