New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-05-09
Decline of Famous Families.

Decline of Famous Families.
Among the descendants of Thomas
Plantagenet, duke Of Gloucester, fifth
son af Edward Ill, was Stephen J..
Penny, who was, not many years ago,
sexton at ST. Georges, Hanover
square, London.
Among the lineal descendants OF
Edmund OF Woodstock. earl Of Kent
and sixth son of Edward l., occur a
butcher and a toll-gatherer; the first
Joseph Smart Of Halesowen, the lat
ter George Wilmont, a keeper OF the
turnpike gate at Coopers bank, near
Dudley.
A story is told OF a scion Of the great
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 a wan
derlng beggar to the door which had
once been his own. 800
No race in Europe surpassed the
Plantagenets in royal position and
personal achievements, and yet not
to descend further than the year 1857,
the great-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" saws Fraser,
sin an antique garb, and wore a.
broad old hat, short cloak and pan
n1er breeches, and l contributed to-.
ward his relief. We gave him noble.
He was standing with his hat off, and
received the piece of money from my
hand as bumbly and thankfully as
the poorest applicant
One Of CromwelPs granddaughters,
alter seeing her husband die in the
Workhouse OF a small Suffolk town,
died herself a pauper, leaving two
daughters, the elder the wife OF shoe
maker and the younger the wife of q
butchers son who had been her fellow
servant. Another tof Oliver Crom-
wells daughters had two children, of
whom the son became asmall working
JeWeler, and the daughter the mistress
OF small school at Mildenh all.
Before the time of the protector the
Cromwell family possessed estates
equal to those of the weather. peers
OF the present day, and the great OH
Yer himself inherited considerable
property, which, augmented from pri-
Vate sources, made up a total suffi-
clent to maintain his family perpetu-
ally IN easy circumstances. But with
IN q century after his death Thomas
CROMWELL, his great grandson, was a
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 rec6lessness and prodi-
gallty he left one child, a daughter,
who, having no one whatever to look
after her, received not g. scrap of edu-
cation and was allowed to run about
like a gypsy. She eloped with a COM
mon crler, and at one period of her
life lived by mendicancy. Charles II.
granted her q pension OF $500 a. year,
but owing to her utter degeneracy, it
proved more hurtful than beneficial.
The male head of this family died in
the year l744, in the capacity OF host
Ter in an inn at Klrkwall in the Ork-
tney Islands. The estate had been dis
slpated by the "spendthrift EARL" 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 go as a hostler.