Isaac Landes, Plaintiff In Error v. Joshua Brant

Citation13 L.Ed. 449,51 U.S. 348,10 How. 348
PartiesISAAC LANDES, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. JOSHUA B. BRANT
Decision Date01 December 1850
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

51 U.S. 348
10 How. 348
13 L.Ed. 449
ISAAC LANDES, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
JOSHUA B. BRANT.
December Term, 1850

IN error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Missouri.

Isaac Landes, a citizen of Kentucky, brought an action of ejectment in the court below, at the October term of 1845, against Joshua B. Brant, a citizen of Missouri, to recover a lot of ground in the city of St. Louis. Plea, general issue.

At the trial of the cause, the plaintiff gave in evidence the following patent:——

Patent to Clamorgan.

'The United States of America, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:

'Know ye, that there has been deposited in the General Land Office a certificate numbered one thousand one hundred and ninety-three, of the recorder of land titles at St. Louis,

Page 349

Missouri, whereby it appears that, in pursuance of the several acts of Congress for the adjustment of titles and claims to lands, Jacques Clamorgan, under Gabriel Dodier, was confirmed in his claim to a tract of land, containing thirty-four acres and sixty-eight hundredths of an acre, bounded and described in a survey dated October 4th, 1826, as follows, to wit: beginning at a stone, the northeast corner of survey number one thousand four hundred and seventy-three, of forty arpents, for Francis Bissonet; thence north twenty-five degrees and forty-five minutes east, two chains and ninety-two links, to an old stone in a ravine on the east side of Third street, which stone, lying flat in said ravine, was re-inserted by the deputy surveyor, and from which stone the southwest corner of a three-story brick house (in block number sixty-six) bears north eighty-seven degrees east; the northwest corner of a brick house (in block number sixty-five, Barbee's tavern) bears south; the northwest corner of a stone house (in block number twenty-six, Eph. Town's Missouri hotel) bears north sixty-nine degrees thirty minutes east; and a black locust, eight inches in diameter, bears north seventy-three degrees west, distant forty-one links; thence north seventy-five degrees twenty minutes west at eighty-three chains an old stone; at one hundred chains an old stone; one hundred and twenty chains to an old stone, the northwest corner of the present survey, from which a white oak, four inches in diameter, bears north twenty-four degrees west, distant sixteen links; a white oak, three inches in diameter, bears north seventy-five degrees east, distant eleven links; and a red oak, five inches in diameter, bears south forty-two degrees east, distant twenty-two links; thence south twenty-five degrees forty-five minutes west, two chains and ninety-seven links, to a stone, the northwest corner of survey number one thousand four hundred and seventy-three, of Francis Bissonet; thence south seventy-five degrees twenty minutes east, one hundred and twenty chains, to the place of beginning, being in township forty-five north of range seven east of the fifth principal meridian, and being designated as survey number one thousand two hundred and seventy-eight in the state of Missouri. There is, therefore, granted by the United States unto the said Jacques Clamorgan, under Gabriel Dodier, and to his heirs, the tract of land above described. To have and to hold the said tract, with the appurtenances, unto the said Jacques Clamorgan, under Gabriel Dodier, and to his heirs and assigns for every.

'In testimony whereof, I, James K. Polk, President of the United States, have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the General Land Office to be hereunto affixed.

Page 350

'Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 18th day of June, in the year of our Lord 1845, and of the independence of the United States the sixty-ninth.

'By the President,

JAMES K. POLK.

[L. S.]

By J. KNOX WALKER, Secretary.

'Recorded Vol. X., pages 36, 37, 38.

'S. H. LAUGHLIN, Recorder of the General Land Office.'

Also an extract from the minutes of the Commissioners to decide land claims, & c., and a record of a confirmation to Jacques Clamorgan, as follows:——

'Wednesday, November 13th, 1811. Board met; present, John B. C. Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, and Frederic Bates, Commissioners. Cer., 1278.

'Jacques Clamorgan, assignee of Esther, mulattress, assignee of Joseph Brazeau, assignee of Gabriel Dodier, claiming one by 40 arpents of land, situate [on] Little Prairie, adjoining the town of St. Louis, produces a concession from St. Ange and Piernas, L. G., dated 23d May, 1772; a transfer from Gabriel Dodier and Joseph Brazeau to Esther, dated 4th November, 1793; from Esther to claimant, dated 2d September, 1794.

'The Board grant to Jacques Clamorgan forty arpents of land, under the provisions of the second section of the act of Congress, entitled 'An Act respecting claims to land,' and passed 3d March, 1807, and order that the same be surveyed conformably to the metes and bounds contained in the report of a survey made for said Dodier, and found in Livre Terrien, No. 2, folio 15. Survey at expense of the United States.

'Board adjourned till to-morrow, nine o'clock, A. M. John B. C. Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, Frederic Bates.

'Recorder's Office, St. Louis, Missouri, December 1st, 1846. I do certify the above to have been truly transcribed from book No. 5, of the Commissioners' minutes, pages 398, 406, and 407, as the same remains of record in this office.

'LOREN SPENCER, U. S. Recorder of Land Titles in the State of Missouri.'

'Louisiana.—Commissioners' Certificate, No. 1278.

'We, the undersigned, Commissioners for adjusting the titles and claims to land in the territory of Louisiana, have decided that Jacques Clamorgan, claiming under Gabriel Dodier, original claimant, is entitled to a patent under the provisions of the second section of the act of Congress, entitled 'An Act respecting claims to land in the territories of Orleans and Louisiana,

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passed the 3d of March, 1807, for forty arpents, situate in the District of St. Louis, Little Prairie, adjoining the town of St. Louis, by virtue of ten consecutive years' possession, prior to the 20th December, 1803, and order that the same be surveyed conformably to the metes and bounds established in the report of a survey made for said Gabriel Dodier, and found in Livre Terrien, No. 2, folio 15. John B. C. Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, Frederic Bates.

'Recorder's Office, St. Louis, 24th February, 1847. The above is a correct copy of original certificate No. 1278, on file in this office, issued by the board of United States Commissioners therein designated, for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to land in the Territory of Louisiana.

'LOREN SPENCER, U. S. Recorder of Land Titles in the State of Missouri.'

Also a certified extract from the registry of patent certificates, containing the date (February 10th, 1845) and the number (1193) of the certificate issued to Clamorgan, together with a copy of survey made in October, 1826.

The plaintiff also gave in evidence the last will and testament of Jacques Clamorgan, dated 31st October, 1814, and admitted to probate on the 7th of November, 1814, in which, after the payment of his debts and the distribution of 150 piastres to the poor, he devised all his estate to his natural children, St. Eutrope, Apoline, Cyprien Martial, and Maximin, to be divided into five equal parts, of which Maximin was to have two parts and each of the others one part.

Also the last will and testament of Cyprien Martial Clamorgan, dated 27th February, 1827, and admitted to probate on the 27th of May, 1827, in which he devises two lots of ground, situate in block No. 25 in the city of St. Louis, to Henry Clamorgan, second natural son of his natural sister, Apoline Clamorgan, and a lot in the same block to Louis and Louisa, infant children of said Apoline, jointly; also all the interest or estate which he might be entitled to in any lands in the state of Missouri to his sister Apoline and her children, Louis, Henry, and Louisa, and the survivor of them.

Also the last will and testament of Apoline Clamorgan, dated the 11th day of April, 1830, and admitted to probate on the 12th day of May, 1830, wherein she devises to Louis and Louisa, and such other children as might be born to her, all her interest and estate in a lot one hundred and twenty feet front by three hundred feet in depth (conveyed to St. Eutrope, Cyprien Martial, and the testatrix, by Joseph Brazeau for Jacques Clamorgan), being in block No. 25 in the city of St. Louis; likewise

Page 352

any interest or estate she might have in any other lands in the state of Missouri to her children.

The plaintiff also gave in evidence a deed bearing date the 28th day of April, 1845, from Louis and Henry Clamorgan to the plaintiff and one Fidelio C. Sharp, conveying all the interest (except an undivided fourth) which they might have under any patent to be issued by the United States upon the certificate of confirmation dated November 13th, 1811, to Jacques Clamorgan.

It was admitted, on behalf of the defendant, that, at the time of the institution of this suit, he was in possession of a part of the premises described and embraced in the plaintiff's declaration, to wit, a lot in the city of St. Louis, fronting one hundred and eleven feet six inches on Washington Avenue, and running back north one hundred and fifty-two feet in depth, bounded on the south by Washington Avenue and on the west by Fourth Street; and that the said lot is embraced in the confirmation, survey, and patent read in evidence by the plaintiff, being part of that forty arpent tract, which tract is bounded south by the centre of Washington Avenue.

It was proven, on the part of the plaintiff, that it was reported and believed by the near relatives and friends of St. Eutrope and Maximin, that they died many years ago, the former leaving a wife, but no children, the latter having never been married, and both having died...

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