CLAIM FOR MEEK fortune

Taranaki Daily News, 9 June 1931, Page 7

CLAIM FOR MEEK fortune

A CHRISTCHURCH CANDIDATE.

EVIDENCE OF FAMILY BIBLE.

A statement has been made by Mrs. Frances Smart, 59, St. Asaph Street, Christchurch, urging her claims to the fortune of Mr« John Meek, of England. The estate, running well into seven figures, is at present held in Chaneery and it was reported recently that a claim was contemplated by Mr. C. Pentecost, of Christchurch. “I wish to state that my mothers maiden name was Frances Meek and she was the daughter of Dr. Meek, of London,” Mrs. Smart said. * ; My mother left me an old family Bible and on a lineage page appears tho following:—‘Marriage: William Thomas Pentecost was married by banns to Frances Meek, both of Cumbermeek, Peckham Fields, London, Eng land. April 10, 1848.’ “My two brothers, William and Isaac, were born in England in the years 1849 and 1851. Both are now deceased. Evidently, my mother’s people did not favour her coming to a far-off country to live as she after related the story to me. , “A further perusal of the lineage pace shows that 1 was born in Cashel Street in the year 1853, where Ballantyne’s drapery establishment now is. My sister, Mrs. Frank Davy, whose Christian name is Eliza, was born in Christchurch four years later, and another sister, Elizabeth, was bom in 1865. We are the only survivors of our family, which consisted of four boys and five girls. ■ “You will have noticed that I bear my mother’s Christian name and my sister Eliza has the surname Meek as a Christian name. “If my mother’s grandfather died intestate, thus not stipulating any names of heirs, the property should be left as well. Surely, as the eldest daughter, I, with my two surviving sisters, should have some claim, if anyone has. My mother often referred to the large estate and said wo ought never to have been struggling out here like we were.”