Alexander v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 19 January 1914
• Docket Number: 16237
• Citation: 106 Miss. 517,64 So. 217
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: AMOS. ALEXANDER et al. v. W. P. RICHARDSON

64 So. 217

106 Miss. 517

AMOS. ALEXANDER et al. v. W. P. RICHARDSON

No. 16237

Supreme Court of Mississippi

January 19, 1914

APPEAL from the chancery court of Bolivar county, HON. M. E. DENTON Chancellor.

Suit by Amos Alexander and others against W. P. Richardson. From a judgment dismissing the petition, complainants appeal.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Affirmed.

Sillers Owen & Sillers, attorneys for appellants.

Campbell & Cashin, attorneys for appellee.

OPINION

REED, J.

On October 17, 1859, Amos Alexander executed a deed whereby he made disposition of certain of his property. The following is the provision in the deed showing the transfer of land, which included the tract involved in this case: "And I do by these presents give and bequeath unto my daughter, Eliza Jane D. Gray, for and during her natural life, and to her children, if any, and in default of child, or children, then to my lawful heirs forever. (This gift to take effect at my death.)" He died in 1860, leaving surviving him three sons, Virgil Alexander, Austin Alexander, and Amos Alexander and two daughters, Eliza Jane D. Gray and Laura Baker. On November 16, 1861, the three sons of the donor by duly executed deed conveyed to their sister, Eliza Jane D. Gray the life tenant, all of their right, title, and interest in the land acquired by them through the deed from their late father. We quote as follows from the conveying clause in their deed, "Do bargain, sell, convey, and confirm unto the party of the second part our right, title, and interest in remainder or reversion granted and conveyed to us by our late father, the said Amos Alexander, by deed of gift dated October 17, 1859." After giving the description of the land, the grantors continue: "The object and purpose hereof being to sell and convey all of our right, title, and interest, as remaindermen or heirs at law of the said Amos Alexander, deceased, to our said sister, the said party of the second part, as fully and effectually as the same was conveyed to us," etc. Mrs. Eliza Jane D. Gray, the life tenant, died childless on March 3, 1906. In 1907 the children and grandchildren of Mrs. Laura Baker, deceased, who, it seems, never conveyed her interest in the land, filed their bill for partition of the land against William P. Richardson, appellee herein, claiming that they were the owners of an undivided one-fourth interest in the land, the other undivided three-fourths was owned by appellee. From a decree in appellee's favor the Baker heirs prosecuted a successful appeal to this court. The decree of the chancery court was reversed and the cause remanded. See Baker v. Richardson, 96 Miss. 394, 50 So. 447. The chancery court thereupon ordered a partition of the land in controversy between the Baker heirs and appellee. The commissioners, who were appointed to divide the land in kind, reported that a just and equal partition in kind could not be made, and that a sale and division of the proceeds would better promote the interest of the parties. At this point in the proceedings a petition was presented by the appellants in the present appeal, asking that they be joined as parties complainant in the cause, and be permitted to assert their interest in the land. Appellants are the grandchildren of Amos Alexander, the donor, and the children of Austin Alexander and Amos Alexander, sons of the donor who were two of the grantors in the deed to Mrs. Gray, made November 16, 1861, both of whom died intestate prior to the death of Mrs. Gray. They showed in their petition that Virgil Alexander, the other son of the donor, died intestate and childless before the death of Mrs. Gray. They claimed in their petition that the deed executed to Mrs. Gray by her three brothers was void and of no effect, and did not operate to convey the reversionary rights of petitioners as the lawful heirs of their grandfather at the death of Mrs. Gray, the life tenant, without child or children. They denied that appellee owned an undivided three-fourths interest in the land. Appellee answered the petition, and denied that petitioners, the Alexander heirs, ever acquired title to the land through the deed made in 1859 by their ancestor, Amos Alexander, deceased. We take the following from the brief of counsel for appellee to show the special defense in the case which we are now considering: "That the sons and daughters of Amos Alexander, the donor, who were living at the time of his death, alone, were entitled to said land, as...