Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-02-20

New Orleans, and, in fact, practically all the large cities"
 Lady Ellenborough, on her return to England from the United States, will purchase an estate-preferably an IT, ish castle-for the Peterborough fami- ly sadly needs an ancestral home. Both Lord and Lady Peterborough are of direct Irish descent. The Law family, of which the fifth Baron of Ellenborough is the head. has never possessed lands or houses. It Is not one of the old aristocratic families of Britain, but family descended from a poor country curate of the eighteenth century. The present title and two others, which have lapsed. were hon. ors earned by hard and brilliant work. The Laws have followed the family name and have been great lawyers, as we'll as remarkable ecclesiastics and naval men.
 It is strange fact and one hereto fore entirely unnoiced. that when Miss Hermione Schenley, of Pittsburg, Pa. married Edward Downes Law (Baron Ellenborough) at St. Saviour's church, Chelsea. London, she married a direct connection of George Wash ington, first president of the United States. through Martha Washington. his wife. The Peterborough coat-of. arms, while decorated with three tir. umphant roosteIs, has It's shield up- held by two screaming American eagles,
 Thomas Law. born in 1756. the great great-grandfather of the present peer. married Anne. daughter of John Parke Curtis. The latter's widow was Mar tha, who later married Gen. George Washington. The Laws and the Wash ingtons were family friends, and when Martha Washington's English grand. daughter went to visit her in the United States. she fell in love with . scion of the Rogers family of Mary land and was married to him from the washingtons' home. It was her grandfather by marriage. the presi- dent of the United States. who gave her away at the altar.
 As already mentioned, the title of Peterborough was won by hard and good work for the empire. There arc no royal favorites in the ancestry. no bar sinister on the shield. And in these particulars the family is one of the few exceptions of Great Britain's peerage. It was Edward Law. attor- ney general and. later. chief justice of England. who earned first knighthood and then a barony In 1902.
 While the Laws in various branches have had large families of from nine to a dozen children. 1t is somewhat strange that those directly the heirs to the title or nearest to 1t in success sion have been visited almost whole sale by the hand of death The pres ent peer succeeded to the title four and half years ago. his cousin. tho fourth baron. dying without a direct heir. The cousin received the title on his uncle's death few years be- fore, and this baron had nine brothers and sisters, who all had died before him.
 A good many years ago the frequent and early deaths SO frightened the family that i've or six girls in one generation became nuns. One of these. the present peers aunt. was the first abbess and founder of the Franciscan order in Ireland. The abbey Is at Drumshambo.
 The fourth baron tried valiantly to leave a direct heir. He married four times. the last time within . few months of his third wife's death His widow, . daughter Of Sir Norton Bart. of Kent. has to date been known as Lady Peterborough. but now the new American peeress possesses the only rfgnt to that title. and the widowed baroness will in the future be known as Beatrice. Lady Ellenborough-