Sample v. Geathard
| Decision Date | 06 December 1917 |
| Docket Number | No. 11392.,11392. |
| Citation | 117 N.E. 718,281 Ill. 79 |
| Parties | SAMPLE v. GEATHARD. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Circuit Court, Sangamon County; Frank W. Burton, Judge.
Bill by Laura Sample against Virginia B. Geathard. Decree in accordance with the bill, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Sampson & Giffin, of Springfield, for appellant.
G. W. Murray, of Chicago, and A. G. Murray, of Springfield, for appellee.
Laura Sample, appellee, filed her bill in the circuit court of Sangamon county to set aside a deed executed by her father, Joseph D. Cloyd, March 28, 1912, and recorded July 17, 1916, subsequent to the death of Cloyd, conveying to Virginia B. Geathard certain real estate in the city of Springfield on North Fourth street, and which was occupied by the grantor, during his lifetime, as his homestead. Mrs. Geathard answered and filed a cross-bill, in which she sought to have set aside as a cloud upon her title a deed dated March 5, 1914, and recorded March 7, 1914, conveying the same premises to Mrs. Sample. The only question to bedetermined is whether the deed to Mrs. Geathard was ever delivered.
Mrs. Geathard and Mrs. Sample were both children of Joseph D. Cloyd. Desiring to make a settlement and distribution of his property among Mrs. Sample, Mrs. Geathard and his other children, Cloyd called upon B. Galligan, his attorney, and consulted him with reference to making the necessary deeds. He owned some real estate in the city of Springfield aside from the homestead, and some farm land in Christian county. Galligan testifies that Cloyd called upon him several times and talked about dividing his property among his children, stating that he did not desire to make a will. He inquired if he could make deeds and keep them until he thought he was going to die and then call in his children and deliver the deeds to them. He was informed that that could be done, and he stated that was what he would do. Galligan prepared the deeds to the Springfield real estate, and Cloyd brought him deeds for the farm lands in Christian county, which had been prepared in Taylorville, and requested Galligan to bring his notarial seal to Cloyd's home and take the acknowledgments. Cloyd's wife signed the deeds by mark, and her signature to the deed to Mrs. Geathard for the homestead property was witnessed by A. D. McNamara, a son-in-law of the Cloyds. Galligan testified that Mrs. Geathard was present at the time of the acknowledgment of the deeds, which were executed March 28, 1912, and that at that time Cloyd picked up the deed which conveyed the homestead to Mrs. Geathard and said to her, ‘Virginia, this is the deed what you wanted,’ and handed her the deed. McNamara testified that on this occasion he witnessed the signature of Mrs. Cloyd to two or three of the deeds, and that while there Cloyd stated to him that he intended to keep the deeds until the proper time came-when he got sick or thought he was through with them-and then he would call his children together and give each one his deed, and that he would have each deed in an envelope to itself and hand them out to the children. Mrs. Geathard testified that on this occasionGalligan brought the deeds to the house, and after they had been acknowledged her father took them, laying them across his knee, and separated them until he came to the one which conveyed the homestead premises to her, read it and handed it to her, stating, ‘There, read that; that is yours;’ that she read it while he was looking over the other deeds, and when she had finished reading it he asked her how that suited her, and she answered that it was all right-that if it suited him it suited her; that he then told her to take care of the place and remember how she got it, and she responded that he could trust her to take care of whatever came to her; that he responded, ‘Yes, I know it;’ that he then said, ‘I will take care of that for you,’ and she handed the deed back to him, and that he thereupon took the deed and placed it with others in a tin box which he used to keep his private papers in. None of the deeds were exhibited to any of the other children, but were kept in the tin box until some time during the year 1914, when he discovered that the deeds were missing and supposed them to be lost or stolen. He thereupon employed Galligan to prepare another set of deeds to his children in which some changes were made in his scheme of settlement. By the second set of deeds the homestead property was conveyed to Mrs. Sample upon condition...
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