Turpin v. Bagby

• Decision Date: 09 March 1897
• Citation: 39 S.W. 455,138 Mo. 7
• Parties: TURPIN et al. v. BAGBY et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

39 S.W. 455

138 Mo. 7

TURPIN et al. v. BAGBY et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

March 9, 1897.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES — CONTROL OF PROPERTY.

1. Under the government of the Baptist denomination, a congregation has the sole power to appoint trustees, and a legal title to the property of the congregation is vested in them, and cannot be divested by a small minority, though they may alone of the members be governed by the rules and faith of the Baptist churches of the state.

2. Where real estate is conveyed to the trustees of a Baptist church, to be used for the use of said church while it is governed by the usages of the Missionary Baptist churches of the state, trustees appointed by a small minority of such church cannot recover possession of such land in ejectment, though the church may

not be governed by the rules of the Missionary Baptist churches.

Appeal from circuit court, Greene county; James T. Neville, Judge.

Ejectment by J. G. Turpin and others against N. B. Bagby and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

W. T. Lampkin, E. S. Heffernan, and C. V. Buckley, for appellants. Goode & Cravens, for respondents.

MACFARLANE, J.

This is a suit in ejectment to recover the possession of a lot in Ash Grove, on which stands the Ash Grove Baptist Church meetinghouse. The suit is prosecuted by plaintiffs, who claim to be the trustees of said church, against the defendants, who are the trustees elected by a majority of the members of the church. The church is an unincorporated religious body of the Baptist denomination, composed of about 70 members. In 1874 the lot in question was conveyed to the trustees of said church, in trust to be "used, kept, maintained, and disposed of as a place of divine worship for the use of the Ash Grove Baptist Church, in the county of Greene, and state of Missouri, while said church shall be governed by the rules, usages, and faith of the Missionary Baptist churches of the state of Missouri." It seems that a preacher of the name of Carter was employed by the congregation as pastor, who held to and taught some doctrines which a small minority of the congregation believed to be contrary to the faith and teachings of the Baptist churches in Missouri. One of those was plaintiff Turpin, who was one of the trustees of the church. He absented himself from the services of the church, and otherwise failed in his church duties, as was thought by a majority of the members, and was, therefore,...