"The land which is the subject of this litigation is the Southeast Quarter of [the] Northwest Quarter of Section Ten (10), Township Ten (10) North, Range Three (3) West, in Choctaw County, Alabama. By stipulation of all of the parties, the four children of Victoria Lewis Abston, who were Lorena McIlwain, Minnie V. Evans, Watson Lewis, and Ruby Lewis, inherited the fee simple title to the subject property from their grandfather, Allen Abston, upon his death. Allen Abston died in 1921, intestate, and leaving numerous heirs at law and next of kin, including, in addition to the above-named children of his deceased daughter, Victoria, a son by the name of J.T. (Jase) Abston who was, of course, an uncle of Victoria's four children. In 1927, Lorena McIlwain and her husband, B.E. McIlwain, Minnie V. Evans and her husband, J.F. Evans, and Watson Lewis and his wife, Susie Lewis, joined in the execution of a deed to the uncle, J.T. Abston, which described the subject property.... The grantors are described in the instrument as 'we the undersigned heirs of B.A. Lewis, Dec'd.' The recited consideration is Two Hundred Dollars. In the granting clause of the deed the printed language includes the phrase, 'do hereby grant, bargain, sell and convey unto said party of the second part the following described property ...' The printed warranty clause reads as follows:
" 'And the said parties of the first part, for them and their heirs, covenant with the said party of the second part that they are lawfully seized in fee simple of said premises; that they are free from all incumbrances; that they have a good right to sell and convey the same as aforesaid, and that they will forever warrant and defend the same unto the party of the second part, and his heirs and assigns, against the lawful claims and demands of all persons.'
"The space for signatures is arranged and set out in the following fashion:
/s/ B.E. McIlwain(SEAL)
/s/ Watson Lewis
/s/ J.F. Evans(SEAL)
/s/ Susie Lewis(SEAL)
/s/ Lorena McIlwain(SEAL)
__________________(SEAL)
/s/ Minnie V. Evans(SEAL)
"On the reverse side of the ... deed, the first notarial acknowledgement, dated November 3, 1927 contains the customary certification of the notary public that B.E. McIlwain, Watson Lewis, John Evans acknowledged the execution of the document.
However, in this particular ... acknowledgement, following the typed names of McIlwain, Lewis and Evans is the typed name of Ruby Lewis. Superimposed on the name of Ruby Lewis are handwritten 'X' marks, indicating that her name was deleted from the acknowledgement. The acknowledgement of the three men is followed by the separate acknowledgement of the three wives. This deed was recorded in the Probate Court of Choctaw County on May 1, 1931.
"According to the undisputed testimony, Ruby Lewis was living at the time of the execution and delivery of the above-described deed (hereinafter referred to as the 1927 deed), and subsequently married Holford Smith. She subsequently died without descendants or parents surviving, leaving her husband, Holford Smith, surviving, and her two sisters, Lorena and Minnie and [her] brother, Watson, as her surviving heirs at law and next of kin.
"Her surviving husband (also known as H.G. Smith) executed a deed dated March 22, 1930 for a recited consideration of fifty dollars to J.T. Abston.... This document also contains in the granting clause the customary language, 'do hereby grant, bargain, sell and convey ...' followed by the description of the subject property. Written by hand below the description of the property and before the habendum and warranty clauses, is the following legend:
" 'This deed is meant to convey one-fourth interest which is all I have in the above described land[.]'
"This deed was duly acknowledged on March 22, 1930 and was recorded on the [same] date and [at the same] time as the 1927 deed. It will be sometimes hereinafter referred to as the 1930 deed.
"At the time of the execution of the 1927 deed, Lorena, Minnie, Watson and Ruby, were all well acquainted with their uncle, J.T. Abston, and he was well acquainted with them.... They all lived in reasonably close proximity to each other, in Choctaw County, at the time. Although the recited consideration in the deed was two hundred dollars, Lorena, Minnie and Watson were each paid $50.00 by their uncle upon execution of the deed. Susie Lewis, the widow of Watson Lewis, testified that she and Watson did not have the deed prepared. The father of the four children of Victoria Abston Lewis was B.A. (Ben) Lewis. After the death of Victoria, he remarried Annie Donald, and there were nine children born of that marriage, all of whom survived his death. B.A. Lewis died prior to the time of the execution of the 1927 deed. Thus, at the time of that deed, the 'heirs of B.A. Lewis' included the four children of Victoria and some nine additional children of the second marriage. Also, of course, the husbands of Lorena and Minnie and the wife of Watson, who also executed the 1927 deed, were not heirs of B.A. Lewis.
"According to the testimony of Defendants, James Abston and H.A. Abston, their father, J.T. Abston, entered into possession of the subject property following receipt of the 1927 deed and sometime thereafter fenced it. At that time only a few acres consisted of open land. They and another witness, W.A. Long, assisted J.T. Abston in clearing enough of the land so that as much as 20 or 30 acres was eventually placed in cultivation. The timber which was cleared off of the land to make farmland out of it was piled and burned. J.T. Abston and his family farmed the land, growing various crops on it until about 1942, during the early part of World War II. After that time and until the death of J.T. Abston in 1962 the property was not used to grow crops, but was left to grow timber and for raising cattle. James Abston was away in the service from 1942 to 1945. Between the time of his return and about 1948-1950, while the land was being used for pasture, 'a load or two of ties' were cut and sold, but there was no testimony as to what consideration was received. Following the death of J.T. Abston, title to the surface passed to H.A. Abston and the mineral interests owned by J.T. Abston passed in equal shares to H.A., James, and [defendant Irene Abston Jones, J.T. Abston's daughter]. H.A. Abston did not use the land for farming or cattle. He allowed the timber to grow on the property. According to his testimony, after Hurricane
Frederic in 1979, he sold the downed timber from the subject property for pulpwood. Also, about four years ago, he sold off about 25 cords of pulpwood in order to thin out the timber. There was no testimony as to how much was received from the sale of the timber on either of these two occasions, but H.A. Abston received and retained all of the proceeds.
"From 1928 up to and including the present time, the property taxes on the subject property have been assessed and paid exclusively by J.T. Abston and [H.A. Abston, James Abston and Irene Abston Jones, hereinafter referred to as] the Abston Defendants. Oil, gas and mineral leases for primary terms of five or ten years were executed by J.T. Abston or his widow in 1940, 1954, 1964 and 1969, each having been recorded in the Probate records of Choctaw County, but there is no evidence that there was any drilling, exploration or production under those leases.
"H.A. Abston and James Abston both testified that their father claimed to own the land and that after his death, H.A. claimed to own the surface and they and their sister claimed to own the minerals, up to the present time. Two additional witnesses for the Defendants, Hubert Gibson and Edward Gibson, both of whom lived in close proximity to the subject property, testified that they had always understood that J.T. Abston owned the property, and, after his death, that H.A. Abston owned the property.
"Under date of February 14, 1975, the Abston Defendants and their spouses executed an oil, gas and mineral lease for a primary term of three years on the subject property to [defendant] Wil-Ken, Inc., reserving a one-eighth royalty interest, which lease was recorded in Choctaw County March 26, 1975. Various interests in this lease were subsequently assigned to the other [defendants, hereinafter referred to as the] Working Interest Defendants, all of such assignments also having been recorded in Choctaw County. [One of the Working Interest Defendants was Harkins & Company, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Harkins), which] obtained a permit from the State Oil &...
