Stansbery v. First Methodist Episcopal Church

• Decision Date: 01 February 1916
• Citation: 79 Or. 155,154 P. 887
• Parties: STANSBERY ET AL. v. FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ET AL.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

154 P. 887

79 Or. 155

STANSBERY ET AL. v. FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ET AL.

Supreme Court of Oregon

February 1, 1916

In Banc.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County; W. N. Gatens, Judge.

Action by S. A. Stansbery and others against the First Methodist Episcopal Church, a corporation, and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

This suit involves lot No. 8, the north half of lot No. 7, the west 20 feet of lot 1, and the west 20 feet of the north half of lot 2, in block 23, of the city of Portland, Or. The property is located at the corner of Third and Taylor streets, and is commonly known as the Taylor Street Church. The plaintiffs are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Portland, and the defendants are the First Methodist Episcopal Church, a corporation, the trustees of the corporation and the pastor of the church. The persons and bodies vested with authority according to the laws of Methodism are: The general conference, the annual conference the quarterly conference, the official board, the trustees the bishop, the district superintendent, and the pastor. The general conference is the supreme lawmaking body and enacts the laws, rules, and regulations for the Methodist Episcopal Church; the annual conference is next in point of authority the quarterly conference is the governing body for a church the official board with certain limitations takes the place of the quarterly conference during the interim between sessions of the latter body. The personnel of the official board and the quarterly conference is the same. The trustees hold the property for the society. The general conference selects and assigns the bishops who are vested with power to consolidate societies, fix the boundaries of districts, and make appointments of preachers. The district superintendent "presides over the quarterly conference when present." Upon the consolidation of two or more societies "the duty and responsibility of regulating the place where the principal activities of the church should take place and the public worship should be conducted" are imposed "upon the quarterly conference with the consent of the pastor." The plaintiffs are seeking to enjoin the defendants from closing the "church edifice at the corner of Third and Taylor streets, and from preventing the plaintiffs and the other members of the said congregation from entering the same and holding religious services therein, and that they be enjoined from selling leasing, or otherwise disposing of, or using the said property, except for a house of public worship, or from otherwise or in any other manner diverting the said property from the uses to which it was dedicated and for which it is held in trust by the said defendants."

A Methodist mission church was established in 1848, and for a number of years was the only Methodist church in Portland. On November 5, 1850, Daniel H. Lownsdale, Stephen Coffin, and William W. Chapman executed and delivered to James H. Wilbur, the pastor of the church, a writing as follows:

"This indenture made and entered into this 5th day of November, A. D. 1850, between Stephen Coffin, Daniel H. Lownsdale, and William W. Chapman, proprietors of Portland, Washington county, Oregon territory, of the first part, and James H. Wilbur, trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the same place, of the other part, witnesseth, the party of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar and divers other good causes to them, there and thereunto moving doth release, confirm and quitclaim unto the said party of the second part the following described town property in the said town of Portland, to wit: Lots Nos. one (1), two (2), six (6), seven (7) and eight (8), in block No. twenty-three (23), in the said town for the purpose of a parsonage, church, etc. And the party of the first part covenants to and with the party of the second part that if at any time thereafter they or either of them shall obtain a fee-simple title to said property from the United States, they will convey the same to the party of the second part by deed of general warranty. In testimony the party of the first part have hereunto set our hands and seals the day and year aforesaid."

The five lots cover a little more than the north half of block 23; block 23 is bounded on the east by Second street, on the north by Taylor street and on the west by Third street. On March 11, 1852, Daniel H. Lownsdale filed on land, including block 23, under the terms of the Act of Congress of September 27, 1850, commonly called the donation law. On September 10, 1853, James H. Wilbur assigned all his interest in the lots by making the following writing:

"I hereby relinquish, assign, make over and convey all my right, title and interest to the within described lots to Clinton Kelly, A. A. Durham, Perry Prettyman, Albert Kelly, John D. Dickenson, Samuel Nelson and P. G. Buchanan, trustees of the church property within described in the city of Portland, Oregon territory."

On October 17, 1860, a donation certificate was issued to Daniel H. Lownsdale reciting that he was entitled to a patent, but a patent was not issued until June 6, 1865, being subsequent to his death, which occurred in May, 1862. On June 1, 1867, the trustees of the church filed articles of incorporation, which recited:

That the name assumed by the corporation is the "First Methodist Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon," and that the object "of this corporation shall be to continue the church organizations on lots Nos. 1, 2, 7, and 8 in block 23 in the city of Portland, to erect a meeting house thereon, and to hold said premises in trust, that they shall be used, kept, maintained and disposed of as a place of divine worship for the use of the ministry and memberships of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, subject to the discipline, usage and ministerial opportunity of said church as from time to time authorized and declared by the General Conference of said church, and the annual conference in whose hands the said premises18 are situated. Provided however that the trustees of said house and premises shall at all times permit such ministers and preachers belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church as shall from time to time be duly authorized by the General Conference of the ministers of said church or by the annual conference, to preach and expound God's Holy Word and to execute the discipline of the church and to administer the sacrament therein, according to the usages of the church."

On April 15, 1870, James H. Wilbur and wife executed and delivered to the "trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Portland" a deed confirming the instrument signed September 10, 1853, by James H. Wilbur. On September 20, 1873, the heirs of Daniel H. Lownsdale conveyed "all of the northerly half (being 100 feet by 200) of block numbered twenty-three (23) as designated upon the maps or plats of said city in common use," upon the express condition that the land shall not be divided into different parcels, but shall be forever used as a site for a Methodist church building, with Sunday school room, a parsonage, and never as a site for two or more distinct church buildings or for any secular purposes; and it was provided that if any of the conditions be broken the property should revert to the heirs who were to have the right to enter and take possession of the land. In 1877 and 1878, for the aggregate sum of $1,000, the heirs of Daniel H. Lownsdale quitclaimed to the board of trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church all their right, title, and interest in lots 1, 2, 7, and 8 in block 23. On April 4, 1884, the "Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon," was organized and incorporated. On March 6, 1888, "for the purpose of enlarging and better defining the objects, undertakings, purposes and powers of said corporate trustees, * * * and in some respects to change the objects, undertakings and purposes set forth in the articles of incorporation of said Methodist Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon, filed May 31, 1867," the trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church filed supplemental articles of incorporation which recite that:

"It is the intention and purpose of this corporation to perpetually maintain a Methodist Episcopal Church on" the land now owned at Third and Taylor streets; that "the corporation shall have full power to sell and convey by warranty deed when so authorized by the quarterly conference of the said First M. E. Church in Portland, Oregon, any property belonging to said church, and held in trust by said corporate trustees, except" the property at Third and Taylor streets, which "shall not be sold or conveyed by said trustees or their successors, unless such power and authority be given them by filing other and additional supplemental articles of incorporation granting such authority in accordance with the discipline of said church."

The First Methodist Episcopal Church at Third and Taylor streets and the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church at Twelfth street continued as separate societies until the meeting of the annual conference held in September, 1912, at Ashland Oregon, when the two churches were united and consolidated under the name of First Methodist Episcopal Church, by order of Richard J. Cooke, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States of America presiding at the annual conference of 1912. The order of consolidation had been preceded by the appointment of committees by the two churches, conferences of the committees, reports from these conferences favoring a union of the two churches, giving notice of the proposed union to members of both churches, and adoption by the quarterly...