Castor v. Davis

• Citation: 22 N.E. 110,120 Ind. 231
• Decision Date: 24 September 1889
• Docket Number: 13,846
• Parties: Castor v. Davis et al
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

22 N.E. 110

120 Ind. 231

Castor v. Davis et al

No. 13,846

Supreme Court of Indiana

September 24, 1889

Petition for a Rehearing Overruled Nov. 6, 1889.

From the Boone Circuit Court.

Judgment affirmed.

M. E Clodfelter and T. J. Cason, for appellant.

R. W Harrison and B. S. Higgins, for appellees.

OPINION

Coffey, J.

This was an action by the appellant against the appellees for the possession of the land described in the complaint. The cause being at issue was submitted to the court for trial without the intervention of a jury. At the request of the appellant the court made a special finding of the facts in the cause, which finding is as follows:

"1st. That, on the 17th day of January, 1856, John Snavely was the owner in fee simple of the real estate herein, viz., the south half of the northeast quarter of section 30, in township 20 north, of range 2 west, situate in Boone county, Indiana, and that on said last named date said John Snavely, together with his wife Lucinda R. Snavely, by deed, conveyed said real estate to Esther Blackburn.

"2d. That said Esther Blackburn and John, her husband, conveyed by warranty deed said real estate, June 10th, 1857, to Nathan Elliott.

"3d. That, on the 11th day of June, 1857, the said Nathan Elliott and wife conveyed by warranty deed said real estate to John Blackburn and Esther Blackburn, husband and wife.

"4th. That, on the 4th day of September, 1873, said John and Esther Blackburn conveyed by deed said real estate to Joseph Piles and Elizabeth Piles, husband and wife, in consideration of $ 4,000, named in the deed.

"5th. That Joseph and Elizabeth Piles, on the 17th day of February, 1877, in consideration of $ 4,000, named in the deed, conveyed said real estate to Daniel Rhodes.

"6th. That, on the 24th day of May, 1878, said real estate was recovered by a decree rendered in the Montgomery Circuit Court, the action having been commenced in Boone county, Indiana, and the venue thereof changed to Montgomery county, against said Rhodes and wife, and the title to said real estate recovered and quieted in Joseph Piles and Elizabeth Piles, and the deed to Rhodes held for naught.

"7th. That during the time the same was in the hands of said Rhodes, Rhodes and wife mortgaged said real estate to the Travellers Insurance Company for $ 1,000, which mortgage was so executed on the 13th day of April, 1877.

"8th. That, on the 19th day of October, 1881, said Joseph Piles and Elizabeth Piles conveyed by quitclaim deed said real estate to defendants Almond Davis and Mary E. Davis, his wife, in consideration of $ 400 cash, the grantees to assume and pay all encumbrances, including the mortgage aforesaid; and they did pay off said mortgage, amounting to $ 1,000, and $ 1,400 cash for the same.

"9th. That said John Blackburn departed this life on the 15th day of September, 1873, without child, children, father or mother, and that said Esther Blackburn departed this life on the 3d day of May, 1876, without issue, child or children, father or mother.

"10th. On the 14th day of August, 1840, an inquisition was had in the probate court of Montgomery county, Indiana, regarding the sanity of the said John Blackburn, and he was adjudged by said court a person of unsound mind, and incapable of managing his estate, and one Hudson Middleton was appointed his guardian, who was discharged by said court on the -- day of August, 1846; that the defendants Almond and Mary E. Davis had no notice or knowledge whatever at the time they took title for said real estate of the unsoundness of mind of said Blackburn, or of the existence of the record of the unsoundness of his mind until disclosed in the trial of this cause.

"11th. That said John Blackburn and Esther Conrad were married about November, 1843, in Montgomery county, Indiana, and lived and cohabited together as such husband and wife, and went into society, and were accepted as such until the death of John Blackburn, as above stated.

"12th. That said John Blackburn and Esther Blackburn moved from Montgomery county to Boone county, Indiana, about 1849 or 1850, and continued to live together in Boone county nearly the whole of said time, residing on said land, and were so living on the same at the time they departed this life.

"13th. That the plaintiff, Amy Castor, is a sister of said John Blackburn, deceased, and the following children of a deceased sister are living, viz., Tolina Cox, Hannah Grist, and William Smith.

"14th. That immediately preceding the commencement of this action the plaintiff demanded possession of the whole of said real estate, which was refused, and claimed by the defendants Almond Davis and Mary Davis.

Upon these facts the court stated, as conclusions of law, that the plaintiff had no right, title, or interest in the land described in the complaint, and was not entitled to the possession thereof, to which conclusions the appellant excepted, and assigns as error that the court erred in its conclusions of law upon the facts found.

The question upon which the case, in a measure, depends, is this Was the marriage of John Blackburn void? If it were conceded...