Martin v. Martin

68 Ky. 47, 5 Bush 47, 1868 Ky. LEXIS 225
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedApril 16, 1868
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 68 Ky. 47 (Martin v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martin v. Martin, 68 Ky. 47, 5 Bush 47, 1868 Ky. LEXIS 225 (Ky. Ct. App. 1868).

Opinion

CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAMS

delivered the opinion op the court:

The ancestor of these parties, Wm. Martin, sr., died in the year 1836 intestate, leaving a small estate of only eighty acres of land and some personalty to descend to [49]*49his twelve children and surviving widow. James Martin; one of the heirs, died intestate, never having married, .and his share descended to his mother, brothers, and sisters. The mother subsequently died, and her interest descended also to the eleven surviving children.

Telitha and her husband, Joseph Martin, had her interest separated, which they_afterwards sold to J. R. Thompson, reducing the tract to seventy-three acres, two roods, and sixteen poles, held then jointly by ten children in coparcenary.

In the year 1837, William Martin purchased the share of his sister, Mrs. Stockdell, and took the bond of her and her husband. He paid her two hundred and thirty-three dollars, and there remained unpaid sixty-seven dollars; and had the deed made to Elijah for it in 1854.

In the year 1848, William Martin also purchased of his sister, Mrs. McAfee, her interest in said land, ánd took her and her husband’s deed therefor, which, being informally acknowledged, was not put to record.

It is charged that Elijah got this deed in the year 1861 from William, under pretence of having it properly recorded, and that he could get the clerk to strike out the word “ dower ” in the certificate, and insert “ inheritance but that, instead of doing so, he .struck out said word' “ dower ” himself and inserted “ inheritance; ” also struck out William’s name as a grantee, and inserted his own. It is sufficiently established that both alterations are in his handwriting, and that the deed wms, thereupon, put to record wdthout any subsequent acknowledgment or consent by the grantors.

In 1848, William Martin also purchased the interest of his brother Hugh, at three hundred dollars, and paid all but one hundred and twenty-three dollars. This he claims he paid by procuring the release to Hugh by his [50]*50mother, brother John, and sister Jane McClanahan, of their interest in the slave estate of his brother James, who had died in Missouri, and of whose estate Hugh Martin was the administrator. The deed for this share was made in 1848 by Hugh to Elijah and John Martin, at William’s instance and request.

As one of the twelve children had died and another had her share partitioned, this seventy-three acres, two roods, and sixteen poles remained to ten coparceners, and they held by undivided tenths; William claiming to be beneficially the owner of his own, and by purchase from his coparceners of the shares of Mrs. Stockdell, Mrs. McAfee, and his brother Hugh, thus making him the owner of four tenths of the said tract.

Elijah Martin had purchased the interest of his sister, Mrs. McClanahan, and her husband, and of his brother Washington Martin, and his sister Martha and her husband, James Martin, thus making him the owner, by inheritance and as purchaser, of four tenths.

Ann D. Martin still owned her share so inherited, being one tenth.

John Martin had never sold his interest, consequently, when he died it descended to his heirs, Mrs. Beckly and her brother, Wm. H. Martin, thus making the remaining one tenth.

In this controversy Elijah claims to own the interests of Mrs. Stockdell and Mrs. McAfee, and half of Hugh Martin’s interest, which William claims; and Mrs. Beckly and her brother, heirs of John Martin, claim to own half of Hugh Martin’s interest, which William claims, as having been purchased by him, but conveyed, at his instance, to Elijah and John Martin.

Elijah, John, William, and Ann D. Martin continued to keep their property together, without separation, on the [51]*51old homestead, and lived in common and farmed together without any articles of agreement, or seemingly well-defined understanding or book of accounts, for about ten years, when, in the year 1858, they exchanged this seventy-three acres, two roods, and sixteen poles to Oneal for a farm of one hundred and seventy-three acres, putting in the old homestead at acre for acre for the Oneal land, and paying at the time two thousand dollars, and executing a note for three thousand nine hundred and sixty-four dollars, payable March 1, 1860.

The deed, by direction of the parties, was made to Elijah, John, and Ann D. Martin, and the note signed by them without William’s name in either, although he participated in the trade, and his interest by inheritance, as well as by purchase, went in as payment. The note was paid, and soon thereafter, some time in the year 1860, dissensions arose between these survivors, John having in the meantime — between January and March, 1860— died. The consequence was, Elijah forcibly took exclusive possession of the dwelling-house and about one hundred and thirty acres of the contiguous land, leaving to William and Ann D. Martin only about forty-three acres, which William continued to occupy until the bringing of this suit, July 20, 1860; also personalty of different kinds; when Elijah Martin brought this suit seeking partition of the land, claiming that the parties were to own the Oneal tract just as they had owned the old homestead, and in the same proportions; and that he owned of that thirteen twentieths, or six and one half tenths; that the remainder had been paid for out of their joint' property. He asks that the joint personal property on hand be sold, and the proceeds divided; and that if the land cannot be divided according to the parol agreement, then that an account of purchase money be taken, and be adjudged against the others any surplus which he may have paid.

[52]*52William Martin transferred, without recourse, all his interest in the property to his sister Ann.

Ann D. Martin set up her own interest by inheritance and her brother William’s, both by. inheritance and purchase, which she claimed to be one tenth in his own right, the whole of Mrs. McAfee’s interest, a part of Mrs. Stockdell’s interest, as two hundred and thirty-three dollars, which William paid her, is to sixty-seven dollars, which Elijah paid her; and of Hugh Martin’s interest, it being paid for wholly by William and John and their sister, Jane McClanahan, and mother, Letitia Martin, as follows: John Martin paid forty-one dollars, Jane forty-one dollars, and Letitia forty-one dollars, and William one hundred and seventy-seven dollars.

She charges that she, her sister Jane, and brothers William and Elijah, lived and worked together on the old homestead until 1849 or 1850, when Elijah was taken sick, and continued in bad health for a long time. When he recovered, which was not until 1851, he withdrew his part from their accumulated fund of one thousand six hundred dollars, some five hundred and eighty dollars, and then commenced trading solely for himself, but kept his stock on the place, and fed it and prepared it for market, and did but little or no labor himself; but in this way getting more than he was entitled to from said place, up to March 1, 1858, when they went into possession of the Oneal place. That Elijah borrowed from her and William three hundred dollars, August 29, 1855, for which he executed a note to William; that in September, 1850, he borrowed from them two hundred dollars, and in September, 1857, he borrowed two hundred dollars more, for neither of which sums he executed his note.

[53]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Howser v. Johnson
179 S.W.2d 897 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1944)
McFarland v. McFarland
92 S.W.2d 785 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1936)
Mankin v. Jones
69 S.E. 981 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1910)
Deposit Bank v. Rose
113 Ky. 946 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1902)
Mannen v. Bradberry
81 Ky. 153 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1883)
Jones v. Thompson
8 Ky. Op. 703 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1876)
Stoughton's Adm'r v. Ellis
7 Ky. Op. 77 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1873)
Johnson v. Cox
3 Ky. Op. 599 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1869)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 Ky. 47, 5 Bush 47, 1868 Ky. LEXIS 225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-martin-kyctapp-1868.