Foster v. Waterman

• Decision Date: 29 June 1878
• Citation: Foster v. Waterman, 124 Mass. 592 (Mass. 1878)
• Parties: Mary A. Foster v. Martin T. Waterman
• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

124 Mass. 592

Mary A. Foster v. Martin T. Waterman

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

June 29, 1878

Middlesex. Appeal by Martin T. Waterman, in his own right and as guardian of his adopted child, from a decree of the Probate Court, appointing commissioners, on the petition dated September 25, 1876, of Mary A. Foster, to make partition of a parcel of land in Newton, in accordance with the petition. The petition set forth that the petitioner and Sarah E. Small were seised and possessed each of one undivided fourth of the land, and that the shares were not in dispute.

The case was heard before Soule, J., who reserved it for the consideration of the full court upon the following facts agreed:

Martin T. Waterman, the appellant, and Asa Bodge, were seised in fee of the premises described in the petition, as tenants in common, each of an undivided half thereof. Bodge died testate on or about October 4, 1867, and by his will, which was duly proved and allowed, gave the use of his moiety of the premises to his wife, Sarah E. Bodge, during her life, and at her decease, he gave said moiety to his three daughters Sarah E. Small, Mary A. Foster, and Esther D. Waterman, in fee, share and share alike. Sarah E. Bodge died prior to the filing of this petition. Esther D. Waterman was the lawful wife of Martin T. Waterman, and died after the death of Sarah E. Bodge, and before the filing of this petition, intestate, having had no child by Martin T. born alive.

By a decree of the Probate Court in and for the county of Hillsborough, in the State of New Hampshire, on November 15, 1870, "upon petition of James Campbell, Jr., and his wife, Annette Campbell, of Mason, in said county, and upon petition of Martin T. and Esther D. Waterman, of Newton in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Ida A. Campbell, a child of said James and Annette Campbell, is from this date the adopted child of said Martin T. and Esther D. Waterman; and said child is from this date, to all legal intents and purposes, the child of said Martin T. and Esther D., the same as if born to them in lawful wedlock; and the name of said child is changed, and from this date she shall take the name of Florence Esther Waterman."

The statutes of New Hampshire, in force at the date of the adoption of this child, provide that petitioners may have leave to adopt a child as their own by decree of the Probate Court in the county where the petitioner or the child resides, setting forth the facts, and ordering "that from the date of the decree the child shall, to all legal intents and purposes, be the child of the petitioner;" that "a child so adopted shall be, for the purposes of inheritance by such child and all other legal consequences...