Herkimer v. McGregor

25 N.E. 145, 126 Ind. 247, 1890 Ind. LEXIS 563
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 25, 1890
DocketNo. 15,470
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 25 N.E. 145 (Herkimer v. McGregor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herkimer v. McGregor, 25 N.E. 145, 126 Ind. 247, 1890 Ind. LEXIS 563 (Ind. 1890).

Opinions

OLDS, J.

— This is a suit for partition brought in the Vigo Superior Court. Alexander A. McGregor, being an infant, sued by his next friend, and Helen Herkimer, Mary McKeen and James McGregor were made defendants. The real estate of which partition was sought belonged to Alexander Mc-Gregor in his lifetime. The parties to the partition suit were his children. The plaintiff was his only child by a second marriage, and the three defendants were children by his first marriage. The question presented relates to advancements alleged to have been made by the father, in his lifetime, to the three defendants. As to the defendant James Mc-Gregor, it is agreed that advancements had been made to him exceeding any possible interest he could have in the real estate. This fact was agreed upon and was the basis of a special finding by the court to the effect that James Mc-Gregor had no interest in the real estate in controversy, and James McGregor took no exceptions and prosecutes no-appeal.

[249]*249Helen Herkimer and Mary McKeen save exceptions and appeal and assign errors.

The controversy in the case is confined to a dispute as to whether or not these appellants are chargeable as an advancement with certain mining stocks, or the money invested in such mining stocks, and the title taken in the name of their father, Alexander McGregor, as trustee, and charged to these appellants on his books, which shares of stock the court, in its special findings of fact, finds were purchased by the father in pursuance of his intention to purchase fifty shares of stock for each of said appellants as and by way of an advancement and their agreement thereto, and that he caused said shares to' be placed in his name, as trustee, for the benefit of said defendants, and charges the same to them as advancements.

There are numerous exceptions and assignments of error by the appellant, all relating to and seeking to present the same question.

It is contended by counsel for the appellee that no question is properly presented, but there was a special finding of facts and conclusions of law by the court, and exceptions to the conclusions of law by the appellants. The appellants, at the proper time, also made a motion for a new trial, by which they question the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding of the court. By the motion for a new trial they, at least, present the question as to whether or not there is any evidence to support the finding in regard to such advancement. That the question is presented in this manner there can be no doubt; hence it is unnecessary to determine as to whether it is presented in any other way.

Mrs. Orinthia A. McGregor,widow of Alexander McGregor and mother of the appellee, testified as a witness, and from her testimony the court may have very properly found that in the fall of 1872 it was agreed by and between the deceased, Alexander McGregor,and his two daughters, the appellants, that the father agreed to purchase for each of his daughters [250]*250fifty shares of Raymond and Ely mining stock as and by way of an advancement for each of them, and that they agreed to accept such stock as an advancement to them, and that it was agreed that he was to manage the stock; and that afterwards, in the year 1873, he paid to each of them one hundred and sixty-seven dollars as a dividend on the stock. But the material question to be determined is as to whether or not he did purchase, and place under their control, such stock in such a way that they received the benefit of it, and so as to constitute an advancement to them, and be chargeable against them as such, and this must be determined from an agreed statement of facts made by the parties to the suit, which constituted all the evidence from which the court could base a finding that such advancement was made to them, and charge the same against' them. It was agreed that on the 15th day of January, 1873, the said Alexander McGregor caused to be purchased fifty shares of stock in a certain western mining company, known as the Raymond and Ely stock, and on the 19th day of February, 1873, caused to be purchased one hundred and fifty shares more of this same stock; and on the 14th day of March, 1873, seventy-five shares more of this same stock, being a total of two hundred and seventy-five shares.”

In February, 1873, one James C. McGregor, nephew of said Alexander McGregor, purchased two hundred and twenty-five shares of Raymond and Ely stock. All of these purchases were made through one John C. Ball, then residing in Salt Lake City, Utah, and all of the five hundred shares above mentioned were held by the Bank of California, in the city of San Francisco, California, in the name and for the account of said John C. Ball, until the 9th day of July, 1873, when, upon the order of said Ball, they were transferred and held thereafter by said bank for the account and in the name of Alexander McGregor, trustee ; on June 26th, 1874, the Bank of California, upon the order of said Alexander McGregor, transferred two hundred and fifty of the [251]*251shares to said James C. McGregor, and continued to.hold the remaining two hundred and fifty shares for the account and in the name of said Alexander McGregor, trustee. On the 18th day of March, 1875, the said Alexander McGregor, through said Bank of California, purchased fifty more shares of said Raymond and Ely stock, and again, on the 23d of March, 1875, purchased one hundred more shares of said stock, making a total of four hundred shares held at that date by said Bank of California for the account and in the name of said Alexander McGregor, trustee, and these four hundred shares said bank continued to hold as aforesaid until April 1st, 1875, when, pursuant to the written order of said Alexander McGregor, trustee, the said bank delivered said four hundred shares to one Alexander McGregor, junior. During the months of April and May, 1875, pursuant to the written order of said Alexander McGregor, Alexander, junior, sold the said four hundred shares, and invested the proceeds thereof in other mining stocks, known as Comstocks. These Comstocks were held by said Alexander McGregor, junior, for a time, and then, again acting upon the orders of said Alexander McGregor, he borrowed money upon them for the purpose of making, and did make, additional purchases of mining stock. A panic coming on the stocks thus pledged for loans, and those purchased with the borrowed money, were sold by the pledgees to pay the loans, and nothing was ever realized over and above the amount of said loans. The fifty shares of stock purchased as above stated, on the 15th day of January, 1873, the said Alexander McGregor charged upon the general book of accounts kept by him with all the persons with whom he had dealings, opening an account as designated with Raymond and Ely, and charging the amount paid for stock and assessments, and crediting them with amount received in premiums and dividends, and including and showing that one-half of fifty shares belonged to James C. McGregor, in January, 1873. In said account-book there appears an account with Helen Herkimer where she [252]*252is charged on February 25th, 1873, to cash paid for fifty shares R. & Ely stock, $4,328.77, and in March, 1884, to cash paid delinquent tax, city lot, $38, and she is given, credit October 7th, 1873, by R. & E. dividend for August, $164.76. There is also an account with Mary McGregor, now Mary McKeen, by which she is charged on February 25th, 1873, to cash paid for fifty shares R. &

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Bluebook (online)
25 N.E. 145, 126 Ind. 247, 1890 Ind. LEXIS 563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herkimer-v-mcgregor-ind-1890.