FAMILY FORTUNE

Southland Times, Issue 20791, 4 June 1929, Page 7

FAMILY FORTUNE

TASMANIAN STORY. Only by a lucky chance did the members of a branch of the Stump family, of Hobart, discover that they are among the probable heirs to a fortune which has been accumulating for a century, and which now amounts to more than £1,000,000. The story goes back to a Mansfield, who was a shipbuilder in England. Two families, one a branch of the Stumps and the other a family in Victoria, claim direct descent from the Mansfields, and also a fortune which is believed to have been tied up for 100 years. There were two brothers named Mansfield, in England, more than one hundred years ago. One was a shipbuilder, and the other sought his fortune in Tasmania, and took up a grant of land with his family at Bridgewater. His brother in England married twice. After the death of his first wife he went to Germany where he amassed a considerable fortune. He married in Germany, and it is stated that his will provider! that his wife should use the interest accruing from his fortune during her life, and that at her death the money should revert to the Mansfield family. His wife or her advisers tied up the money for 100 years, and as money doubles itself in something like 20 years, it is not. surprising that the fortune exceeds £1,000,000. The Mansfield who settled in Tasmania is believed to have had three daughters and one son. The son and one daughter died without leaving issue. One daughter married and went to Victoria. She left a family, but it is not known how many of her descendants are living. The other daughter married Mr. T. Stump, and they had three sons —Thomas, Mark, and Henry —and one daughter, who became Mrs. Blackwell, of Green Ponds, Tasmania. Thomas Stump had two sons—William and Arthur—and Mark died without issue. Mrs. Blackwell left eight or nine children, most of whom are believed to be still in Tasmania.