The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-03-17
A STORY OF MILLIONS.
The Queens Bench Said to Have
Found an Heir to Great

The Queens Bench Said to Have
Found an Heir to n Great
Estate.
BUFFALO. March 10.-The wife of dea-
con Sidney S. Brown, Of Bagdad, near
Gowanda, N. Y, has been acknowledged
by the Court of Queens Bench as an
heiress to the Lawrence Townley estate
in England, valued at $100.OOO,O00
about $40, 900, 600 OF which is believed to
be her due.
Before the opening of the present CEN
fury Lord Townley owned a fine estate
in England and was the parent of
willful but comeIy lass named Mary,
who, despite her fathers protests, be-
come engaged to one John Lawrence, a
man Of good family but no considerable
wealth. Failing to conciliate the lady's
father the compile came to America, and
were married at Springfield, Mass.
During much Of the latter colonial pc
Rod communication was but little car
ricd on between the mother country and
America, and the father and daughter
never became reconciled. Lord Townley
died, and the family in England became
extinct For over fifty years the estate
was in the hands of the English author
tiles, with no claimants, and might have
remained so up to the present time but
for the late war. In 1860 James JAG
ques was a Methodist minister stationed
in Illinois; but when the war broke out
in the following year he enlisted as a
private. Promotion in the field soon
followed for bravery. he being the indi-
vidual who unaided, arranged the meet
ing between president Lincoln and JEFF
ferson Davis, by means Of which he
hoped for a settlement of difficulties.
At the close of the war Col. Jacques
went to Springfield, Mass, to engage in
the ministry, and while there accident
ally ran across the record of the mar
rage of John Lawrence and Mary Town
ley. Being aware of the estate in Eng
land awaiting claimants, Col. Jacques
set about hunting up the heirs His in
vestigation brought him to GOwanda,
where he informed Mr.. Brown that his
wife, who was daughter of the late
Judge Wilders, of Springville. was q d.
rect descendant of Mary Lawrence,
and therefore one of the heirs to the vast
estate. Mr. Brown executed bonds on
the estate, raised sufficient money to
prosecute the claim, and sent Col. JAG
ques to Europe, whittier he went after
declining the position of Secretary of the
Treasury under the late President Gar
field. Soon after his arrival i'll England
the Court of Queens Bench decided that
the claims of the American heirs were
valid, and since that time Col. Jacques
has been engaged in complying with the
technicalities of English law. Mr.. Brown
last week received 4 letter from Col.
Jacques stating that he had given two
members of the House of Lords an in
terest in the estate, for which they were
to procure an act Of Parliament directing
the transfer of the proceeds of the estate
to the United States Treasury. Col.
Jacques is to receive one-third of the
estate for his labors. Sylvester Cowles,
d. D., of Randolph, purchased bonds in
the estate, and is said to be very anxious
to live until the final settlement, when
he expects $4,000. He is now over 50
years old, and wants to round off a use
ful career by endowing Hamilton Col
lcge, from which he was graduated,
with 100000, also placing $4,000 to the
credit of a college for negroes in Ten
neSSee.