Williams v. Deskins
Williams v. Deskins
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
This action in ejectment brought by appellee and plaintiff below, Sarah Deskins, against appellants and defendants below, who are the heirs of Achilles Williams, involves the title to a small triangular piece of land in Pike county, the exact acreage not shown. A denial of plaintiff’s title and a plea of adverse possession were contained in the answer.
Appropriate pleadings made the issues and upon trial there was a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff which defendants seek to reverse on this appeal prosecuted by them. The only complaints against the judgment made here in brief of counsel (though others are made in the motion for a'new trial) are: (1) that the court erred in overruling defendants’ motion for a peremptory instruction in their favor, and if mistaken in this, then (2) that the verdict is flagrantly against the evidence. Since the disposition of each of those complaints calls for a brief review of the evidence, as contained in the record, they will be considered and determined together.
Many years ago, William Williams, the father of Achilles Williams, owned a large body of land in Pike county and before his death, which occurred before that of his wife, Mary Williams, he made a division of the larger portion of his land among his children and put
The beginning of the description of the lands allotted to Achilles Williams in the deed heretofore referred to, which was executed by the heirs of William Williams to him on May 25,1866, says: ‘ ‘ Commencing on a black oak on the point of the ridge on the north side of Johns creek running to a black walnut standing on the bank of said creek,” which, according to all the proof, disputed by none, forms and describes the line as contended for by plaintiff. Not only does such fact appear from the testimony of all the witnesses, but it also appears from the only map filed with the record on this appeal. The judgment ordering the sale of the dower interest of Mary Williams directed the commissioner to sell "All that part of the land on Johns creek in Pike county, Kentucky, and between the lines of the lot of land of Achilles Williams and Mary M. McGinnins belonging to the estate of Wm. Williams, deceased.” In an amended petition in the suit to procure that sale it was first described by metes and
The deed of the commissioner to Hatcher, et al., has two calls in its description reading: “N 17 E. 60 P. to a walnut; N. 78 E. 11 P. to a black oak.” The last line closes the top of the letter “V” in the illustration, and the deed then recites: “Also all the lands lying between the tract of land laid off to James H. McGinnins ’ wife and the farm of William Williams, Sr., being all the land owned by William Williams, Sr., at his death.” The answer filed by Achilles Williams in the suit to sell the dower interest expressly admitted that the statements in the petition therein were true, one of which was a description of the dower interest conforming to the line contained in the deed executed to him by the heirs of William Williams in 1866.
The only way by which this apparently conclusive record testimony, substantiating plaintiff’s contention, is attempted to be refuted is by the oral testimony of two of the heirs of Achilles Williams and one or two other witnesses stating that when the dower interest to Mary Williams was first allotted the line ran from the oak above mentioned in a southeast direction to a pile of rock at the point of the “V” in the above illustration, thence slightly north of west to the black walnut, thus including the disputed land, and that, as stated in brief of counsel for appellants, “The calls in the dower deed, or in deed (judgment) for sale of the dower tract, omitted the two calls, the one from walnut to pile of rocks and from pile of rocks to oak,” which is wholly insufficient to overcome the above recited record evidence. If, however, it were otherwise, the judgment in the suit to sell the dower to which Achilles Williams was a party and in which he filed his answer, as we have referred to, would estop him and his heirs from making the present contention.
But, it is insisted that defendants and those through whom they claim have held such adverse possession of the land in controversy as to ripen in them the title thereto, and for that reason the judgment is erroneous. But this contention is about as far from being sustained as the first one considered. It is true it appears that
We, therefore, conclude that the grounds urged for a reversal are wholly without merit and the judgment is accordingly affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.