Stead v. Grosfield

• Decision Date: 20 October 1887
• Citation: 67 Mich. 289,34 N.W. 871
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: STEAD v. GROSFIELD and others.

34 N.W. 871

67 Mich. 289

STEAD v. GROSFIELD and others.

Supreme Court of Michigan

October 20, 1887

SHERWOOD J.

The plaintiff brings ejectment to recover lot No. 9, in block 1 of Joseph Bushey's subdivision of private claim No. 171 Livernois farm, in the township of Springwells, in the county of Wayne, according to the plat of said subdivision, recorded in the office of the register of deeds in said county in Liber 2 of Plats on page 9, and now included within the city of Detroit. Plea, general issue. The plaintiff claims title in fee; for the purpose of showing which he offered in evidence a mortgage from Joseph Bushey, the common grantor to Mary E. Sage, dated July 2, 1875. The description in this mortgage was as follows: "All the following described pieces or parcels of land, lying and being in the township oF springwells, wayne county, michigan, known and described as lots three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine, in block 1; also lot number six, in block two,--all in Joseph Bushey's subdivision of private claim one hundred and seventy-one, Livernois farm." The plaintiff then offered in evidence the deed on foreclosure of said mortgage from the sheriff of said county to Mary E. Sage, covering same property. The plaintiff next offered the proceedings in probate court of said county, whereby the will of Mary E. Sage, deceased, was probated, and under which Michael J. Sage took title to the land in question. Plaintiff further offered a deed from Michael J. Sage to Robert Stead, the plaintiff, dated February 21, 1881. It was admitted the defendants were in possession, claiming as owners at the time this suit was commenced, and the plaintiff then rested his case; and the defendants, to maintain their defense, offered in evidence a mortgage from Joseph Bushey and wife to Michael Darmstadter, dated February 17, 1873, for $500, on lots numbered 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18, of Joseph Bushey's subdivision of private claim No. 171, in Springwells, Wayne county, Michigan, recorded seventeenth February, 1873, and claiming to cover the lot in suit.

Defendants next offered in evidence the sheriff's deed on the foreclosure of said mortgage, dated January 2, 1878, and which contains the same description as does the mortgage. The deed recites, among other things, "that a notice was duly published that the said premises in said indenture of mortgage therein contained would be sold," etc.; and further recites: "And whereas, in pursuance of said notice, I did expose for sale at public auction the lands and tenements hereinafter particularly described, and on such sale did strike off and sell said land to Michael Darmstadter."

Defendants then offered in evidence a quitclaim deed from Joseph Bushey and wife, dated January 23, 1879, to Michael Darmstadter, defendant's grantor on foreclosure in which deed there is a recital as follows: "Lots numbered nine, (9,) thirteen, (13,) fourteen, (14,) fifteen, (15,) sixteen, (16,) seventeen, (17,) and eighteen, (18,) of Joseph Bushey's subdivision of block one, (1,) of part of private claim one hundred and seventy-one, (171,) confirmed to Joseph Livernois, Jr., according to the recorded plat thereof, of record in Book two, (2,) of Plats, on page nine, (9,) Wayne County Records. This deed is for the purpose of rectifying a clerical error made in a certain mortgage given by the parties of the first part to the party of the second part thereto, and recorded in Liber ninety-five of Mortgages, page 140, Wayne County Records, wherein the words 'in block number one, (1,)' were omitted in the sheriff's deed under foreclosure and sale of said lots." The defendants also offered in evidence other testimony to complete, as they claim, the title under the mortgage, first offered by them, from Bushey to Darmstadter. Defendants then offered a deed from Joseph Bushey and wife to one Scharmweber, dated March 13, 1871, duly recorded March 14, 1871, of lot 9 in block 3, of Bushey's subdivision of private claim 171, in accordance with Bushey's subdivision recorded in Liber 2, p. 9, Wayne County Records. The plat referred to was then offered in evidence by defendants, being a plat of Joseph Bushey's subdivision...