Research Catalog

Title

Lawrence Chase Townley Association records, 1880-1890.

Author

Lawrence-Chase-Towneley Association.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

.4 linear foot (1 box)

Summary

Records consist primarily of genealogical notes, both loose and in notebooks, on many English noble families. Miscellaneous legal documents, correspondence, and essays concern claims made by U.S. and Canadian citizens on land in Great Britain, and other legal, genealogical, and Association matters are also included.

Subjects

• Real property > England > Lancashire
• Toronto (Ont.) > Genealogy
• Lawrence family
• Genealogies
• Families > England > Lancashire
• England > Genealogy
• Chase family
• Townley family
• Genealogy > Societies, etc

Genre/Form

Genealogies.

Access (note)

• Advance notice required. Apply at http://www.nypl.org/mssref

Source (note)

• Gift of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 2008.

Biography (note)

• Lawrence-Chase-Towneley Associations, now considered fraudulent, were formed in the United States and Canada in the mid and late 1800s. Members of the Lawrence, Chase, and Towneley families were approached with a story about a family estate in England originally belonging to Sir Richard Towneley to which they were entitiled, and invited to subscribe to a fund for the prosecution of its rightful claim to that estate. While a Towneley estate did exist in England, there were no absent heirs, and therefore no claim to be made by American or Canadian Towneley descendants.
• After the death of Colonel John Towneley, last of Richard's male line of descent, the British Parliament devised the Towneley Estates Act, which divided the estate among seven heirs. Several of the Lawrence-Chase-Towneley associations sought to challenge the distribution. A High Court solicitor named Howell Thomas took their case, but the court dismissed the action as frivolous, as it was based on the fraudulent genealogies created by the Association. Though a book, The Lawrence, Chase, Towneley Estate: The Mystery Solved, was published in 1888 to debunk the myth of the Towneley estate, the Associations continued their activities until after the First World War.

Call Number

MssCol NYGB 18237

OCLC

662475120

Author

Lawrence-Chase-Towneley Association.

Title

Lawrence Chase Townley Association records, 1880-1890.

Restricted Access

Advance notice required. Apply at http://www.nypl.org/mssref

Biography

Lawrence-Chase-Towneley Associations, now considered fraudulent, were formed in the United States and Canada in the mid and late 1800s. Members of the Lawrence, Chase, and Towneley families were approached with a story about a family estate in England originally belonging to Sir Richard Towneley to which they were entitiled, and invited to subscribe to a fund for the prosecution of its rightful claim to that estate. While a Towneley estate did exist in England, there were no absent heirs, and therefore no claim to be made by American or Canadian Towneley descendants.

After the death of Colonel John Towneley, last of Richard's male line of descent, the British Parliament devised the Towneley Estates Act, which divided the estate among seven heirs. Several of the Lawrence-Chase-Towneley associations sought to challenge the distribution. A High Court solicitor named Howell Thomas took their case, but the court dismissed the action as frivolous, as it was based on the fraudulent genealogies created by the Association. Though a book, The Lawrence, Chase, Towneley Estate: The Mystery Solved, was published in 1888 to debunk the myth of the Towneley estate, the Associations continued their activities until after the First World War.

Finding Aids

Finding aid available online and in repository.

Source

Gift of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 2008. MSS

Research Call Number

MssCol NYGB 18237