New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-18
NOT DESCENDANT OF IRISH PATRIOT
Correspondent Cites History to DiSprOve
Statement Regarding 7. Wolfe Tone.
o the EDITOR OF The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune
Str: In your issue Of February I3 IL an error
which 1 beg leave 10 correct on your editorial
page In the account of the burial OF T. Wolfe Tone
you speak OF him as "a descendant Of the Irish
patriot Wolfe Tone"
To quote from the autobiography OF Wolfe Tone.
edited and published by his IN Washington in
1926. Tone says: Il was born In tho city Of Dublin
in 1863. About the beginning Of the year 1855
became acquainted with my wife, the daughter OF
William Withcrington She not sixteen years
OF age One beautiful morning in the month OF July
we ran off together and were married"
All students of Irish history acquainted with
the subsequent events OF Tones life until. No
vember 49, 1888 he died in the Proyosts Prison
Dublin at the age Of thirty-1ve being at the time
OF his death adjutant general and chief OF brigade
in the French army. HIS wife and family were
then IN Paris and without means. To quote again
from the appendix to his autobiography written
by his son: The Directory instantly passed de-
cree by which immediate aid OF 1900 francs
from the funds OF the navy and three months pay
from the War Department were assigned to his
widow, and she was requested TO produce her titles
10 a regular pension This, referring to tho origi-
nal document at hand she did in 1893. Seven OF
her compatriots, among them a general q captain
and lieutenant IN the French army, testified that
she was Matilda WitheringtOn. the legitimate widow
of Tone and the surviving Issue OF the marriage
were Maria. aged thirteen; William eight ana
Francis. six years. Later she received from lu-
Glen Bonaparte then Minister OF the Interior, t4e
time you should receive the OF 800 francs. and
the pension was increased by Emperor NAPOLEON TO
l2OD livres for the widow and 400 for each of the
three children. In 1893 Maria, at sixteen. died OF
consumption in Paris, and In 1896 Francis died
there. at fourteen. OF the same disease, leaving
William the only remaining child.
appendix William entered St. Cyr, the school for
cavalry at st. German-en-Laye where he be
came a government scholar, and on attaining his
majority. a citizen Of France In 1913 he was aap-
pointed suh-eutenant, afterWard rose to the
rank Of captain, and made CheValier of the
Legion Of Honor After the fall OF Napoleon he
came To this country and later entered the United
States army with the rank OF second lieutenant In
1929 he married Catherine Anne, the daughter of
William Sampson, the Irish exile and noted law
yer; In 1928 he died and buried In Georgetown,
D. c. where he and his mother had made their
home.
Georgetown In 1921 After her fathers death she
resided with her mother and her Sampson grand
parents in New York and lived in the intimate
society of that noted company of Irish exiles-the
F;mmets MacNevens and others She married
Irisnnan Iascelles c. Maxwell, later moved to
Rrookivn and there died. in 1900, leaving seven
children and a number OF grandchildren. These are
the only descendants of Theobald Wolfe Tone. Ma
poleon had ordered that the pension granted to
Tones three children should revert to their mother,
and the honor Of the French nation, through all
its vclssitudes, that pension was continued TO
Tones widow until her DEATH In Georgetown in
ls49. . * A MAXWELL.