Rowland v. Williams

• Decision Date: 27 February 1893
• Citation: 32 P. 402,23 Or. 515
• Parties: ROWLAND et al. v. WILLIAMS et al.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

32 P. 402

23 Or. 515

ROWLAND et al. v. WILLIAMS et al.

Supreme Court of Oregon

February 27, 1893

Appeal from circuit court, Wasco county; W.L. Bradshaw, Judge.

Action by George Rowland and J. Barger against George Williams administrator of the estate of Louisa Goldstein, deceased and Clara A. Schutz, Charles F. Michelbach, Louisa Michelbach, Cedelia Michelbach, and William Michelbach, to quiet the title to certain land. From a judgment and decree for defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

The other facts fully appear in the following statement by MOORE J.:

This suit was brought to quiet the title to certain premises described in the complaint. The plaintiffs claim title through a patent from the United States government to the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, and mesne conveyances from that society to them. The defendant George Williams is the duly appointed and qualified administrator of the estate of John Michelbach, deceased, and the co-defendants are the children of said Michelbach, and claim title by adverse possession. The material facts are as follows: That on July 9, 1875, the Methodist Missionary Society secured a patent to a section of land in the vicinity of Dalles City, Or., under the act of congress approved August 14, 1848, granting lands to such societies. This patent was issued by virtue of section 2447 of the Revised Statutes of the United States and only operated as a relinquishment of the title on the part of the government. That on December 3, 1879, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Oregon, in a suit wherein Dalles City was plaintiff, and the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was defendant, the court found that the defendant voluntarily abandoned the premises described in the complaint therein as a missionary station in September, 1847, and that the premises were not thereafter occupied by the society as a missionary station or otherwise, and decreed that said defendant received the patent for the lands therein described as trustee for Dalles City, and ordered a conveyance to be made in accordance with that decree. Like decrees were rendered in the cases of Kelly v. Same, (two cases,) 6 Sawy. 126, 6 F. 356. An appeal was taken from these decrees to the supreme court of the United States, where they were affirmed. 107 U.S. 336, 2 S.Ct. 672. After these decrees were rendered the missionary society entirely abandoned its claim under the patent to all lands therein described, as well as to the lands which were embraced in the several decrees. Many persons had bought certain portions of said patented land from the missionary society before these decrees were rendered, paying therefor sums amounting in the aggregate to nearly $25,000, which was refunded to the respective purchasers after these decrees were affirmed. John Michelbach, the predecessor in interest of these defendants, purchased the land in dispute in March, 1865, from parties who were then in possession, taking a deed therefor. He was in possession of the land when the missionary society received its patent, and also when the said decrees were so affirmed. Prior to the time the patent was issued, he had planted an orchard upon, and fenced, the tract in dispute, erected a dwelling house, slaughterhouse, several barns, and other buildings, and, about the time these suits were concluded, he built a large and expensive house thereon. The value of these improvements was about $8,000. About 1880 he leased this slaughterhouse and several barns to Messrs. Crate Bros., but retained possession of the dwelling house, at which he died in 1881 or 1882. Some time after Michelbach's death, his widow married a Mr. Goldstein, and left the house in charge of her children, who occupied it, with the consent of the administrator. Mrs. Goldstein soon separated from her husband, and returned to, and continued to reside with, the children, till 1888, when she died, and the defendant Williams was appointed administrator of her estate. The children continued to live in the house a few months after their mother's death, when they moved out, and it was rented by the administrator of the Michelbach estate to one A.N. Varney, who continued to pay rent until about a year before the commencement of this suit, at which time he refused to pay rent any longer to the estate, and claimed to hold under plaintiffs. Messrs. Crate Bros. continued to occupy the slaughterhouse and barns, paying rent therefor to the administrator of the Michelbach estate, for several years, when they transferred their lease to Messrs. Wood Bros., who continued to occupy the same, paying rent to the administrator until the commencement of this suit, and they now are in possession of the same as tenants of the said estate. That on February 27, 1890, the missionary society, in consideration of five dollars, conveyed to one David Graham, by quitclaim deed, a tract of land including the land in dispute; and David Graham, on January 10, 1891, in consideration of one dollar and other valuable considerations, conveyed to plaintiffs, by quitclaim deed, the tract of land in controversy. That neither the missionary society, nor any one claiming under it, ever had any possession whatever of this tract, except the possession claimed by Varney, and neither the society, nor any one under it, made any claim to the land from the date said decree setting aside the title was rendered till Graham purchased, in 1890. That on February 9, 1871, John Michelbach made final proof in the United States land office at Oregon City in support of his pre-emption claim for a tract of land adjoining the claim of the missionary society. That Louisa Goldstein, the former widow of Michelbach, on March 15, 1887, made application to pre-empt this tract of land, but her application was denied by the officers of the United States land office, for the reason that a portion of the land applied for was embraced in the claim of the missionary society, and therefore not subject to entry. That on August 15, 1887, Mrs. Goldstein commenced a suit in the circuit court of Wasco county against the missionary society to quiet her title to this tract, and on December 6, 1887, she obtained a decree therein. The issues having been joined in this suit, the cause was referred, to take and report the testimony. The referee made his report to the court, which, after duly considering, prepared and filed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and decreed that the defendants were the owners in fee simple, and entitled to the possession, of the land in controversy, from which decree the plaintiffs appeal.

Dufur & Menefee, for appellants.

A.S. Bennett, for respondents.

MOORE J., (after stating the facts.)

Upon this state of facts, appellants contend--First, that the decree obtained by Louisa Goldstein against the missionary society is void for want of jurisdiction of the court to render the same; second, that the improvements upon this tract were made under a mistake by Michelbach, who intended them for his pre-emption claim, and hence cannot be adverse; third, that Michelbach had expressed an intention of making a settlement with the missionary society, and at one time he went to Portland for that purpose, and that on his deathbed he requested a friend to aid his children in securing a deed for this land; fourth, that at Michelbach's death the possession, if adverse, had not matured into a title, and his children...