Newsom v. Holesapple

101 Ala. 682
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedNovember 15, 1893
DocketNo. 155; No. 156
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 101 Ala. 682 (Newsom v. Holesapple) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newsom v. Holesapple, 101 Ala. 682 (Ala. 1893).

Opinion

HARALSON, J.

Whitmel Rutland died in Franklin county in the year 1857, leaving a largo landed and per[686]*686sonal estate, which, he undertook to dispose of by his last will. The will was dated 2d January, 1855, with a codicil added, of date February 19th, 1855, and both were duly proved and admitted to probate in said county on the 9th day of February, 1857.

By the first clause of the will of the testator, he gave to his daughter, Penelope M. Newsom, one half of his land which he had bought from one A. Barton "to be divided by a line running north and south, parallel with the section lines, it being the west half of said lands;” together with a number of slaves and other .personal property. He added in reference to this devise : ‘fit is my desire that my daughter, Penelope M. Newsom, shall continue in and have free use of my dwelling-house, so long as she remains a widow.” By the codicil to his will he gave to his said daughter, Penelope, "one half section of land, that is the west half of the section I live on, that was given to her in consideration of two thousand dollars paid by her husband, E. H. Newsom, on the purchase of said lands.” We have quoted the language of the codicil.

These lands appear to have been given to the said Penelope absolutely; unaffected by any conditions imposed on the devices of them to her. The testator makes a number of specific bequests of personal properfcy and money, and then he makes devises and beques ts of the remainder of his land and personal property.

The will has no numbered items, but is written throughout without apparent reference to order or systematic arrangement. For the sake of convenience in construing the instrument, we number certain parts of it as items 12, 18 and 14, as has been done by council. According to that numbering, item 12 reads : (12) "I give and bequeath to my grand-son, Whitmel Rutland Newsom, upon conditions hereinafter expressed, the two quarter sections of land' I bought of C. T. Barton and wife, being the northwest quarter of section one, and the northwest quarter of section No. 2, in township four and range fourteen west, west of Huntsville, and the east half of my lands according to quantity, tobe divided between him and his mother by a line running north and south, parallel with the section lines, so that all the buildings may be on that part allotted to my grand-son, Whitmel Rutland Newsom, reserving however the life [687]*687time [right] of his mother (should she never marry), the said Penelope M. Newsom, in and to the dwelling house and out houses for the benefit of the family so long as she may live. ’’ The land last referred to in this item, the east half of which the testator gave to his said grandson, is ^evidently the land referred to in item one, the west half of which he gave to his said daughter, Penelope M., and designated as land bought by him from A. Barton.

The thirteenth item is as follows : (13) “I also give and bequeath unto my grand-son, Whitmel Rutland Newsom , the following described lands : the northeast quarter of fractional section six in fractional township four, range thirteen, also the northeast quarter of section one, township four, range fourteen west, also the southeast quarter of section No. six and the southeast quarter of section No. one in township four, range fourteen also.”

(14) “I give unto my grand-son, Whitmel Rutland Newsom, upon the same conditions all the remainder of of my estate, not already given away, including negroes, stocks of every kind, crops of every description that may be growing or housed, provisions of all kinds, including notes, money, accounts and claims which I may have at my death, including also the increase either by birth or purchase, after the payment of all my debts and specified legacies. My will and desire is that all the property given conditionally to my grand-son, Whitmel Rut-land Newsom, shall be kept together and worked on the land, and that my brother, Turner Rutland, now living with me may be and remain on the farm and be supported by his nephew, Whitmel R. Newsom, so long as said Turner Rutland shall live.

“Now my will and desire is that should my grand-son, Whitmel Rutland Newsom, should die leaving no legitimate issue athis death, then andin that case all the property of every kind and description herein devised conditionally to him shall go to and belong to my grandson, John Newsom, and in case my grandson John Newsom should die, leaving no legitimate issue living, shall go to and belong to my grand-daughter, Francis Pamelia Newsom, and her heirs forever.”

The defendant in case 155 claims possession of the land under a title duly executed by said Whitmel Rut-land Newsom, on the 20th of March, 1871, by which he conveyed to Sallie V. Holesapple, wife of defendant, the [688]*688absolute title to the land sued for. The conveyance was to the said Sallie V., “and her heirs and assigns forever.” Item 13 of said will, which has been copied, embraces the lands sued for The contention of the plaintiff is, that in and by the said will of said Rutland, the said Whitmel Rutland Newsom took only a life es-state in all the lands devised to him by said testator in said three items of the will, with remainder to the plaintiff, and the said Whitmel R. having departed this life, in October, 1891, unmarried and without issue, as was shown, that plaintiff, under said will, became entitled to the possession of all of said lands, including that sued for in this action; whereas the defendant insists that an absolute fee simple estate was conferred on said Whitmel Rutland Newsom to the lands mentioned in said item 13. The same contention is made between the parties in case 156. In case 155 the court gave the general charge for the defendant, and refused a like charge for the plaintiff. In case 156, it gave the general charge for the recovery of certain lands sued for, mentioned in the charge, and refused the general charge for the defendant, holding that item 13 conveyed an absolute and the other a life estate merely to said Whitmel R.

We are invited by this appeal to construe said will, and to pass upon the rulings of the court in both cases, submitted together on the same evidence. This will has been before this court in another case for construction, but not upon the point now raised. The question there presented and discussed has no bearing upon this case. It was said by the court, however, that said will was drawn without regard to proper punctuation, capitalization or a proper separation of the clauses. — Newsom v. Thornton, 82 Ala. 404, 8 So. Rep. 261. In arriving at the intention of a testator in a will so bunglingly drawn as this one was, we may look at the whole instrument and the circumstances which surrounded him at the time. — Wolffe v. Loeb, 98 Ala. 426, 13 So. Rep. 744. It is evident, after making what he thought was a competent provision for his widowed daughter, Penelope Newsom, that the chief object of his bounty was his grand-son, Whitmel, to whom he gave the larger part of his estate, with certain conditions which he desired to impose upon the gift. It is with these conditions we have to deal in construing his will. It has been seen he [689]*689gave by the first item of the will the west half of sections of land to be divided by a line running north and south, parallel with the section lines, to his said daughter, Penelope. He identifies these sections by referring to them as the lands he purchased from A. Barton.

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Bluebook (online)
101 Ala. 682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newsom-v-holesapple-ala-1893.