The Talty Millions: Lawyers, Liars, Inheritance, Disinheritance and the Great Crash of 1929

Dublin City Library & Archive

11.30am 2 Oct 2010

by Patrick Waldron

WWW version: http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~pwaldron/ifhs/

WWW pedigree (password required): http://pwaldron.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=pwaldron&view=0&pid=429

Outline:

The genealogist's dream

This day last year, Eileen Ó Dúill spoke about Forensic Genealogy: Locating Missing Heirs.

Various such cases have been discussed in the Clare Past Forum.

The genealogist's dream would be

1. to find an ancestor who was an heir in an old intestacy case
2. to find the very voluminous legal file relating to the case in the attic or the courthouse or the National Archives
3. to find two such ancestors (Waldron v. Dee)

The millions

• estate actually valued at only approximately $289,000
• cash, approximately $43,500
• securities, approximately $123,000, including capital stock of Dade County Security Company par value $40,164.55
• notes, representing the balance due on property sold by the deceased, approximately $71,000
• real estate, estimated to be value for $50,000 (interests in about 78 lots in in Broward, Clay, Monroe, Polk, Volusia and Dade counties, Florida)

Who was T. J. Talty?

• Family background:
  • `Certificate of Baptism
    Parish of Miltown Malbay Diocese of Killaloe
    I hereby certify that Thadeus Talty was baptised according to the Rites of the Holy Catholic Church in the Church of St. Joseph's Parish of Miltown Malbay on the 12th day of December year 1855 by Revd J. Mc'Mahon P.P.
    Parents: Thadeus Talty - Margaret Mc'Namara
    Sponsors: Honera Mc'Namara
    John Canon Hannon Parish Priest
    Date 19th June 1926
    To/ Mr Thomas Talty, Miltown Malbay.'
  • Variously known as Timothy, Thady, Thadeus (one D), Thaddeus (two Ds), Theobald (with an A), Theodore, Theobold (with two Os).
  • His death certificate gives his FULL NAME as just `T. J. Talty'.
  • `Margaret McNamara who married Timothy Talty of Mountscott [Knockanalban] and lived there and from there they emigrated to Miltown Town where they had a business and some of their family were born at Miltown and some at Mountscott. Those born in Mountscott baptised in Mullagh and those born at Miltown baptised in Miltown and these latter included Timothy J. otherwise Thaddeus Talty the Decd. Intestate.'
  • Parishes jointly administered up to 1839
  • west Clare in Google Maps
  • Margaret was from Kilclehaun, Timothy from Coore West
  • Griffith's Valuation lists Timothy Talty in both Knockanalban and Miltown Malbay
  • Seven children born between Abt 1837 and 1855
  • Gone from Valuation Office cancelled books by Feb 1865
  • Four children (Peter, Michael, Margaret, Honora) died in Massachusetts between Aug 1865 and Sep 1871
  • Anna (Mrs. Webber) died in New Smyrna, Florida in 1924
  • T. J. died in Coral Gables on 1 Apr 1926
  • death registered by his maternal first cousin James McNamara
  • What happened to Mary, chr. 14 Feb 1841, Kilmurry Ibrickane parish?
  • Letter 27 Jul 1927 from Michael Killeen to John J. Dwyer:
    • `You will notice that John McNamara of Moveen states in his deposition that the deceased Thadeus J. Talty and his sister Anna Talty had 2 other sisters Nora and Mary and 2 brothers Peter and Michael. John McNamara knew them all right well before they emmigrated [sic] to America. The latter 4 Nora, Mary, Peter and Michael must have died in America unmarried because Anna Webber when she was home never said anything about her having any nephews or neices [sic] or about there being anyone in the family outside except herself and Thaddeus the deceased.'
  • Peter married a widow in Lowell, MA on 18 Apr 1865 and probably had a son Timothy (U.S. censuses 1870, 1880)
• T. J. Talty's Career:
  • The deceased appears to have evaded all U.S. census takers!
  • lived for a considerable time in the Cincinnati hotels
  • steward at the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago
  • connected with Palmer House, Chicago
  • 1 Jan 1895 - Raleigh Hotel opened near the White House in Washington D.C. with T. J. Talty as Manager for 14 years
  • 21 Mar 1904 - almost moved to St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco when it opened
  • 18 Apr 1906 - San Francisco earthquake, St. Francis Hotel gutted by fire
  • 8 Dec 1906 - ex-Senator Arthur Brown fatally shot in his room at the Raleigh Hotel
  • international reputation as an innkeeper
  • Abt. 1909 returned to Auditorium Hotel, Chicago (advertisement near bottom of second column)
  • 26 Feb 1911 - T. J. Talty, assistant manager and steward of the Congress hotel, [Chicago], has resigned
  • owned the Richmond Hotel (later burned) and Wellington Hotel at North Adams, MA
  • owned Alba Court Inn, New Smyrna, FL (another photo; and another)
  • 21 Dec 1924 - Anna Webber née Talty died aged 74
  • 1 Apr 1926 - T. J. Talty died aged 70

The lawyers

• Paul C. Taylor, Miami, attorney for administrator, James McNamara, co-heir
• Michael Killeen, solicitor, Kilrush
  • probably second cousin once removed of Mary Anne Clancy who married John McNamara of Moveen, co-heir of T. J. Talty
  • greatgrandfather of Jay Bourke (Café Bar Deli, etc.)
• his successor Michael J. McMahon, who took over the practice when Killeen became County Registrar
• their New York agent John J. Dwyer attorney-at-law
• his replacement, James H. Gilvarry, attorney and counsellor at law, Brooklyn
• Gilvarry described Dwyer as `rather a peculiar man to do business with, in other words, he will not give you any information if he can avoid doing so'
• chronology
  • 1 Apr 1926 - T. J. Talty died aged 70. "J." Talty notified by telegram
  • 10 May 1926 - letter from Taylor to McNamara cousins in Ireland
  • 12 Jun 1926 - Pat McNamara (Behan) of Tullaroe signed an authorisation in favour of Michael Killeen and John J. Dwyer
  • 27 Jun 1926 - Thomas J. Talty left Cobh for New York on board the S.S. Adriatic to look after the interests of the heirs and remained in the U.S. for over two years, based in Chattanooga, TN
  • 30 Sep 1926 - Inventory and Appraisement filed, value of estate $239,146.76.
  • 11 Oct 1926 - power of attorney filed in Miami
  • 23 Apr 1927 - legal notice in Miami Daily News and Metropolis, listing properties
  • 28 May 1927 - second cousins of the deceased on the Cunningham side visited Michael Killeen
  • 22-26 Jul 1927 - taking of evidence before Michael McMahon
  • 26 Jul 1927 - Administrator's fee $17,500 ordered
  • 23 Aug 1927 - first distribution of $59,000
  • 6-7 Sep 1927 - John J. Dwyer and Thomas J. Talty in Miami
  • 25 Nov 1927 - first distribution to Irish heirs - amounts imply that only approx. £5,748 was being distributed
  • 15 Mar 1928 - missing heirs Catherine Talty and Josephine E. O'Donnell added
  • 24 Oct 1928 - Sarah Talty of Dallas visited Michael Killeen in Kilrush to highlight the discrepancies
  • 11 Mar 1929 - death of Martin McNamara, co-heir
  • 26 Mar 1929 - Michael Killeen received written confirmation from Dallas of the discrepancies; relations with Dwyer began to break down
  • May 1929 - death of Pat Talty, co-heir
  • 29 Jul 1929 - Michael Killeen became County Registrar and moved to Ennis and Michael McMahon took over the practice of Michael Killeen & Co. (now McMahon and Williams Solicitors)
  • 6 Aug 1930 - order for distribution of Receiver's Certificate of Ownership of Dade County Security Company
  • 21 Jan 1931 - McNamara heirs directed Killeen and Co. write to John J. Dwyer expressing desire that remaining real estate be sold
  • 11 Mar 1932 - liquidator's certificates with par value of $40,164 distributed, estimated to be worth 13% of this
  • 27 Apr 1932 - Gerald Burns married Annie McNamara daughter of John McNamara of Moveen, co-heir
  • 31 May 1932 - first threat to revoke power of attorney
  • 12 Oct 1932 - first letter from Gerald Burns to Killeen & Co.
  • 28 Oct 1932 -McNamara heirs in Ireland replaced Dwyer with Gilvarry
  • 22 Nov 1932 - order to pay $3,272.22 each to Catherine Talty and Josephine E. O'Donnell
  • 18 Mar 1933 - McNamara claimants gave Gerald Burns and his brother-in-law Patrick McNamara full power to act for them
  • 1 May 1933 - letter from Gerald Burns dismissing Killeen & Co.
  • 21 Jul 1933 - Gerald Burns threatens to call in the Incorporated Law Society
  • 3 Nov 1933 - McNamaras of Craggaknock `never gave Gerald Burns ... authority to take the matter out of ... hands' of Killeen & Co.
  • 18 Dec 1933 - death of Patrick McNamara (Behan), co-heir
  • 19 Mar 1934 - Taylor to Gilvarry: `If the real estate cannot be sold it will be lost because of non-payment of taxes'
  • Sep 1935 - Killeen & Co. handed over file to McNamara family
  • 11 Oct 1935 - case finally closed in Miami
  • 7 Jan 1936 - death of John McNamara of Moveen, co-heir
  • 30 Jan 1936 - last letter from John J. Dwyer
  • Aug 1937 - further estate located in Texas
  • 22 Dec 1937 - Gladys V. Sullivan, Clerk, County Judge's Court, sends copies of documents to Irish Consul in New York
  • 20 Mar 1938 - Sullivan writes to Irish Consul `The file in this case is very voluminous'
  • 1955 Gerald Burns elected County Councillor

The heirs

• Florida law is per stirpes - children of pre-deceased first cousins take their parent's share
• law in other places is per capita - surviving first cousins take the shares of pre-deceased first cousins
• Paternal (Talty) first cousins (three families, nine one-eighteenth shares)
  1. Catherine Talty, Mother de Sales, Presentation nun, b. Dublin, living in Hospital, Co. Limerick in 1911
  2. Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Cassidy née Talty, b. Dublin, d. 1910, represented by her only surviving child, Mrs. Josephine Elizabeth O'Donnell, wife of Michael Francis O'Donnell, M.C., of Leinster Square, Rathmines
  3. Henry P. Meade, Massachusetts
  4. Mrs. Mary E. Leahy née Meade, Massachusetts
  5. Peter John Talty b. Coor West, Co. Clare, 1855, d. Dallas, TX, 1920, represented by his nine children, including Mother Mary Ruth, O.S.U., 1901-2004
  6. Thomas J. Talty, b. Coor West, of Chattanooga, TN and Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare
  7. Patrick John Talty, b. Coor West, 1861, of Quilty, Co. Clare, d. 1929
  8. Mrs. Margaret Sexton née Talty, b. Coor West, 1868, of Doonogan Castle, Co. Clare
  9. John M. Talty, Coor West
• Maternal (McNamara) first cousins (four families, fourteen one-twenty-eighth shares)
  1. Patrick J. Crowley, b. Cloonnagarnaun, Co. Clare, 1869, of The Bronx, grandfather of double lottery winner Joseph Patrick Crowley
  2. Michael McNamara, `died from injuries sustained by a blow of a stone inflicted by Martin Egan', 29 Sep 1898 after a faction fight at Craggaknock, Co. Clare, represented by the six survivors of his family of eight children
  3. John McNamara, b. Kilclehaun or Craggaknock, Abt 1848, of Moveen West, Co. Clare, d. 1936
  4. Patrick McNamara (Behan), b. Craggaknock, 1854, of Tullaroe, Co. Clare, d. 1933
  5. Michael McNamara, Craggaknock, d. 1909, married his first cousin Margaret McNamara (no. 6), represented by their five children
  6. Margaret McNamara née McNamara, in her own right
  7. Patrick McNamara, Craggaknock
  8. Michael J. McNamara, b. Craggaknock, of St. Louis, MO
  9. John McNamara, Craggaknock
  10. Timothy McNamara, b. Craggaknock, 1870, d. The Bronx, 1922, represented by his three surviving children
  11. Martin McNamara, b. Craggaknock, 1871, d. 1929
  12. Thomas McNamara, Craggaknock
  13. James McNamara, the administrator
  14. Mary McNamara, b. Craggaknock, of New York

The disinherited

• 3 Aug 2007 genforum.com query posted by Christiane Zammit
• 20 Aug 2007 ancestry.com queries posted
• 10 Jul 2008 I found them!
• Were there `parallel families'?
• If not, then the wrong heirs got the Talty millions
• marriage certificate
• descendants documented several times at ancestry.com: 1 2 3 4

The Great Crash of 1929

• Quotes from Chapter 1, Section II of The Great Crash, 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997)
  • American people ... displaying an inordinate desire to get rich quickly with a minimum of physical effort
  • in the mid-twenties, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables ... had been struck by the great Florida real estate boom. The Florida boom contained all of the elements of the classic speculative bubble.
  • men and women had proceeded to build a world of speculative make-believe
  • speculation does not depend entirely on the capacity for self-delusion. In Florida land was divided into building lots and sold for a 10 per cent down payment.
  • The buyers did not expect to live on it
  • this dubious asset was gaining in value by the day and could be sold at a handsome profit in a fortnight
  • as time passes, the tendency to look beyond the simple fact of increasing values to the reasons on which it depends greatly diminishes
  • Through 1925 the pursuit of effortless riches brought people to Florida in satisfactorily increasing numbers.
  • in the spring of 1926, the supply of new buyers ... began to fail
  • In the autumn of 1926, two hurricanes ...
  • The end had come in Florida
  • Farmers who had sold their land at a handsome price and had condemned themselves as it later sold for double, treble, quadruple the original price, now on occasion got it back through a whole chain of subsequent defaults.
  • Even as the Florida boom collapsed, the faith of Americans in quick, effortless enrichment in the stock market was becoming every day more evident.
• Dade County Security Company:
  • "First organized in 1901, the Dade County Security Company was one of the most important financial institutions in the County by 1920, and was the largest building and loan society in Florida. The company moved to its NE 1st Avenue location in 1923, retrofitting an existing building to meet its needs. [Soon] finding its existing building too small, [it] embarked on the construction of a new building, which was completed in 1926."
• Quote from John J. Dwyer
  • 13 Sep 1927: the real estate ... is of uncertain value. Two years ago the price of real estate in that section and throughout Florida had advanced to several times what it was really worth, due to speculation or inflation. Suddenly the price dropped to less than what it was really worth and purchasers sustained losses aggregating many millions of dollars.
• Quote from James H. Gilvarry
  • 13 Mar 1933: The Attorney in Miami for the Estate, claims that the Real Estate was foreclosed but the Courts would not allow him to dispose of it as the price offered was not what the Court considers sufficient so this matter is held in abeyance.