Downs v. Powell

116 S.W. 873, 54 Tex. Civ. App. 119, 1909 Tex. App. LEXIS 162
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 23, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 116 S.W. 873 (Downs v. Powell) 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
Downs v. Powell, 116 S.W. 873, 54 Tex. Civ. App. 119, 1909 Tex. App. LEXIS 162 (Tex. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinion

PLEASANTS, Chief Justice.

—This is an action of trespass to try title brought by appellant against appellees, Eobert Powell and T. B. Allen & Co., to recover a survey of 320 acres of land in San Augustine County, known as the south Jas. A. Chaffin survey, and also to recover damages for timber cut by defendants from said land and from adjoining land owned by plaintiff. The defendant Powell answered by general denial, and plea of not guilty, and by special plea setting up title to the land under the statute of limitation of ten years. The record contains no answer of the defendant Allen & Co. The cause was tried by a jury and a verdict and judgment rendered in favor of appellant against Eobert Powell for all of the land in controversy except for 160 acres thereof to include said defendant’s improvements, and also in favor of appellant against the *120 defendant Allen & Co. for the sum of $75, the value of the timber cut by said company, and in favor of Allen & Co. against defendant Powell for all costs incurred by said company in defending this suit.

The facts disclosed by the record are as follows: Appellant has a complete chain of title from the sovereignty of the soil 'to all of the land described in his petition, and this title prevails unless the defendant, Eobert Powell, established title by limitation to 160 acres of said land. The evidence upon the issue of limitation shows that Jackson Powell, a brother -of appellee, Eobert Powell, set up claim to the 320-acre survey described in plaintiff’s petition, in the year 1892. At that time he and his brother, Eobert Powell, were living with their widowed mother on the J. B. Powell homestead tract, some distance south of' the Chaffin. Witness’s father, J. E. Powell, shortly before his death, which occurred in 1891, had purchased what was known as the Fondville place, containing 160 acres of land lying between the J. B. Powell homestead and the land in controversy, and adjoining both of said tracts, the north line of the Fondville tract being the south line of the tract owned by plaintiff. The dwelling house on the Fondville place at the time said place was purchased by J. E. Powell was situated about thirty steps from the line of the land in controversy. There was a field on the place, and this field extended over the line of the Chaffin survey far enough to include three or four acres of the land in controversy. This was the situation at the time Jackson Powell set up his claim to the Chaffin survey in 1892. He cultivated this field during the years from 1892 to 1895 or 1896 while living with his mother on the J. B. Powell homestead. In 1895 or 1896 he married and moved to the house on the Fondville place and lived there until 1903. When he left this place he sold to his brother, appellee Eobert Powell, his claim to the Chaffin survey. The description of the land conveyed by this deed as therein given is as follows: “All that certain lot of land being in San Augustine County, State of Texas, to wit: Being a part of the J. A. Chaffin survey, located about thirty miles south of the town of San Augustine, being and containing 160 acres of land more or less.” Some time after he moved to the Fondville place, the exact date not being shown, he put in another field of four or five acres, which also extended over the line and included land on the Chaffin. He testified that he cultivated this field, and the field of three or four acres before mentioned, continuously during the time he lived on the Fondville place, and that he claimed the land in controversy all the time from 1892 until, he sold to appellee in 1903. After he moved to the Fondville place he built a crib on the Chaffin land near his dwelling house on the Fondville. In regard to his claim to' the Chaffin he testified as follows: “I never lived on the land but claimed it as my home. I thought I had a right to claim 160 acres and I claimed it. I cultivated it and worked the land and' kept up the improvements. I claimed the land as my own, and the reason I claimed the land when I had no title was because it was the only land I had any show to claim or shot at. I set up my claim in 1892 by working the land, raising first one thing or another on it. Hobody bothered me. I-told the neighbors around *121 there I was claiming it. I did not know anything about Mr. Downs until I heard of this suit. I thought it was the Chaffin land. I was not able to buy the land and knew I could not buy it. I never had it surveyed, but just made a deed for 160 acres, more or less. I left there after I sold to my brother.”

W. H. Miller, a witness for appellee, testified as follows: “I have lived in the lower end of San Augustine County for forty years. I know where the Chaffin survey is and know where the tract known as the 320-acre tract is—the south Chaffin tract, which is just north of Fondville survey. I know that Jack Powell cultivated land on the Chaffin survey. I could not say how long, but would say about some twelve or thirteen years. He had a little field on the bayou, which is the west field, over the line, and he has built one up to the house, which is the east field. A portion of that extends. over up to the line of the house and he had a corn crib on this land and a little lot. The field which I spoke of which was across the line was not entirely on the Chaffin survey. He lived there on the Fondville place and cultivated those fields extending over on the Chaffin all during the time. He said he claimed it. He cultivated it each year he was there, during the years he lived there.” It was further shown by the evidence that the first field of four acres before mentioned extended over the line of the Chaffin survey for about 175 feet. The distance which the second field of five acres extended over said line is not shown except by a map introduced in evidence, which shows that it was about the same as the four-acre field.

Appellee testified as to his possession and claim to the Chaffin survey as follows: “1 bought my brother’s claim to the J. A. Chaffin survey and that is the land this deed refers to. I have placed some improvements on this land. I built a plank house with two rooms and a garden and a well and a yard. I built two houses, one a little log house. I built the plank house in 1904, and the other house in 1903. There were some improvements there when I bought it. There was a crib, a lot, and two fields, I should judge about five or six acres in each place. They had a fence around it and the land was in a state of cultivation. I have had it cultivated ever since I bought it. I did not live on the land myself, but cultivated it some and rented it out to different people. Last year I rented it to G. G. Lakey. When I purchased this claim there was a crib, a lot and fields on it. I bought the improvements from Jack Powell and placed some others there myself. Jack Powell is my brother.” He also testified that he and his brother had cut and sold timber from the Chaffin survey ten or twelve years before this suit was filed, and that his brother cut timber therefrom for use in building fencing and making other improvements during the time he lived on the Fondville place. He does not live on the Chaffin survey and never lived there except for a month after this suit was brought.

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Bluebook (online)
116 S.W. 873, 54 Tex. Civ. App. 119, 1909 Tex. App. LEXIS 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/downs-v-powell-texapp-1909.