Swain v. Hildebrand

1934 OK 321, 36 P.2d 924, 169 Okla. 327, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 347
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 22, 1934
Docket21714
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1934 OK 321 (Swain v. Hildebrand) 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
Swain v. Hildebrand, 1934 OK 321, 36 P.2d 924, 169 Okla. 327, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 347 (Okla. 1934).

Opinion

WELCH, J.

This action involves one-fourth of the Osage headrights of Amos Swain, deceased 'Osage Indian, who died in June, 1907. The particular one-fourth of the headlight now in controversy was by the Secretary of the Interior awarded to the defendant and all income accruing thereafter to such interest was paid to the defendant. The plaintiff in this action seeks to recover from the defendant all sums so awarded and paid him.

The material facts are that Amos Swain was born as the illegitimate son of Rosa Hildebrand in June, 1906; about three weeks later the plaintiff and Rosa Hildebrand were married, and in the enrollment of the child he was given the name of Swain. Thereafter, in June, 1907, Amos Swain died, and thereafter, in May, 1909, his mother Rosa Hildebrand Swain died. Thereafter, in 1910, pursuant to notice and hearing participated in by the parties to this action, the Secretary of the Interior determined the heirships involved. He concluded from the evidence, which was sharply conflicting and positive on two different theories of the child’s paternity, that there was no way to ascertain who was in fact the father of the child, Amos, born as the illegitimate child of Rosa Hildebrand; and that Rosa Hildebrand Swain was the sole heir of Amos Swain, and inherited from him, and at her death owned his full headlight; that upon the death of Rosa Hildebrand Swain she left as her heirs, her husband, the plaintiff, and her father, James Hildebrand, defendant, and that they each inherited one-half of the Amos Swain headlight.

Continuously since that determination (lie Secretary of the Interior has paid the income accruing to the Amos Swain head-right, one-half to the plaintiff, Henry E. Swain, and one-luilf to the defendant, James Hildebrand.

The plaintiff contended in the trial court that when Amos Swain died, one-half of his estate went to him as the father, the other half to Rosa, the mother, and (hat upon the death of Rosa, the mother, the one-half interest she then owned was inherited in equal shares by her father, James E. Hildebrand, and her husband, Henry E. Swain, and that therefore he, the said plaintiff, actually inherited and owned three-fourths of the Amos Swain estate, and the defendant owned the remaining one-fourth, and that the defendant never had any right to a one-half interest in the Amos Swain headlight, but only owned a one-fourth interest therein, and that therefore any payments made to the defendant by the United States government in excess of one-fourth of the Amos Swain headright were, to the extent of such excess, unlawfully received by the defendant, and that therefore he should account to the plaintiff for any such excess.

The record discloses this further fact, that, in 1908, the county court of Osage county appointed an administrator of the estate of Amos Swain, and in September, 1908, upon application of Henry E. Swain for distribution, that court entered an order determining the legal heirs of Amos Swain, and thereafter, in August, 1909, that court, entered a final order of distribution; that court finding that the heirs of Amos Swain *329 were his father, Henry E.. Swain, and his mother, llosa Swain, and that each inherited an undivided one-half interest in his estate.

The first question for our consideration is ■whether the county court or the Secretary of the Interior had jurisdiction to determine this heirship of this Osage Indian at the times of the above-mentioned determinations.

In this action the trial court found, in substance, that the county court did not have the jurisdiction to administer upon said estate, or determine said heirship; that the Secretary of the Interior, up to and including 1910, did have exclusive jurisdiction to make such determination of heirship in so far as such determination would affect the property and estate involved in this action; and that in this action the trial court was without jurisdiction to grant plaintiff any relief as to this Osage headright, and that the plaintiff, Henry E. Swain, could have no relief except upon application to the Secretary of the Interior to modify and correct his former decision rendered in 1910.

The record shows the determination by the Secretary of the Interior, in 1910, with detailed showing as to the evidence heard by him and his finding of fact and conclusion and determination as to the paternity and heirship of Amos ' Swain. The Secretary found that at former times the plaintiff, Henry E. Swain, had sworn that he was the father of Amos, and had also sworn that he was not the father of Amos, and that likewise another person had formerly sworn that he was the father of Amos, and had also sworn that he was not the father of Amos, and it was upon such conflicting evidence, and the other evidence presented, that the Secretary of the Interior decided that it was impossible to determine who was the father of Amos, and he thereupon concluded that such paternity could not be determined, and that Amos was the illegitimate child of his mother, Rosa, and that upon his death she inherited his entire estate. The decision of the trial court here was to the effect that if such conclusion of the Secretary of the Interior was erroneous, it could not be corrected by the trial court in this ease, but must be presented to the Secretary upon application to reconsider the matter and make the determination anew.

A determination of these conflicting contentions as to the jurisdiction of the county court, and the Secretary of the Interior requires some review of the legislative enactments in reference thereto. The exact matter appears not to have been passed upon by this court heretofore.

It is conceded that covering the period of time under consideration there was no act of Congress specifically granting to the county courts of Oklahoma the jurisdiction and authority to determine heirships such as the one here involved, and that there was no such enactment specifically denying such jurisdiction to the county courts, and that there was no such act in specific terms granting such jurisdiction to the Secretary of the Interior.

The Allotment Act of June 28, 1906, being the General Allotment Act for the Osage Indians (chap. 8572, 34 Stat. at L. 639), provided in substance, for the making of the final roll of the Osage Indians, for the allotment to each member of the tribe of his portion of the land of the tribe, and for the holding in trust by the United States government of certain moneys of the tribe, and all of the oil, gas, coal, and othre minerals lying in and under the lands of the tribe, and the proceeds of the development and sale of such oil and mineral resources; all such moneys to be held to the credit of the tribe and the individual members thereof, and the income to bo paid to the individual members of the tribe in quarterly payments. It is stated that the final roll contained 2,229 names, and the interest of each individual in these funds came to be called and known as a “headright.”

The act provided that, in case of the death of any one of the Indians, sums thereafter accruing to his interest in the fund or to his headright should be paid to his heirs according to the laws of the territory of Oklahoma, without, however, stating specifically who should determine the names of the persons entitled to be recognized as heirs. That act, however, did give complete authority to the Secretary of the Interior to do and perform all things necessary to carry out the terms and provisions of the act as to the distribution and payment of these Osage funds.

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Bluebook (online)
1934 OK 321, 36 P.2d 924, 169 Okla. 327, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swain-v-hildebrand-okla-1934.