HUMPHREYS-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: AP story re Pelham and WIlliam HUMPHRIES
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 21:55:24 -0400 (EDT)

Deanna,

You wrote: "She did mention
Pelham and Eliza. As you can tell the story she told me I am confused
on. Do you have any kind of proof that this is not just a family tale?"

Following is an Associated Press story which ran on the wire on Oct. 8, 1987.
Accounts of this story also appeared in The National Enquirer (complete with
a photo of a gushing oil well!), the Wall Street Journal, and, I think,
Forbes Magazine.

By Larry Thorson
Associated Press
LONDON - Documents found in Tennessee and Texas have unlocked a "missing
link" that may identify 100 or more heirs to billions of dollars from the
Spindletop oil fortune in Texas, British genealogists said Thursday.

Harold Brooks-Baker, publisher of (ital) Burke's Peerage(unital), a bible of
British blue bloods, said the documents prove that Pelham Humphries, who died
in a Texas barroom shootout in 1835, long before his Spindletop land became a
bonanza, had a brother, William Humphries, and thus William's descendants
would have a claim to the oil fortune. Pelham Humphries acquired the land
from the Mexican government, Brooks-Baker said.

"There are only a handful of heirs at this point, but it is a major
breakthrough." Brooks-Baker said. "You could end up with a hundred heirs,
maybe more."

The search for heirs has been going on for more than 80 years because of the
immense amount of oil and money that has flowed since 1901 when the
Spindletop gusher came in, and because there was no known descendants of
Pelham Humphries to stake a legitimate claim to his land or oil royalties.

Brooks-Baker said the latest estimate is that unaid oil royalties amount to
$100 billion to $200 billion, while U.S. press reports have put the estimate
at $2 billion to $20 billion.

People who believe they have a claim to the fortune have banded together in
the Humphries Heirs Association which is headed by Brown Peregoy of Gray,
Tenn., and has some 7,500 members,

Peregoy said he has accepted the British genealogical research and has
instructed the law firm of Wilson and Wilson of Mountain City, Tenn., to file
a lawsuit to force as many as nine oil companies to pay oil royalties to the
newly documented heirs. Peregoy had asked (ital) Burkes Peerage (unital) to
reserach the matter.

"This is what we were waiting on so we could proceed to file our lawsuit,"
Peregoy said. "We needed documentation to prove that there are definite heirs
before filing suit."

Peregoy said the association plans to file the suit in November (1987) in
U.S. District Court in Jefferson County, Texas.

Roger Powell, senior genealogist for (ital) Burkes Peerage(unital_ believes
the documention would be good enough to covince the British College of Arms,
an authority on matters of aristrocratic inheritances, Brooks-Baker said.

He refused to identify any of the presumed heirs, saying they didn't want
their names made public.

"Every month there will be more as we continue our research," Brooks-Baker
said in a telephone interview.

He said the fraternal relationshp between Pelham Humphries, a bachelor, and
William Humphries - whose lives are documented - was obscured for many years.

"Until recently the only information on Pelham was a document by the Mexican
government in Spanish giving him a large tract of land on which Spindletop
came in," Brooks-Baker said. "For years people tried to prove who he was, but
couldn't prove he was related to anyone.

"We now know the reason. His mother was a half-breed Indian. In those days in
the United States a half-breed was considered a non-person."

Brooks-Baker said documentation for such people often did not exist or would
simply be jettisoned.

"We've been able to prove collateral descents because of documents we found
in Tennessee and Texas that prove he (Pelham Humphires) existed."
Brooks-Baker said. "The missing link was to prove that William, whom we had
documented, was the brother. Until then it wasn't know that Pelham was
realted to anybody.

Brooks-Baker said he believed the new evidence gave the presumed heirs "good
chances" to receive money through court action, but not up to the high end of
the estimates on unpaid oil roylaties from Spindletop.

"Obviously, there will be a compromise, like everything in life," he said.

(end of story as appearing in the daily newspaper of Beaumont, Texas)

In the spring of 1990 my dad and late uncle joined the Humphries Heirs
Association, just on the off chance the deal might be legit, and since their
mother had pursued similar steps in 1931. My whole clan (except for a greedy
brother -- grin) is very cynical about it. In return for their membership,
dad and uncle received two reports (mostly deed abstracts, tombstone
inscriptions, census statements and tax records from Green, Washington, and
Carter counties, Tenn.) from Burkes Peerage, along with several photocopies
of wills, deeds etc. (all in hard to read 19th century script). The only
thing I can find that even begins to tie me in is a 15 Jan 1877 deed in
Carter County, Tenn., where Daniel Foust and Martha A. Foust granted about 85
acres to William Humphreys. And the only way that fits is because my supposed
half sister to William and Pelham MAY have had a father or grandfather with
the first name of Faust or Eligah.

So, I repeat, does anyone have anything on a Sarah Humphries who became, or
whose daughter became, a Boruff?

Keep on trackin'

Elbert Alan Long
Holiday Island, Arkansas
ATKINS(ON), BARCLIFT/BORUFF, BEELER, BOYERS, BURCH, CAPPS, COWDEN, DeWITT,
DIXON, GAMBOL/GAMBILL, GORE, HAMMACK, HUMPHREYS/HUMPHRIE, LEWIS, LONG,
MARTEN/MARTIN, MOORE, PEAK, PENROD, ROPER, RUSSEL, STOCKARD, THOMAS,
WILLIAMS, WYSOR, YADEN/YADON

This thread:

• AP story re Pelham and WIlliam HUMPHRIES by <>

  • Re: AP story re Pelham and WIlliam HUMPHRIES by <>