Carlock v. Willard
Carlock v. Willard
Opinion of the Court
This suit was instituted originally by Mrs.' M. J. Willard, who died before trial, and thereafter the appellees, as her heirs and the heirs of her deceased husband, J. M. Willard, made themselves parties to the suit and prosecuted it to final judgment. The suit is in the nature of an action of trespass to try title to recover from the appellant 80 acres of land, a part of a 200-acre tract of the Mary Ward survey situated in Wood county, Tex. The plaintiffs claimed title to the land by deeds of conveyance from J. A. Weaver and W. J. Goodson and O. E. Roberts, antedating many years the claim set up by the defendant, and by limitation of 5 and 10 years. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and improvements in good faith of the alleged value of $1,200, and prayed for judgment quieting his title, and that in the event the plaintiffs recovered the land that he have judgment for the value of his improvements. The case went to trial with a jury on the 27th day of April, 1911, and at the conclusion of the evidence the court instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for the land in controversy, and to find against the defendant on his plea of improvements made in good faith, and against the plaintiffs on their plea for damages and rents. The jury returned a verdict as directed by the court, and judgment was entered in accordance therewith. From the judgment against him the defendant appealed.
The plaintiffs introduced in evidence a patent to the Mary Ward league of land, containing 4,605 acres of land situated in Wood county, Tex. Then a deed from O. E. Roberts to J. M. Willard, under whom they claim, as follows: “Know all men by these *364 presents tliat I, O. E. Roberts, for a valuable consideration to me paid, tbe receipt of which is hereby fully acknowledged in consideration of which I have bargained and sold and by. these presents sell and convey unto J. M. Willard the following tract or parcels of land, to wit, commencing at the S. W. corner of a tract of land sold by me to G. V. Wilson situated about two miles east of Winnsboro on the west boundary line of the Mary Ward league. Prom said Wilson corner running east the depth of 100 acres, thence south with Wesley Leathers west B. line the depth of 200 acres to corner, thence west to the west B. line of the Mary Ward league, thence north to the place of beginning, containing 200 acres of land to have and to hold the same under him and his heirs, and assigns. I, the said O. E. Roberts, sell, release, convey and deliver unto the said J. M. Willard all my rights, title, claim and interest of said 200 acres of land on the Mary Ward league, warranting and defending the same against the claim of myself, my heirs or assigns. [Signed] O. E. Roberts. Witnessed by William N. Willard and G. Stem on the 29th day of November, 1879.” Recorded on the 8th day of August, 1907, in volume 19, page 26. There is some oral testimony to the effect that-this same 200 acres of land had been conveyed, on the 28th day of October, 1865, by the grantor in the deed copied above to J. A. Weaver and W. J. Goodson, and by them deeded to J. M. Willard on the 4th day of February, 1870, and that said deed of November 29, 1879, was executed by the grantor therein directly to the said J. M. Willard for the purpose of correcting the description of the land therein mentioned, but no deed from O. E. ^Roberts to Goodson and Weaver or from Goodson and Weaver to J. M. Willard was introduced in evidence. It was also shown by parol evidence without contradiction that the 200 acres of land described in this deed was a part of the said Mary Ward league of land, and that the west boundary line of said league survey is also the west boundary line of said 200-aere tract; that the 80 acres of land in controversy in this suit is included in the boundaries of the 200 acres, and is the southern part of the same. The evidence further shows that 50 acres of the 200-acre tract were sold by J. M. Willard to W. N. Willard about 25 years before the institution of this suit, and that the plaintiffs’ ancestors during their lifetime, and the plaintiffs since their deaths, were in peaceable and adverse possession of the remainder of said land, claiming the same and paying taxes thereon and using and cultivating a part of the same, including a part of the 80 acres in controversy in this suit, from the year 1870, up to the time the defendant entered upon the same and took possession of said 80 acres, which was some time in the .year 1906.
The defendant introduced in evidence a deed from W. H. Christensen, the administrator of B. W. Musgrove, dated the 6th day of December, 1872, conveying, among other parcels of land, lots 22, 23, 24, and 25 of the Mary Ward survey, beginning at the southwest corner of the Moore & Goodson tract, a stake on the Mary Ward west line; thence east 1,330 varas, passing southeast corner of same to lot No. 21 and the north corner of lot 23; thence south with the east line of lot 23 and 25, 699 varas, to stake on the southeast corner of lot No. 25; thence west with the north B. line of lots 27 and 26, 330 varas, to a stake on the northwest corner of lot 26; thence north 699 varas to the place of beginning, estimated to contain 160 acres of land. This deed was acknowledged the 6th day of December, 1872, and recorded first time on the 7th day of December, 1872, in deed records of Wood county. The courthouse of Wood county was burned and all the records destroyed on the 11th day of December, 1878, and the administrator’s deed above referred to was recorded the second time in deed records of Wood county on March 4, 1880. This deed, as appears from the record, recites: that “whereas, the district court of Wood county, on the 17th day of June, on the application of W. H. Christensen, the administrator of B. W. Musgrove, deceased, ordered the lands herein and after described belonging to be sold for the payment of debts, and that by virtue of said order the administrator, after first having advertised said land in three public places, one of which was courthouse door of Wood county, for more than 20 days next preceding the 6th day of August, 1872, proceeded to sell said land and lots in not less than 10 acres and not more than 40 acres in same as ordered by the said district court, in lots numbering from 1 to 37, inclusive of the west half of the Mary Ward survey of land in Wood county, Texas. That J. J. Jarvis at such sale became the purchaser of lots 12, 13, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, and 25 for the sum of $461.13 on a credit of six months, and that said sale was reported to the court and approved and deed ordered made to purchaser,” etc. The defendant next offered in evidence a deed from J. J. Jarvis to himself, dated the 20th day of September, 1906, and recorded on the 21st day of September, 1906, in deed records of Wood county. This deed is a general warranty deed and conveys all that certain land, or parts of land situated in Wood county, Tex., about 2% miles east of the town of Winnsboro on the Mary Ward headright survey, beginning at the northwest corner of block No. 25 of said subdivision of said survey, at a stake for corner from which a red oak brs. 30° S., 6 vrs. a post oak brs. 70° E. 7 vrs.; thence east with the Campbell north line 632 vrs. to a stake for corner from which a red oak brs. S. 60° E. 5 vrs. a red oak brs. 45° W. 6 vrs.; *365 thence north to the south line of the Garrison land; thence west with the Garrison south B. line to a stake for corner; thence south to the place of beginning containing 40 acres of land more or less. This deed has the following recitation: “It is only intended to convey all of the land yet unsold on the Mary Ward survey that has heretofore been and is now owned by me. And this deed shall convey all of my interest not heretofore sold by me, but no more.” The defendant also introduced evidence to the effect that, since the date of his deed from J. J. Jarvis, he had made valuable and permanent improvements on the 80 acres in controversy.
It is assigned that the court erred in “instructing a verdict for the plaintiffs, because the same was not authorized or justified, either by the law or by the evidence in this, that the plaintiffs did not show themselves entitled to recover by limitation of either five years or ten years, and the plaintiffs did not show any title to the land in controversy, as the deed under which they claimed did not describe any land situated in Wood county or any other county, or in Texas, or any other state.” We do not think this assignment is well taken. The plaintiffs were not entitled to recover on their claim of title by limitation of five years, and if it be admitted that their deed from O. E. Roberts was insufficient to convey the land in controversy, because it did not recite specifically that the same was situated in Wood county, Tex., still, in our opinion, they were entitled, by law and the undisputed evidence, to recover the land in controversy under their plea of title acquired by the statute of limitations of ten years.
We think the appellees were entitled, under the undisputed evidence, to recover the property in controversy under the plea of title by limitation of 10 years. There was no evidence of sufficient probative force to authorize a finding by the jury that they and those under whom they claimed had not had and held adverse possession of the land within the meaning- of the statute for the period of 10 years. On the contrary, such adverse possession was conclusively established by them, and the court did not err in peremptorily instructing a verdict in their favor. That the number of acres of land in cultivation may have been comparatively small does not materially affect the question. The possession, cultivation, and use of the property relied on and shown by appellees constituted such visible acts of ownership as gave notice to all other persons of the assertion of an adverse and exclusive right to the land, and this possession and use, being unbroken for the period of 10 years, was sufficient to mature their title by limitation. This view of the case renders it unnecessary for us to determine what right or title the plaintiffs acquired to the land in controversy by virtue of the deed from O. E. Roberts to J. M. Willard, dated November 29, 1879. Having held that they acquired title to the land by limitation, we need not consider and determine that question.
The assignment complaining of the court’s action in refusing to permit the defendant to introduce in evidence certain field notes of 167% acres of land situated in Wood county and claimed to have been made for J. M. Willard by N. T. Dickinson as surveyor of said county many years ago, and the assignment asserting that the court erred in not instructing the jury to find for the defendant one-half of the land in controversy upon the theory that one of J. M. Willard’s daughters was not claiming any of the land, are without merit and will'be overruled.
We have carefully considered all the assignments of error, and, because we are of opinion that none of them point out reversible error, the judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Carlock v. Willard [Fn&8224]
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published