The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-02-09
A Lost Heir Pound.

A Lost Heir Found.
7 Seldom do the records of the Orphans
Court furnish as interesting a history as
that contained in the estate of John Les.
lie Quig, lad who, having been absent
for more than seven years, was decreed
virtually dead by the Orphans Cour,
after untiring efforts had been made tc
find him. Many years ago Henry Quie,
a shipping merchant of this city, died
intestate. In those days Philadelphia
] was the commercial metropolis of the
United States, and Mr.. Quig's estate, al
the time of his DEATH. had accumulated
| to a considerable extent. His widow,
Jemima Quig, a woman, of strong char
| acter and mental frmness, conceived the
idea that the property became hers as
soon as. lhera husband died. ,,She had
therefore. collected the rents, built
houses and made Investments, and
her management of the affairs con-
tinued for some time after the demise of
her husband. Mrs. Quig excluded her
children, some of whom were of full age,
from any control whatever or right in
the property. although two-thirds of it
was lawfully theirs. Litigation sprung
up between the mother and children,
which continued for many wears. until
finally, in 1860, nearly all of the property
was sold by order of the Orphans Court
and distributed according to law among
those to whom it belonged. The ONLY
thing which escaped the sale was the
residence of Mrs. Quig and her husband.
situated at the corner of Twelfth and
Spring Garden Streets, which is now di-
vided into the Central Hotel and four or
tive stores. This remaining property
belonged to Jemima Quig, subject to the
claim OF her children. The latter were
OF wandering disposition one became
a sea captain. and is now residing in
Brooklyn; another died in South Amer
lea, and a third, William Quig, after
serving in the army as a cavaIryman.
went West and settled in Kansas. His
friends and relatives in the East heard
very little of him. 1t was said he had
married and had one child; who is
John Leslie Quig. News came
that William Quig had died.
His mother Jemima and the
other relatives made repeated efforts to
discover. the whereabouts of the widow
and child, but no information could be
cleaned OF them. Jemima Quig died in
1875, and her grandson, John Leslie, be-
came entitled to the major portion of her
property. Seven years rolled by All
the letters and advertisements which had.
been published in the locality of the
minors residence when last heard from
having met with no response, the Phila-
delphia relatives made application to the
court through William G. Wrigley, ESQ.,,
their attorney, to have an administra-
ton taken out upon the estate. The ad-
ministrator continued the inquiry in
Kansas and Iowa, and; although several
bogus claimants for the estate appeared, 4
none could establish the identity of the /
lost boy, and, giving up the search as
hopeless, the administrator prepared to,
file an account and make distribution of
the property among the Philadelphia
relatives as nearest of kin to. Jemima
Quig; but suddenly in September last,
while the money was still in his hands,
he was informed by Messrs Rand, and
Patten, LAWYERS of this city, that they
had found the long-lost heir. and that
they claimed the property. y -
A commission to~stake testimony was
directed to Ayoea, Pottawattamie Coun-
ty. Iowa, the residence of the alleged
John Leslie Quig, and opened by judge
Hanna, of the Orphans Court, of this |
city. Mrs. Dorcas Cuppy, mother OF
John Leslie Quig, testified that the bowl
was born in Morris County, Kansas, on
a homestead taken up by the father, who
died just one year after the birth of his /
son. Mrs. Cuppy subsequently married /
her present husband, Isaac Cuppy. She
admits having seen advertisements in.
the papers and having received letters
her child, but states that she
took no notice of them, and hid the boy
for these reasons. Shortly after her
husbands death Jemima Quig and her i
sister Catherine visited the widow. and
took great fancy to John, her infant,
child. Mrs. Quig wanted to, take the
boy away. She promised to leave. him
, large amount of money in her win. but
being refused her request she left in
anger. The widow subsequently heard \
hat Mrs. Quig had offered ANYBODY
5000 if they would steal John Leslie and
oring him to her. For that reason the /
mother says she feared that all these let
ers and notices in the papers, which she
lfterward saw, were merely sentfor the
purpose of finding out where her boy
vas, so that Mrs. Quig might take him
away from her. The facts testified to
" Mrs. Cuppy are conceded with by the
estimony of children of hers before the
marriage to William Quigg, by her pres
mt husband, Cuppy, and by children of
1uppy by former marriage. Rhiladel.
'hiG Press. .s ,,sas
Sayings Of Eminent Men.
j have found more benefit from an inch