| Show Tle Ricbest CbiliclieferI I lr tbqz World Today The four childrentwo boys and two girls Josephine 8 Edward P 1 Frederick Freder-ick F A and rrelda of Mrs Lesley J Pearson the widow of Commander Frederick Pearson U S N who died In ISM will Inherit D VJ the massive fortune accumulated by their grandfather grand-father Dr J C Ayer They are now respectively 1110 9 and 8 years of age and the um held In trust for them consisting principally of large plots of real estate In Lowell and llo ton New York city Philadelphia and Chicago with the factories and good will of the great business at Lowell Is I estimated at 1100 000 000 There Is ocry probability probabil-ity that when thee Infants In law reach their majority the magnificent almost colossal Inheritance held l In trust for them will amount to 190 000 000 each There certainly are not lUIng any oth r four children who have at present S3 000 000 separately Invested for their benefit Additionally they will Inherit from their mother who possesses at least two or three millions and possibly possi-bly from their uncles both bachelors one of whom Frederick F Ayer Is I worth several millions part owner of the Trinity building 111 Broadway a large stockholder In the New York Tribune Trib-une sole proprietor of the Ayer buildIng build-Ing corner 01 Leonard street and Broadway New York rill with Interests Inter-ests In the Tremont and Suffolk mills mining cpmpanlea of Wisconsin and Michigan and many other enterprises Mrs Josephine Mellon Bouthwlck Ayer who died In Paris the other day at her residence 19 Hue Constantine near the Invalldes In the Quartler St Germain the former home of the Duo de Mouchy controlled the largest fortune for-tune held by any woman In the world Her Income since the death of her husband hus-band In 1978 was about a million annually an-nually sometimes as high as one and n third millions and the 110 000 000 she left In personal properlY represents her savings In that length of time that Is I she expended yearly about half her income In-come I Ilcr father Royal Southnick 1795 1975 01 Lowell and Boston a million nlre tanner was married In 1827 to Miss Biretta Clnflln born In IS05 a sister of Horace D and Aaron Clafiln the launders 01 the house now controlled by John the son of the former and known as the H D Clatlln company of New York city Mrs Ayer was born on Dec 15 1827 She had three brothers Henry Clay John Claflln and Royal and ono sister Ednathe latter the only one now remaining re-maining In the family who Is a resident resi-dent of Lowell James Cook Ayer born In Oroton Conn In 1818 was a Irk nt a small salary In the drug store of his uncle James Cook at one limo mayor 01 Lowell Low-ell when he married Miss Josephine Southwick on Nov 11 1950 He had begun be-gun preparing and selling proprietary medicines and when he died his wares were advertised and known In every quarter the globe They had brought him the profit of 30000000 It was owIng ow-Ing largely to his wifes advice and counsel a8 has generally been conceded conced-ed thai his commercial career was ao successful Mrs Ayer daughter Mrs Pearson I lives at 3 West Fiftyseventh street New York city and her two sons Tr d erick Fanning Mr and Henry South wick Ayer reside next door nt No5 Mrs Ayer was the eighth generation from Lawrence and Cassandra South wick settlers from Lancashire England Eng-land cominir In the Mayflower on Its seventh voyage at Salem Mass in 1627 who were persecuted for being Quakers threatened with condign punishment pun-ishment and finally banished to Shelter Island eastern end of Long Island where they died In 1CCO within three day of each < other Their properly was not confiscated howver and Iwo 01 the sons Daniel and Josiah ho had left for western Massachusetts found ed the tonn of S > ithnlck In Hamp den county and rejoined their brother John nnd sisters Mary and Provided In the old home after the death of their parents One of Whittier poem Cassandra Southwlck tells the story of the Fare tribulations of those who preferred to worship God In their own way and thereby aroused the vindictive Ire and fanatical hate of the then dominating class In New England known as Puritans Puri-tans Among noted members 01 hr family now living are Dr Alfred P Southwick the father of tho electrocution law of New York state connected with the University In Buffalo George N South wick congressman from Albany Albert Al-bert P Southwick the author a near relative Louise AI Scuthwlck the poet Francis H Southwlck of Brooklyn Brook-lyn a prominent merchant In New York city Clarence Southwick editor 01 Karmas City and her nephew Henry C Southwlckof the McDougall South wick company of Seattle Wash Mrs Ayer had lived permanently In Paris since 1889 and no one will be moro missed In the French capital She waR the mot promlnentmmber 01 the American colony there and one 01 the bet known women of that city Her great wealth her lavish expenditure her brilliant entertainments her gowns and her jewel were the talk of the fau bourgs In the city on tho Seine A promlnplt newspaper has said of i her She wag really a good woman one 01 the most harltable and generous In the world and those who said 111 of her were those who had been benefited by her bounty She was a liberal patron of art paid enormous sums for pictures and wn ever ready to aid the struggling AmerIcan Amer-Ican artists and singers who went abroad to study Her purse and her sympathy were never appealed to In vain and often she sought out those whom she believed to be worthy She had a retinue of servants employed a dentist who visited her dally and a II I physician to oI look after the members of her household while she consulted ape lallsts to whom she paid princely fees The milliners and modistes regarded her as their best customer She occasionally occa-sionally was fleeced by them but then she knew It nnd smiled compassionately compassionate-ly It was not the part of a grande dame to discuss these conditions with the shopkeepers She would purchase MO worth of gloves at a time and they do not cost onethird as much there as In the United States t Not for a moment did she think of remarrying despite the many rumors started by would be Benedicts who craved a share In hr millions At onetime one-time no less than three princes were aspirants for her hand More than one duel waR threatened Prince Dalgarousky Is I a Pole of distinguished dis-tinguished appearance who has an Income of 100 a month and a reputation as a gamester Prince Qledroye la I a Russian a brother of the late emperors morganatic wife lie Is I fat and reasonably reason-ably l rich Irlnce Valorl la a Spaniard The last offered to Introduce Mrs Ayer to Don Carlos the Spanish pretender and secure her a social position of the first rank among the European nobility If she would marry him but she de cllned Thero were others fluttering like moths about the name but she was not moved by tho glamour of title tier crowning social success was the dinner she gave In Paris In 1897 In honor hon-or of Mrs William Astor Nearly every guest bore a title and they were all distinguished dis-tinguished Mrs Astor wore all her famous Jewels but she was outshone by her hostess llelba sang Les Angcs Pleurent On 01 the mot conspicuous pictures In the French exhibit at the Worlds fair wag her portrait by Carolus Duran Du-ran The brilliant coloring attracted much attention In this portrait now In the house of her sons she Is I shown dressed ery gorgeously In a gown of mauve velvet which was painted In the artists most spectacular and realistic manner She was a very young looking woman at the time of her death and retained to a great degree a form of girlish grace though In her seventyfirst year |
