Duckworth v. Collie
Duckworth v. Collie
Opinion of the Court
In the year 1899 Benjamin R. Lamance and wife, by warranty deed, conveyed to S. A. Duckworth 80 acres of land in Eastland county. At the time of said conveyance Duckworth was a married man, and the property was community property of himself and his wife, Mrs. Janie Duckworth. Mrs. Janie Duckworth died in April, 1900, while she and her husband and their children were residing on the land. On December 29, 1900, S. A. Duckworth married a second wife, who, together with himself and children by the first marriage, continued to live on the land until November 24, 1904, when he sold it to W. W. Hester.
The children of S. A. Duckworth and Mrs. Janie Duckworth, his first wife, instituted this suit in the form of trespass to try title to recover an undivided one-half interest in the land which they inherited from their mother. S. W. Bishop, W. M. Collie, and' J. C. Davis and several other persons and their heirs, whose residences were unknown and who were represented upon the trial by guardian ad litem, were also made parties defendants. Prom a judgment denying plaintiffs’ recovery, they have prosecuted this appeal.
Defendants S. W. Bishop, W. M. Collie, and J. C. Davis filed answers, consisting of a general denial and a plea of not guilty, and also pleas of innocent purchasers by them and the parties under whom they claimed title. They also pleaded the three, five, and ten years’ statutes of limitation.
W. W. Hester, to whom Duckworth sold the land, joined by his wife, by warranty deed, conveyed the same to J. R. Armstrong on July 15, 1907. J. R. Armstrong, by warranty deed, conveyed it to L. L. Stanfield on January 18, 1910, and L. L. Stanfield and wife, by warranty deed, sold it to D. Li Hand-lin on August 2, 1911. D. L. Handlin and wife, by warranty deed, reconveyed it to L. L. Stanfield on November 2, 1912. L. L. Stan-field and wife executed a deed of trust covering the land on December 29, 1914, to secure the payment of certain indebtedness they owed to the bank of Carbon. On June 4, 1918, the trustee named in that deed of trust, and in accordance with Its provisions, sold Hie land to W. M. Collie. L. L. Stanfield and wife also executed a special warranty deed to the land to W. M. Collie, of date January 31, 1919. On October 21,1919, W. M. Collie and wife, by warranty deed, conveyed a part of the tract to the defendant J. C. Davis, and on October 28, 1919, W. M. Collie and wife, by warranty deed, conveyed another portion of that tract to the defendant S. W. Bishop.
All of the foregoing deeds of conveyance were duly filed and recorded in the deeds records of Eastland county.
The land in controversy had been originally set apart by the state for the deaf and dumb asylum, and had been originally sold by the state to A. E. Hogan on March 1, 1897, but no patent thereto was issued until April 22, 1919, at which time it was patented to W. M. Collie and his heirs and assigns, as as-signee of Hogan.
In the above-mentioned deed from S. A. Duckworth and wife to W. W. Hester, dated November 24, 1914, and through which the defendants Bishop, Collie, and Davis claimed title, the granting clause reads as follows:
“Have granted, sold and conveyed * * * all that certain' lot, tract or parcel of land situated in Eastland county, Texas, on the waters of Sabano creek, a tributary of the Leon river, about 17 miles south of the town of Eastland, more particularly described as follows, to wit: being the north half (%) of the N. E. quarter (%) of sec. No. 25, deaf & dumb asylum land in Eastland county, Texas, containing 80 acres more or léss.”
And the habendum clause in that deed reads as follows:
“To have and to hold the above-described premises, together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto in any wise belonging, unto the said W. W. Hester and his heirs and assigns forever, and we do hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, to quitclaim all and singular the said premises unto the said W. W. Hester and his heirs and assigns against every person whomsoever lawfully claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof.”
The case was tried before a jury on special issues, in answer to which the jury found that when W. W. Hester purchased he had notice of the title to the land in controversy which plaintiffs had inherited from their mother, Mrs. Janie Duckworth; but further found that neither J. R. Armstrong nor D. L. Handlin had such notice at the time each of them purchased the land. The jury further found that defendants Bishop, Collie, and *926 Davis each bad such notice at the times of their respective purchases.
For the reasons indicated, all of plaintiffs’ assignments of error are overruled, and the judgment is affirmed.
<^s»For other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DUCKWORTH Et Al. v. COLLIE Et Al.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published