Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-05-25
Decline of Famous Families.

Decline OF Famous Families
Among the descendants OF Thomas
Plantagenet, duke Of Gloucester, fifth
son af Edward III, was Stephen J.
Penny, who was, not many years ago,
sexton at st. Georges, Hanover
square, London.
Among the lineaI descendants Of
Edmund OF Woodstock. earl of Kent
and sixth son of Edward L, occur a
butcher and a toll-gatherer; the first
a Joseph Smart Of HalesoWen. the lat
ter a George Wilmont, a keeper Of the
turnpike gate at COOper's bank, near
Dudley.
A story is told of ascion Of thegreat
house Of Urquhart of Cromarty who
was necessitated by his extravaganza
to sell his inheritance. and who, sink
ing step by step to the lowest depths
Of Wretchedness, came at last q wan
dering beggar to the door which had
once been his own.
No race in Europe surpassed the
Plantagenets in royal position and
personal achievements, and yet not
to descend further than the year 1887,
the gFeat-great grandson Of Margaret
Plantagenet, daughter and heiress Of
George, duke Of Clarence, followed the
trade OF a shoemaker Of Newport,
SalOp.
Fraser of Kirkhill relates that he
saw the earl of Tarquair. cousin Of
James VI, begging IN the streets OF
Edinburgh. He was" says Fraser,
ain an antique garb. and wore a
broad old hat, short cloak and pan
nier breaches, and 1 contributed to.
ward his relief. We gave him a noble.
He was standing with his hat of. and
received the piece Of money from my
hand as numbly and thankfully as
the poorest applicant"
One of CrOmweIPs granddaughters,
after seeing her husband die in the
wOrkhouse OF a small Suffolk town,
died herself a pauper, leaving two
daughters, the elder the wife Of q shoe
maker and the younger the wife Of a
butchers son who had been her fellow
servant. Another OF Oliver CrOm-
wells daughters had two children, of
whom the son became a small working
jeweler, and the daughter the mistress
OF a small school at Mildenh all.
Before the time of the protector the
Cromwell family possessed estates
equal to those of the Wealthier peers
OF the present day, and the great OH
yer himself inherited considerable
property, which, augmented from pri-
Ya6e sources, made up a total sufi-
Gent to maintain his family perpetu-
ally in easy circumstances. But with
in a century after his death Thomas
Cromwell, his great grandson, was q
grocer on Snow Hill and his son Oil
yer. the last male heir, an attorney in
London.
When the twelfth earl Of Crawford
was imprisoned in Edinburgh castle
to restrain his recklessness and prodi-
gality he left one child, a daughter,
who, having no one whatever to look
after her, received not a scrap Of edu-
cation and was allowed to run about
like a gypsy. She eloped with a COM
mon crier, and at one period of her
life lived by mendicancy. Charles II
granted her a pension OF $500 a year,
but owing to her utter degenera cy, it
proved more hurtful than beneficial.
The male head OF this family died in
the year 1744, in the capacity of host
Ter In an inn at KTkwall in the Ork-
ney islands. The estate had been dis
sipated by the ''spendthrift ear" his
father, and with his patrimOny he,
Lord Lindsay, earl Of Crawford,
bought a small property. on which he
/ resided for some years, until through
adverse fortune, this went too, and to
save himself from starvation, he was
fam to 60 as a hOstler.