Clemens v. Clemens

37 N.Y. 67, 4 Trans. App. 50
New York Court of Appeals·Decided September 15, 1867·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

Davies, C. J.

John Mullanphy resided at St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, and made and published there his last will, dated the 27th February 1830, to which were added three codicils, the last being dated the 23d November 1831. The said John Mullanphy died at St. Jjouis, on the 29th August 1833, seised of certain real estate, located in the city of New York. He left him surviving, Elizabeth' Mullanphy, his widow; a son, Bryan Mullanphy; and six daughters, namely, Octavia, then the wife of Dennis Delaney; Eliza, wife of James *Clemens, Jr.; Jane, wife of Charles Cham- ’ ’ ’ bers; Catharine, wife of Richard Graham; Ann Biddle, widow of Thomas Biddle; and Mary, after-wards the wife of General William S. Harney.

On the 7th day of August 1840, a bill was filed in the court of chancery of the state of New York, for the partition or sale of certain lands whereof the said John Mullanphy died seised, including the lands purchased by the appellant at the sale hereafter mentioned; and in said bill, Elizabeth Mullanphy, Bryan Mullanphy, Dennis Delaney and Octavia his wife, and James Clemens, Jr., and Eliza his wife, were the complainants; and Charles Chambers and Jane his wife, Richard Graham and Catharine his wife, Ann Biddle, William S. Harney and Mary his wife, John O. Fallon, one of the executors named in the will of said John Mullanphy (Thomas Biddle, one of the other executors, having died before the said testator, and George Collier, the other and third executor, having renounced said executorship, and declined to act as such, or as a trustee under said will), and Ellen Chambers, John Chambers, Owen Chambers, Margaret Chambers, Jane Chambers, Jr., Eliza Chambers, Ann Chambers, Mary Chambers, Thomas Chambers and Bartholomew Chambers, all children of the said Jane Chambers, were the defendants.

The said bill was verified the 10th July 1840, and [69]*69contained the following, among other averments, in substance: That the complainant, Elizabeth Mullanphy, was the widow, and the complainants, Octavia Delaney and Eliza Clemens, were two of the daughters, and the complainant, Bryan Mullanphy, was the son, of John Mullanphy, late of St. Louis, Missouri, deceased. That the said John Mullanphy died at St. Louis, the 29th August 1853, seised of certain lands in the city of New York, whereof partition or sale was sought by said bill •of complaint. That the said John Mullanphy left him surviving, ftnir other daughters, namely, the defendants, Jane Chambers, Catharine Graham, Ann Biddle and Mary Mullanphy, afterwards Mary Harney ; which said six daughters and sons were, *at the time of the death of the said John Mullanphy, and still were, his sole heirs-at-law, and as such were severally seised of the said lands as tenants in common, each to one undivided seventh of said lands, but subject to the right of dower of the complainant, Elizabeth Mullanphy. It also stated, “That upon the death of the said John Mullanphy, certain paper writings were produced, which were alleged to be his last will and testament, and three several codicils thereto ; which papers, so far as they purported to be the last will and testament of the said John Mullanphy, and the two first codicils thereto, shortly thereafter were lost, mislaid or destroyed; and have never since been produced or found, all of which bore date, and ’purported to have been executed since the 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord, 1830, and that, thereupon, an attempt was made before the county court of the county of St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, to establish the said alleged will, and the said alleged two first codicils thereto, by the drafts, or a certain alleged copy thereof, previously taken, whioh was followed by a long and contested controversy in that court, which finally decided to reject the said papers, and pronounced in favor of an intes[70]*70tacy; from which decision an appeal was taken, first to the circuit, and afterwards to the supreme court of the state of Missouri, by which latter tribunal, the said decision of the said county court was reversed, and the said papers admitted to probate, as and for, or as evidence of, the last will, testament, and two first codicils, of the said John Mullanphy deceased.”

That said paper writings, so admitted to probate in the state of Missouri, were not, by virtue of the proofs there taken, and of the final decision there had, to be regarded as proved, within and according to the laws of the state of New York, so as to disinherit the right heirs-at-law of the said John Mullanphy, or to bar their claims, as such heirs, to their shares in the said lands, and if the same be set up for that purpose, the same ought to be first duly proved and established according to the laws and usages of the state of New York. That comP^nan^s were advised and ^believed, that even should the said paper writings be admitted to probate in this state, the same contain divers bequests, devises, directions and provisions, contrary to the laws of New York, which, or some of which, under the said alleged will and codicils, are void. That the complainants did not admit that the said paper writings were legal or competent evidence of the last will and testament and two first codicils of the said John Mullanphy, deceased, or that they were rightfully and properly admitted to probate in Missouri.

That the defendant John O. Fallon alone qualified as the executor of the 'said alleged will, but that he expressly refused, and still refuses, to assume upon himself the trusts therein contained, or any of them, and that George Collier, therein named as the other executor, expressly renounced and refused to qualify or act, either as an executor or trustee, under the said alleged will; that the said alleged trusts were without any trustee; and that the title to the said trust-estate, [71]*71so far as it consisted of real estate, had devolved upon and vested in the heirs-at-law of the said John Mullanphy.

That the defendants, Charles Chambers and Jane his wife, had, at the time of the death of the said John Mullanphy, eight children living, that is to say, Ellen Chambers, John Chambers, Owen Chambers, Margaret Chambers, Jane Chambers, Jr., Eliza Chambers, Ann Chambers and Mary Chambers; and that, since the death of the said John Mullanphy, the said Charles Chambers and Jane his wife, had two other children, that is to say, Thomas Chambers and Bartholomew Chambers, all of which ten children were living, unmarried, and all of whom were infants, excepting Ellen Chambers, who was of full age.

The following proceedings were had in said chancery suit: On the 25th day of August 1840, an order was made and entered in said suit, that all the defendants therein severally appear and answer the said bill by the 26th day of December then next ensuing, or that the said bill be taken as confessed by them; and that, within twenty days from the date of the said order, the complainants cause a copy thereof to be published, for three months at least, once in each week, ^successively, in the state paper, and in the New York Commercial Advertiser, a paper printed in ■the city and county of New York, in which such premises are situated, and which order contained a description of the premises affected by said suit. The order was published accordingly. On the 30th day of December 1840, an order was made.and entered in said suit, by which the said bill was taken as confessed by all the defendants.

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