Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-06-30
PATERSON
MAN IS HEIR TO
s65,00O, IF FOUND
Son Gives Father Who Deserted
Him Fortune and Ties Up
Estate Thereby.

PHILADELPHIA. June ~30.-Because
William H. Burns, wealthy frankfort
manufacturer. who died In 1908, at
tached to his will a codicil that mad
vertently made his father, who had de-
serted him In his infancy, a beneficiary,
a considerable proportion of the estate
is being held by the Orphans Court
pending a search for the father.
The Insertion of an advertisement
making inquiries for the father has
disclosed a story of more h a passing
human interest, into which enters all
the elements of romance, marital trag-
edy and the successful struggle of a
penniless youth to make his way in the
world under adverse circumstances. In
yesterdays papers appeared this ad-
yertisement:
INFORMATION IS DESIRED CON-
corning John Townsend or Townsen,
or his heirs He lived in New Jersey
about 1851, and later in Frankfort,
Philadelphia. He or his next of kin
will find it to their advantage to adj
dress T. d. Finletter, 1416 South Penn
square, Philadelphia, Pa.
Townsend Is the missing man and
was the father of Burns, despite the
difference in names.
Back in 1850 Mary Burns, a hand
some, buxom girl, was employed in a
mill at Paterson, N, j. There she met
for the first time John Townsend ,or
Townsen, the man spelling his name
both ways. Almost at nee a friend
ship sprang up letween Townsend and
Miss Burns and rapidly ripened into
love. Townsend was an ardent wooer,
and after an acquaintanceship of six
weeks the pair married. Shortly after
they moved to F%rankford, where a son
was born. This was William Townsend,
who lately changed his name to Burns,
Three years the elder Townsend lived
in frankfort, and then one day he left,
saying that he was going South to get
employment. He went to a town in
Kentucky, and there his wife visited
him.
Three weeks later she returned and
told her family that she n her hus-
band had separated for good. She said
that her husband had beer guilty of
certain misconduct, but would not say
what it was. Eleven years after her
visit to Kentucky she died.
Young Townsend obtained employ
ment in a textile mill, n steadily
climbed the ladder of success. He rose
to a partnership In the firm of James
Bromley & Co., and later embarked in
business for himself. When his death
occurred, in January of 1908. he left an
estate valued at about $500, 900.
In the. will he divided his estate
among his living relatives. He had
never married, and his next of kin were
all on his mothers side. so far as he
know, as his father had never told
anybody about his family.
But a codicil was attached to the
will. evidently written just before
Burns's- death. and 1t is this codicil
which is causing all the trouble. 1t
reads:
"All the rest. residue and remainder
of my estate of every kind 1 give, de-
wise and ~bequeath unto my above
named beneflolaries and my next of kin
under the interstate law in equal
shares"
And this codicil. whether intention
ally or not, established his missing
father and his relatives as benef1ciaries.
The part of the estate thus affected Is
estimated at $65, 900. This is why the
search for John Townsend is being
prosecuted.