Ayres v. Patton

111 S.W. 1079, 51 Tex. Civ. App. 186, 1908 Tex. App. LEXIS 184
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 30, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 111 S.W. 1079 (Ayres v. Patton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ayres v. Patton, 111 S.W. 1079, 51 Tex. Civ. App. 186, 1908 Tex. App. LEXIS 184 (Tex. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

PLEASANTS, Chief Justice.

This is an action of trespass to try title brought by appellee against appellants. The land involved is the Wilson Lang survey in Montgomery 'County and a part of lot No. 18 in block No. 7 of Ayres Addition to the town of Conroe in said county. The defendants answered by general denial and plea of not guilty. The trial in the court below was without a jury and resulted in a judgment in favor of plaintiff for the Wilson Lang survey and in favor of defendants for the portion of said lot in the town of Conroe described in plaintiff’s petition.

The evidence shows that appellants, who have been married to each other since 1876, moved to and established their home upon the Wilson Lang survey in Montgomery County in 1888. This survey lies immediately south of and adjoining the tract upon which the town of Conroe was then situated. Previous to this time appellant, J. K. Ayres, had been engaged in the saw mill business and he made the move to the Lang survey for the purpose of engaging in the mercantile business in the town of Conroq. At that time Conroe was a small place and none of the houses which composed the town were near the home erected by the appellants. Their house was built near the right of way of the International & Great Northern Bailroad and the end of the “Y” of *188 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Eailroad, about 300 yards south of the joint depot of the two roads. At that time most, if not all, of the town of Conroe was some distance north of said depot. Some time after moving upon the Lang survey Ayres subdivided a portion of it into blocks and lots with streets and alleys between them and sold said lots with reference to the streets. He did not place a map of this subdivision on record or make a formal dedication of the streets. He testified that the only map he had of the subdivision was a pencil sketch made by himself and when he sold a lot he would measure it off as shown on said sketch.

The portion of the Lang survey which was thus subdivided extended some distance south and east of appellants’ residence. In this subdivision a street was left running east and west just south of appellants’ residence. South of this street and fronting on either side of the railroad right of way there are numerous lots which were sold by appellants prior to the sale of their residence property, and six or eight of the purchasers of said lots established homes thereon. There were also residences on the Lang survey both east and west of appellants’ residence prior to the time of its sale.

The Lang survey contains 266 acres, most of said survey being south and east of appellants’ former residence property. When appellants established their home on the survey they only enclosed the block on which their residence was built and which they subsequently sold. Hone of the land on said survey in controversy in this suit was ever enclosed. It is covered with timber, and the only homestead use appellants appear to have ever made of it was to obtain fire wood therefrom.

In 1889 appellants, by an instrument in writing executed and acknowledged as required by the statute and which they placed upon record, designated the Wilson Lang survey of 266 acres as their homestead. In 1890 for the purpose of borrowing money thereon they segregated a tract of 66 acres in the northeast corner of said survey and executed and recorded another instrument in which they designated the remaining 200 acres of said tract as their homestead. Appellant J. K. Ayres became engaged in the mercantile business in Conroe shortly after he moved near said town and continued in said business for several years. After quitting the mercantile business he became engaged in the real estate business, which he carried on in said town in an office situated on the portion of lot 18 in block 7 which was adjudged to him in this suit as his business homestead. He continued in the real estate business at Conroe until 1903 at which time his health became impaired and he with his family moved to Houston in the hope of regaining his health. After he determined to move to Houston he sold his residence and the block of ground upon which it is situated. Both he and his wife testified that they did not intend to remain permanently in Houston, but that they had at all times a fixed intention of returning to Conroe and building another home upon the unsold portion of the Lang survey. They have several times refused to sell the land in controversy because they have always regarded it as their homestead and intended to so use it as soon as Mr. Ayres’ health would permit his return to Conroe. During their sojourn in Houston the office in the town of Conroe, used by Ayres as his place of business, has been rented.

*189 The corporate limits of the town of Conroe as established in 1905 in-eludes the Ayres residence property and most, if not all, of the homes on the subdivisions of the Lang survey which had been sold by appellant. It does not appear when the town was first incorporated, but none of the property on the Lang survey was included in the corporate limits if such municipal corporation existed prior to 1905.

In a former suit involving the issue of whether the office property oeeupied by Ayres in the town of Conroe was his business homestead, he testified that he lived in the town of Conroe and claimed that his residence on the Lang survey was a town residence. He explains this in his testimony in this case by saying he thought it was a town residence because it was in the edge of town.

All of the land in controversy was levied on by the sheriff of Montgomery County on July 29, 1905, under an execution issued out of the District Court of Travis County upon a judgment rendered in said court in favor of the firm of Graham & Potter against the appellant J. K. Ayres. The land was advertised and sold under this levy on the first Tuesday in September. At this sale appellee was the highest bidder and the land was sold to him and the sheriff executed to him a deed therefor. Thereafter, on October 2, 1905, the sheriff, being of opinion that notice of said sale had not been given as required by law, again levied upon the property under the same execution and advertised the sale of the same as required by law, and on October 8, 1905, returned the execution reciting in his return thereon the facts as to the former sale and the second levy and readvertisement and requesting that a writ of venditioni exponas be issued and sent to him. This writ was regularly issued, and acting thereunder the property was again sold by said sheriff to appellee and a deed was executed by the sheriff therefor to him. This was the only deed introduced in evidence by the appellee. The execution under which the property was sold contains the following recitals:

“And whereas, it further appearing that seven executions have issued in this cause and have been returned not satisfied, but with credits as follows: February 5, 1901, for sale of land, $1,383.70; April 2, 1902, for sale of land $1,935.20.” In the clerk’s certificate to the execution is the following: “I ........... do hereby certify that the within and foregoing is a true and correct copy of Seventh Execution, 5 th after revival of judgment.” The indorsement on the execution is as follows: “In Travis County District Court. File No. 10412. Docket No. 7, page No. 44, Parrish & Potter v. J. K. Ayres, 7th Execution, 5th after revival of judgment. Judgment $4,147.00. Issued July 12, 1905, Jas. P. Hart, Clerk, Filed Oct. 30, 1905.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 S.W. 1079, 51 Tex. Civ. App. 186, 1908 Tex. App. LEXIS 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ayres-v-patton-texapp-1908.