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                           Chicago Herald Examiner Newspaper Articles
                                           1925
                                    Cook County, Illinois

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Contributor:   LouAnn Cameron 	[email protected]   May 2001


CHICAGO Herald Examiner, June 20, 1925

Headline, Page 1:

EIGHT COUSINS WILL SPLIT JENNINGS' $5,000,000 EACH  TO GET  $625,000  BY
COURT  RULING

Two-Year Legal Battle Ends;
Mystery will Discredited;
Trust Company appeals

The two-year legal battle over the $5,000,000 estate of Edwin B. Jennings,
eccentric millionaire recluse, ended yesterday when Probate Judge Henry
Horner ruled it should be divided among eight first cousins, once removed.

A few months ago Judge Horner refused to admit to probate a "mystery will"
alleged to have been drawn by Mr. Jennings which left a large part of his
estate to Frederick W. Hall, a friend; John A. Jennings, a second cousin,
and the remainder for "the education of young people."

DIED IN 1922
Jennings died in 1922, apparently leaving no will to dispose of his vast
wealth, but a year later a will was mailed to the Northern Trust Company,
which purported to distribute the estate.  On this document the signatures
of Jennings and the two witnesses were almost illegible.

Three of the eight cousins who will share the estate are residents of
Chicago. These are:  Florence K. Brady, Charles R. Jennings and John A.
Jennings.

A fourth, George T. Jennings, lives in Glen Ellyn and the other four are
Sarah M. O'Carr of Sicoe, Ont., Norman C. Brizsc of New York City, Cassie
Bogart of Elyria, O., and Sarah E. Quest of Louisville, Ky.

SHARE  OF  EACH, $625,000
The court's ruling calls for an equal division of the estate, thus giving to
each of the cousins approximately $625,000.

The next step in the involved litigation will be an appeal to the Circuit
Court from Judge Horner's decision.  Attorney Hobart P. Young, counsel for
the trust company, was allowed such an appeal under a $5,000 bond.





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