The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-10-13
CLAIM TO MILLIONS
TOLD TO 200 WERTZS

Eilly" Wertz, of Newberry, South Car
olina, this afternoon. The paper is
hailed as proof of the grant of 25O
acres of land to Hans Jacob Werts in
Holland.
The paper is yellowed with age and
parts of it can Lot be read. The sig
nature of the king of England may be
distinctly read, however, together with
the more important parts Of the docu-
ment. With this came the deed.
Addressing 200 members OF the
Wertz family in session at the Harper
house, Mrs Estelle Ryan Snyder Z
afternoon gave the family history and
its claims to the Wertz millions. Mrs.
Snyder said in part:
''Whether we ever receive any of
the millions of dollars that are said
to be held by the Holland government
across the seas, is a question can not
answer, but l do claim that without a
doubt our gathering of this great
family conclave will surely bear good
fruit. I trust we shall all depart to
our homes after a delightful visit to-
gether, imbued with the determination
to keep in touch with the various
members of our own great family cir
Gle.
81 an proud to- be able to tell you
this afternoon that in all my search
for the Wertz family, during the last
seven months, I have never heard of
one of our blood that had lived an un-
worthy life or was engaged in any
thing but an honorable profession.
You scarcely realize the significance
of that statement until you stop to
think of the hundreds of Wertzs that
are in America. On the contrary, l
have found Wertzs occupying the
highest stations in life commencing
with the governorship of the State of
New Jersey, which position was held
by Wertz until his death. George
Wertz, Johnstoyn, Pa, is the senator
of that State, while WertZ occupies
the honorable position of doctor OF
law of Vale university. I found
Wertzs bank presidents, judges, COM
missio)rers, justices of the peace, post
masters, lawyers, etc. 1 forgot to|
mention the Wertz who held the posi-
ton of assistant minister of the inter-
ior under President Mckinley. We
now have a Wertz in the treasury de-
partment at Washington. One at the
United States mint at Philadelphia;
one of our number is famous inVen-
tor and lives at Olympia, Wash. we
have States attorneys and lawyers
galore. In fact, l find the law pro-
fession that seems to be particularly
favored by the members of the Wertz
clan. Many of our cousins are we'll
to do merchants. One is in the au-
tonobile business, and 1 was sur
prised not to find any cousins in the
flying machine business or avlators,
but possibly that will develop later.
How Millions Were Discovered.
- ITO begin at the very beginning, for
of course many Of you are not tamil
lar with how l came to know of the
Wertz millions, and what my motive
was in searching for the various
branches of the family whose where
abouts were unknown. Sunday, Feb
ruary 26, my mother, Mary Louise
W7ertz Williams, called my attention
to a cable dispatch in the Chicago
Sunday Examiner. This dispatch bore
the date Of January II, and purport-
ed to have been a cablegram from
Paris. I read the dispatch carefully
and my mother and discussed the
probability of kinship between the
General Wertz mentioned in the cable
gram and my mothers family. Moth
er recalled the story of the great
wealth in the Wertz family which had
been told her many times in her
younger days by her mother, who stat
e. that if the Wertzs had what was
coming to them, they would be enor- !
mously rich. Upon being questioned
why the Wertzs did not have the tor-
tune spoken of by Grandmother Wertz
(the widow Christopher Wertz) grand
mother said that the estate was in the
hands of the Holland government;
that Holland had never relinqulshed