St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-09
ANOTHER HEIR FOUND.
st. Paul Claimants to the
Anneka Jams Estate TAX
ing Active Steps.
Mrs. Theophilus F. Smith Will
Send An Attorney to New
York.
Can the Church Be Separated
From Society, Asks Rev.
Smith.
Rev. Vail Shows the Intimate
Relation Of Religion and
Morality.

mat TACT Is stranger Luan NCllOn IS
once more eXemplified in the contest
now being carried on in New York by
the heirs of what is known as the An
neka Jams estate, in which at least one
or more persons in st. Paul have a vital
interest. Over 200 years ago Dominic
Bogardus left Holland, and set sail for
America to become the pastor of the
first church built in the New Neither
lands. A few years after his ar
rival the paster met Anneka
Jams, pretty little Dutch girl,
and married her ill 1852, Property on
Manhattan island was not very valua
BILE in those days, and the father of
Anneka received deed of certain lands
property passed into the possession of
the pastors wife, and is now covered
by the costly buildings of Broadway
and the vicinity of Trinity church. The
granddaughter of Anneka and Pastor
Bogardus, Catharine Bogardus. was
married 10 JOhannus Kipp, and from
that union the numerous heirs to-day
alive are descended. The point
upon which the distribution of hun
dreds of millions of dollars turns is
that the Trinity church corporation.
which at the present time holds the
property. claims that it has clear title.
The heirs, however, claim that when
the original grant was made by which
the corporation claims the lands. it was
only on a niDety-nine years lease, and.if
such is the case, the corporation has no
title to the SiXty-two acres Of land iu
Volved in the dispute.
One of the heirs to the estate is the
wife of TheOphilus F. Smith, secretary
of the Il. l.. Polk company. Mr.. Smith
and his family reside at 593 Iglehart
street, and last evening GLOBE re-
porter called at the house and received
some interesting information concerning
the affair.
Mr.. Smith stated that his wife was
the great granddaughter of the great
granddaughter of Anneka JAMS. In
1860 Steven Van Renseller Hall, of Co
iumbus. o., the father of Mrs. Smith,
went to New York and spent large sums
of money in tracing his descent i'll
straight line from Anneka JAMS. FIRE.
quent attempts have been made in re-
cent years to dispOsSeSS the Trinity
church corporation, but nothing definite
was done, owning 10 the lack of unity
on the part of the heirs, who number
about 800.
In 1886 an association was formed of
<Ii lIiC HCllSs dilu lC-
tanned in New York to carry on the
work of obtaining the estate. J. Nor
gan Dix the rector of the church, en-
deavored to stop the work by sending
out circular letters to the heirs, stating
that there was no truth whatever in the
story of 4 valuable estate existing for
the heirs of Anneka Jams. The heirs
persevered, however, and last week
meetings were held in New Albany.
Ind, by fifty of the heirs. A large num-
Der of the present holders Of the prop
erty have made offers of large
amounts to settle the claims, and there
is every indication that the Triuity
church corporation will be dispossessed
of their property. Mr.. Smith also stated
that While he did not usually believe in
the many stories started about large
estates waiting for claimants, yet in
this case he thought the facts were so
clear that he had retained the services
of the well-known lawyer. c. FL. Bene-
dict, Of st. Paul, who will proceed to
New York in order to see how affairs