Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-03-29
Negroes Worth Millions.

When the New York papers a few
days ago referred to n. W. Cooney as
being tie wealthiest colored man in
Texas they had evidently not heard of
the Lincoln family, now residing in
Dallas, six children in all, WHO have
come into possession of S4S, 900. 600.
giving them the snug little fortune of
$S.000,000 apiece.
One of the heirs to this immense
property is at present in Galveston.
and NeUs reporter looked him up
Yesterday, as much out of curiosity to
see a negro possessed of such euor-
nous wealth as in search of an item.
The following item from a paper
published in Paris, Tex, in connection
with the information that one of the
! c;rs was in the city. is that which di-
rected the reporter in the search:
THE Lincoln heirs (colored) living
in Dallas. who year or so ago became
the weaIthiest colored people in Amer
lea, have recently come in possession
of all their property. Tue amount
due them was on deposit in the Bauk
of England, and aggregated the enOr-
nous sum of S4S, 000 Forty-eight
million dollars! This has Just been di-
vided among the Abraham, Ed,
! Burr, Matt, Fannie and Lula each
| having received $4,000, 900. Eight
million dollars!"
The party in Galveston bears the il
lustrious cognomen of Abraham Lin
coin. He was traced to a cclored
| clearinghouse on Twenty-fourth
street, between Postoffice and Church,
but not being found in he courteously
responded to the NelUS man to call at
| the office, which he did last night,
| coming in as meekly as though he
| wanted to borrow a dollar, instead of
owning $8,000,000 Abraham is a
young man, apparently not over So
years of age, of a saddle-colored COM
| plexion, and evidently a man of more
| than the average intelligence of his
race. He has credentials, printed let
ter-heads, ETC., wherein he is styled
| Governor Abraham Lincoln, showing
| HIM to be tie manager of the estate.
When asked by what means such
enormous wealth had been acquired
by his family, he replied that it was
an inheritance from his grandmother
Fannie Ellis, who resided at Dallas,
| "uCIS BIC IlCNL 81 cal VI INO dSO
| Fannie Ellis was q Mexican woman.
and some 40 years ago her husband
acquired immense wealth in speculat-
ing in Mexican mining claims, which
was deposited in the Bank of England.
! Preceding the late civil war they
bought and sold slaves. Among one
of their purchases from a slave-tradeT
was the father of the six children who
recently came into the possession of
the $4S,000,000. The father married
the daughter of his mistress, by whom
he was set tree, and the six children,
being the direct issue of their mar
riage, established the claim of direct
inheritance.
Some litigation was necessary in es-
tablishng their claim, and it was only
a few days ago that they acquired
actual possession of their fabulous in
heritance.
Abraham Lincoln is here, as he says,
with the view of probably locating at
| Galveston.
When asked if he had matured any
plans for investing this vast estate, he
replied that they had decided to invest
all on Jan. in United States bonds
The interest on the bonds, he said,
would give us more than enough to
live on, with a good margin for specu-
lation without touching the principal.
1t is also safe investment and carries
with it immunity from taxation.-GaL-
UeSf011 Ne1CS.