J.H. Browning, Mill Worker, Says He Will Inherit Millions, Aug. 21, 1922

Mill Worker Here Will Get Millions. . . J.H. Browning of White Oak Expects to Receive $15 Million from Uncle’s Estate

J.H. Browning, an employe of the White Oak denim mills here, will change from a poor day worker to 15 times a millionaire, according to his statement, being one of the heirs to an estate of $150 million left by his uncle, Thomas Browning, who was one of the richest oil kings of all Texas.

The lucky nephew should get his $15 million by October 1, he said his lawyer, on the spot in Texas looking after his interests, has just notified him. Meantime, he is working on at his job in rolling cloth in the weave room of the mill.

His stupendous good luck has not turned his head. Asked what he intended to do with so much money, he said he does not know, he has made no definite plans. He refers to his prospective millions in a leisurely, casual way.

His uncle, Thomas Brown, left North Carolina 58 years ago, according to the nephew’s story. Going to Texas, he took up 640 acres of government land. In those days the land cost nothing, the only obligation was that the settler live on it. Later, oil in great quantities was found, and when Thomas Browning died he left an estate valued at $150 million. He died without leaving a widow, without chick or child, with apparently no one to inherit that vast amount of money.

Under the laws of the state of Texas it would go to the state, but it seems it is a legal requirement in such cases that advertisement be made for heirs. It was reported the dead man left relatives in South Carolina. An advertisement was inserted in a Greenville, S.C., paper, and the heirs came forward. Among them is Mrs. Margaret Purdy of Anderson, S.C., sister of J.H. Browning.

There are 36 heirs to the fortune, but Mr. Browning and Mrs. Purdy will get more than the average division, it is said. There were only five persons with a claim on Thomas Browning’s estate, his brothers and sisters. One of them was the father of Mr. Browning and Mrs. Purdy, so each gets one half of one-fifth of the estate, or one-tenth of it, $15 million.

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From the front page of The Greensboro Patriot, Aug. 21, 1922