Teague v. Sowder

• Decision Date: 05 December 1908
• Citation: Teague v. Sowder, 114 S.W. 484, 121 Tenn. 132 (Tenn. 1908)
• Parties: TEAGUE et ux. v. SOWDER et al.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

114 S.W. 484

121 Tenn. 132

TEAGUE et ux. v. SOWDER et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

December 5, 1908

Appeal from Chancery Court, Campbell County; Hugh G. Kyle Chancellor.

Bill by Minor Teague and wife against Mary Sowder and others.Decree for defendants, and complainants appeal.Affirmed.

Jesse L. Rogers and G. W. Montgomery, for appellants.

Jourolmon Welcker & Smith, H. B. Lindsay, and W. A. Owens, for appellees.

McALISTER J.

The object of this bill is to establish title to a one-eleventh undivided interest in certain lands described in the bill which the complainantMary Tennessee Teague, wife of Minor Teague, claims under a deed from her grandfather, Duff Chadwell.It is alleged in the bill that on March 9, 1882complainant's grandfather, Duff Chadwell, was the owner of a tract of land comprising about 4,000 acres, situated in Campbell county, Tenn., and that on said date he conveyed said lands by deed to his eleven children for life, with remainder at their deaths to their children and heirs at law.The deed referred to in the bill is as follows:

"This indenture made and entered into on this the 9th day of March, 1882, between Duff Chadwell of the first part, of the county of Campbell and state of Tennessee, of the one part, and John Chadwell, and James Chadwell, and Samuel Chadwell, and Mary Sowder and Nancy Chadwell and William Chadwell and Johnson Chadwell and Lidy Perkins and La Fayette Chadwell and Martha Teague and Robert Chadwell of the same place, of the other part, witnesseth, that the said Duff Chadwell and wife, Elizabeth, for and in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars, in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged hath bargained and sold and by these presents do bargain and sell unto the said John Chadwell and James Chadwell and Samuel Chadwell and Mary Sowder and Nancy Chadwell and William Chadwell and Lidy Perkins and LaFayette Chadwell and Johnson Chadwell and Martha Teague and Robert Chadwell, their heirs and assigns forever with the exception of mine and my wife's homestead or lifetime the following described lands (describing them) containing three thousand acres, be the same more or less.Together with all and singular the rents and issues thereof and all the estate, right, title, interest, and demands of said Duff Chadwell and Elizabeth Chadwell, their heirs and assigns forever.To the said John Chadwell and James Chadwell and Samuel Chadwell and Mary Sowder and Nancy Chadwell and William Chadwell and Lidy Perkins and LaFayette Chadwell and Johnson Chadwell and Martha Teague and Robert Chadwell their lifetime and their to their heirs and assigns forever and the said Duff Chadwell and wife Elizabeth do hereby bind myself or ourselves to warrant and defend the title of said lands free from the lawful claims and demands of all persons whatsoever claiming or to claim the same either in law or in equity, witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written.In presence of witnesses.The said Duff Chadwell excepts one acre of land and timber and rock out of this deed for the purpose of graveyard and burying purposes."

This deed was duly signed, acknowledged and registered.

Nancy Y. Chadwell mentioned in the deed was a daughter of the grantor, Duff Chadwell, and the mother of the complainantMary Tennessee Teague.It is alleged that Nancy Y. Chadwell died in September, 1905, leaving Mary Tennessee Teague as her sole heir at law.The theory of the bill is that Nancy Y. Chadwell and the other children of Duff Chadwell were only given a life estate in said lands, and that upon the death of Nancy Y. Chadwell her life estate terminated, and complainantMary Tennessee Teague became then entitled as remainderman under said deed to an undivided one-eleventh interest in all of said lands.

The bill further alleges that the original deed was lost, and that only a registered copy could be produced, and that the registered deed showed on its face that the lands were conveyed to the eleven children of the grantor, "their lifetime and 'their' to their heirs and assigns."It is then charged that in the original deed the word "then" appeared instead of the word "their" where it appears the second time in the above quotation, and that the word "their" was either a mistake of the draftsman or a clerical error in its registration.

The prayer of the bill is that the deed as recorded be reformed in the substitution of the word "then" for "their," and that it be established by decree that Nancy Y. Chadwell took a life estate in an undivided one-eleventh of said land, and that complainantMary Tennessee Teague took a remainder interest; and she also prayed for a writ of possession.

The defendantsJ. S. Bartlett and H. M. La Follette, who now claim to be the owners in fee of said lands, filed an elaborate answer, the other defendants adopting said answers as their defense to the bill.Defendants Bartlett and La Follette admit the execution of the deed by Duff Chadwell on March 9, 1882, to his 11 children, conveying the lands in controversy, but the insistence of defendants is that, upon a proper construction of said deed, these lands were conveyed to the 11 children in fee, and not simply for life, as claimed in complainants' bill.

It is then averred that on or about June 28, 1890, the said Nancy Y. Chadwell, who in the meantime had intermarried with one E. F. Lambdin, her husband joining in the conveyance, sold and conveyed her interest in the real estate in controversy to her brother-in-law, T. C. Perkins, with full covenants of seisin and warranty of title in fee.It is averred she received in consideration therefor the sum of $1,500, which was the full value of her interest in said estate in fee; and upon her death the complainantMary Tennessee Teague, with full notice and knowledge of all the facts, inherited and received the estate of said Nancy Chadwell Lambdin derived from said sale.It is then averred that 12 years after the conveyance of Nancy Y. and her husband, E. F. Lambdin, to T. C. Perkins, and after the value of said land had become greatly enhanced, Perkins and wife jointly conveyed two-elevenths of said Duff Chadwell estate to defendant Bartlett for the price of $11,385.Respondents then aver that all the children of Duff Chadwell, excepting Mary Sowder and Samuel Chadwell, have sold and conveyed their interests in said estate in fee simple; that John B. Chadwell died many years ago, and his heirs at law have sold and conveyed his one-eleventh interest in fee to defendantsDennis Bros., who now own the same; and it is true that defendants to this bill, who have purchased said lands, are denying that complainants have any right therein.The plea of innocent purchaser on the part of Bartlett and La Follette was embraced in the answer.An estoppel was also pleaded, based upon the claim that complainants had stood by and seen the defendants make valuable improvements upon the lands.

A substantial statement of the facts which are not seriously in dispute shows that the grandfather of complainant, after executing this deed March 9, 1882, continued with his wife to reside on the land until their respective deaths, which occurred in the year 1884.The complainantMary Tennessee Teague, daughter of Nancy Y. Chadwell, was born on January 24, 1876, and was married in April, 1888, when less than 13 years of age, and has remained a feme covert until the present time.It appears that her mother, Nancy Y. Chadwell, in June, 1888, intermarried with one E. F. Lambdin.On June 28, 1890, the said Nancy Y. Lambdin and her husband, E. F. Lambdin, for the consideration of $1,500, conveyed her one-eleventh interest in these lands to Thomas C. Perkins, who had intermarried with a sister of Nancy Y. Chadwell.As already stated, this deed embraced Nancy Y.'s interest in the lands in controversy, and contained covenants of seisin, right to convey, and against incumbrances, and a warranty of title against the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever.This deed, in describing the land conveyed, refers to the deed of Duff Chadwell to his children, and describes Nancy Chadwell's interest as a "one-eleventh interest of all the lands that Duff Chadwell died seised and possessed of in said district and county."It will be remarked that the parties to this instrument speak of Duff Chadwell"having died seised and possessed" of the lands that he had conveyed March 9, 1882, to his children.It further appears that on June 10, 1902, T. C. Perkins conveyed the interest which he had acquired from his sister Nancy Y. to B. D. Bartlett for the consideration of $5,697.50.It appears, however, that, prior to the execution of this deed, the children of Duff Chadwell had caused to be apportioned among themselves the lands that were conveyed to them by their father on the 9th of March, 1882.It appears that in said partition proceeding the lot assigned to Nancy Y. Lambdin was described by metes and bounds.The deed from Thos. C. Perkins to B. D. Bartlett describes the share assigned to Nancy Y. Lambdin, and also conveys the interest of Lydia Perkins, wife of T. C. Perkins, in the lands of her father, Duff Chadwell, under said partition proceedings.It appears that D. B. Bartlett purchased these lands for his father, J. S. Bartlett, and thereafter conveyed the same to him by deed, and that thereafter he conveyed to the defendantH. M. La Follette an undivided one-third interest therein.

It should be stated that on the hearing complainants introduced proof tending to show that Duff Chadwell, at the time he executed the conveyance in question, declared in the presence of the three parties who witnessed it that it was his purpose to give his children a life estate in his lands, with...