Kimbro v. Harper

1925 OK 478, 238 P. 840, 113 Okla. 46, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 870
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 9, 1925
Docket14894
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1925 OK 478 (Kimbro v. Harper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kimbro v. Harper, 1925 OK 478, 238 P. 840, 113 Okla. 46, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 870 (Okla. 1925).

Opinion

MASON, J.

This action was commenced in the district court of McIntosh county, Okla., by G. W. Harper, plaintiff, against M. T. Tancred, defendant, to quiet title to and for possession of certain real estate. By order of the court. J. H. Kimbro, Ida E. Kimbro, and Eloise G. Smock were made parties defendant, on account of their deeds appearing in the chain of title.

The cause was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury and resulted in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, deeree* ing him possession of said lands. The court also rendered judgment in favor of the defendant Tancred against the defendant Eloise G. Smock on lier warranty of title, and in turn rendered judgment in favor of the defendants Smock and Tancred against the defendants Ida E. Kimbro and J. H. Kimbro. on their warranty of title.

Plaintiffs in error in their briefs present the following assignments of error;

(1) That the trial court erred in holding, as a matter of law, that the lands involved in this action were restricted under section 9 of the Act of Congress approved May 27, 1908, and therefore inalienable, and that the deeds under which M. T. Tancred claimed title were executed in contravention thereof.

(2) That the trial court erred in holding, as a matter of law, that the deed executed September 8, 1913, by John C. Smock and Eloise G. Smock was a general warranty deed in absence of' any fraud or misrepresentation.

The land in controversy herein was allotted to one Tarloshaw, a duly enrolled full-blood Creek Indian, as bis homestead allotment. Tarloshaw died, intestate, in McIntosh county, Okla., on December 31, 1910, seized of the land in controversy. The restrictions on said land had not been removed prior to his death. Tarloshaw left surviving him his widow, Sallie Tarloshaw, nee Fixico, Mista Tarloshaw, a son, and Louisa Tarloshaw. a daughter. Subsequent to the death of Tarloshaw, his widow, by deed dated February 1, 1911, and approved by the county court of McIntosh county, Okla., conveyed her purported inherited interest in said lands to James A. Chapman, and on the 9th day of May, 1911, the guardian of Louisa and Mista Tarloshaw conveyed their interest therein to W. T. Fears, who, on May 15, 1011, quitclaimed his interest to John C. Smock, James A. Chapman, on the 11th day of July, 1911, quitclaimed his interest *48 in said, lands to John C. Smock, and on the 8th day of September, 1913, John C. Smock and the defendant Eloise G. Smock, his wife, conveyed all their right, title, and interest in said lands to J. H. Kimbro, who in turn, joined by his wife, Ida E. Kimbro, on the 9th day of October, 1915, conveyed by general warranty deed to the defendant M. T. Tancred.

After the death of Tarloshaw, and on the 10th day of July, 1911, there was born to Sallie Tarloshaw, the surviving widow, a child, Bettie Tarloshaw, the issue of Tarloshaw and Sallie Tarloshaw. This posthumous child, Bettie Tarloshaw, died in January, 1919, leaving surviving her, her mother, Sallie Tarloshaw, nee Eixieo; Mista Tarloshaw, a brother, and Louisa Tarloshaw, a Sister.

On the 80th day of June, 1919, Sallie Tarlosharw conveyed her undivided one-third interest in said land to Arthur E. Raiford, said conveyance being approved by the county court of McIntosh county, and thereafter the said Raiford and wife conveyed, by quitclaim deed, to the plaintiff: herein, G. W. Harper, and on the 11th day of August, 1919, R. D. Howe, guardian of Louisa and Mista Tarloshaw, executed and delivered his certain guardian’s deed to the plaintiff, G. IV. Harper, conveying all the right, title, and interest of said minors in and to said lands.

The trial court found that the deeds originally given by Sallie Tarloshaw and R. D. Howe, guardian, prior to the birth of Bettie Tarloshaw, the posthumous child, were void, but that the deeds executed and delivered by the same parties subsequent to the death of said Bettie Tarloshaw, under which the plaintiff, G. W. Harper, claims title, were valid conveyances and superior to the title held under the original deeds. The court also rendered judgment against the various grantors upon their warranties.

The first ssignment of error presents the question as to whether the deeds executed prior to the birth of Bettie Tarloshaw were void. This involves the construction of section 9 of the Act of Congress approved May 27, 1908 (35 Stat. at L. 312), and sections 4974 and 11316, Comp. Stat. 1921.

Section 9, supra, provides:

‘‘That the death of any alio!tee of the Five Civilized Tribes shall operate to remove all restrictions upon the alienation of said allottee’s land: Provided, that no conveyance of any interest of any full-blood Indian heir in such land shall be valid unless approved by the court having jurisdiction of the settlement of the estate of said deceased allottee: Provided, further, that if any member of the Five Civilized Tribes of one-half or more Indian blood shall die leaving issue surviving, born since March fourth, nineteen hundred and six. the homestead of such deceased! allottee shall! remain inalienable, unless restrictions against alienation are removed therefrom by the Secretary of the Interior in the manner provided in section one hereof, for the use and support of such issue, during their life or lives, until April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-one; but if no such issue survive, then such allottee, if an adult, may dispose of his homestead by will free from all restrictions ; if this be not done, or in the event the issue hereinbefore provided fof die before April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-one, the land shall then descend to the heirs according to the laws of descent and distribution of the state of Oklahoma, free from all restrictions: Provided, further, that the provisions of section twenty-three of the Act of April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and six, as amended by this act, are hereby made applicable to all wills, executed under this section.”

Section 4974, supra, provides:

“A child conceived, bu't not bom, is to be deemed an existing person so far as may be necessary for its interest in the event of its subsequent birth.”

'Section 11316, supra, provides in part as follows:

“* * * Posthumous children are considered as living at the death of their parents.”

Plaintiffs in error contend that the allottee did not leave “issue surviving,” born since March 4, 1906, because Bettie Tarloshaw had not been bom at the time of the death of Tarloshaw.

In order to properly construe the act of' Congress under consideration, we must look to the intention and purpose of' Congress in enacting the same.

The Creek Indians, who had held their lands in common, made definite provision in the Original Greek Agreement for children bom after division of the tribal lands, and who would receive no individual allotment. Section 7 of the Original Creek Agreement, approved March, 1901, and ratified May 25, 1901 (31 Stat. at L. 861), provides, in part, as follows:

“The homestead of each citizen shall remain, after the death of the allottee, for the use and support of children bom to him after the ratification of this Agreement. * *

The Supplemental Creek Agreement, rati *49

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Bluebook (online)
1925 OK 478, 238 P. 840, 113 Okla. 46, 1925 Okla. LEXIS 870, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kimbro-v-harper-okla-1925.