Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-03-11
THERE'S MILLIONS In IT.
AN aElRsss TO a VAST ESTATE.
jacques Finds an American relress TO
the Famous Lawrence 7 To~niey
Estate OF England.

BUFsAIO, March lO.-The wife Of Deacon
sidns, ,. Brown, Of Bagdad, near GO~anda,
\. y, has been acknowledged by the Court
OF the Queens Bench. a. heiress 10 The
L-a~renee- To~nley estate ia England, valued
al one hunared million dollars, about forty
millions OF which Is believed 10 be her due.
Before the opening of the present century
Lord 1OWuiey owned lne estate IN Eng
land, and was parent of wlsful bat cOmely
las named May, Who, despite her fathers
protest, became engaged To John Lawrence,
a man OF good family, bat OF no consider
able wealth. Failing 10 conclllate the lady's
father, the young people came 10 America
aud were married at Springfield. Mass.
During much of the latter colonial period
communication was little carried ON betaeen
the mother country and America, and the
father and daughter never became reconclled.
Iownley died, and the family in England
became extinct. For over fifty years
the estate was in the hands of the English
authorities with no claimants. Ii might
have rem aimed 80 up 10 the present, but for
the late war Ia lctD James Jacques Was
A Methodist Doctor of Divinity located III
Illinois. but when the war broke out in the
following year he left the peaceful pursuit
of the ministry and enlisted "A private.
Promotion in the field soon followed for
bravery, he being the individual who. un-
aided. arranged meeting between Presi-
dent Lincoln and jefferson Davis,
by means of which he hoped for
settlement of the difficulties. At
the close of the war Jacques went 10
Springfield, Mass, to engage IN the Ministry.
While there he accidently ran across the
record of the marriage of John Lawrence
aud Mary Iownley. Being aware that IN
estate IN England was awaiting the claim
ants, Jacques set about hunting the helress.
This investigation brought him TO Gowanda,
where he informed Mr.. Brown and his wife,
who was the daughter of the late Judge
Wilders, of Springfield, and was a
direct descendent of Mary Lawrence,
and therefore one of the heirs
of the vast estate. Brown executed bonds on
the estate. raised sufficient money To prose-
cute the claims, and sent jacques to Europe
whittier he went after declining the position
of Secretary of the Treasury under the late
President Garfield. Soon after his arrival
in England the Court of the Queens b nch
decided that the claims of the American
heir were valid Since that time jacques has
been engaged in complying with the techni-
calities of the English Law. Brown,
last week received letter from Jacques stat
ing that he had given two Members of the
House of Lords an interest in the estate for
which they were To procure an Act of Pariia-
ment directing the transfer of the proceeds
of the estate to the Treasury of the United
States. Jacques Is TO receive one-third of
the estate for his labors. Sylvester Cowles,
ID. d., of Randolph, who purchased bonds
on the estate, Is said to be anxious to live
until the final settlement, when he expects
$1,000. He Is now over eighty years old,
and wants TO round off useful career by
en1owing Hamilton College. from which he
graduated, with $4,000, and also placing
$4,000 to the credit of negro college in
Tennessee. He was one of the original anti
slavery agitatoTs and takes deep interest in
the colored race.