Welch v. Armstrong

62 S.W.2d 335, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 971
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 15, 1933
DocketNo. 4359
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 62 S.W.2d 335 (Welch v. Armstrong) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welch v. Armstrong, 62 S.W.2d 335, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 971 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

SELLERS, Justice.

The suit was by Mrs. Emma Clark, a widow, and her daughter, Mrs. B. W. Welch, joined pro forma by her husband, against T. M. Armstrong and the Humble Oil & Refining Company, a corporation, in the statutory form of trespass to try title to two tracts of land aggregating 140.5 acres according.to the calls of the deed. The plaintiffs specially pleaded the title and source of title and claimed an undivided one-sixth interest in the lan.d; Mrs. B. W. Welch owning in fee the one-sixth interest and Mrs. Emma Clark owning a one-third life estate in the one-sixth interest. The plaintiffs also sought recovery of one-sixth of the bonus, rentals, and royalties in virtue of the lease of all the land by T. M. Armstrong to the Humble Oil Company for oil production.

The defendant T. M. Armstrong pleaded not guilty and the statutes of limitation of three, five, ten, and twenty-five years.

The defendant Humble Oil & Refining Company pleaded as the defendant T. M. Armstrong, and, in the alternative, that, in the event of recovery by plaintiffs, they be charged with pro rata cost and expense of drilling the oil wells and in production of the oil.

After hearing the evidence, the trial court peremptorily instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of the defendants, and judgment was rendered that plaintiffs take nothing by their suit, and in favor of the defendants that the title of the land be vested iu T. M. Armstrong subject to the lease of the land to the Humble Oil & Refining Company. The plaintiffs have appealed from the judgment, seeking review of the ruling of the' court in giving the peremptory instruction of the jury.

John K. Armstrong, Sr., is the common source of title. He was married twice, and to the first marriage were born nine children, four of whom died without being married, and to the second marriage were born three children, one dying in infancy, and the other two being Lucian J. Armstrong and John K. Armstrong, Jr. John K. Armstrong, Jr., is the father of the defendant T. M. Armstrong, and Lucian J. Armstrong was the husband of plaintiff, Mrs. Emma Clark and is the father of Mrs. B. W. Welch, née Armstrong.

John K. Armstrong, Sr., died in 1859, and in April, 1861, his estate was partitioned by decree of the district court of Upshur county in a partition suit duly filed by his widow. Margaret Armstrong, against the children by the first wife, Sarah A. Armstrong, deceased. By the decree, 200 acres of land, including the land in this suit, together with other land, was set apart as a homestead for the wife, Margaret Armstrong, to be used by her during her natural life, and at her death then to vest and be equally divided. The portion of the decree, as material to state, reads: “And it is further adjudged and decreed that the said plaintiff Margaret Armstrong, she being the surviving widow of John K. Armstrong, deceased, take and have and recover two hundred acres of land out of the Estate of John K. Armstrong, deceased, including the homestead to be surveyed in any manner she may see proper so it does not unnecessarily or materially damage the residue of the land, to be used and enjoyed by her, the said Margaret, for and during her natural life, and that the residue of the land of the said John K. Armstrong deceased, be divested out of the said Margaret Armstrong and invested in all the heirs of the said John K. Armstrong, deceased, and to be equally divided between said heirs. It is further adjudged and decreed that at the termination of the said Margaret Armstrong’s lifetime estate in the said two hundred acres including said homestead then the same shall vest in all the heirs of the said John K. Armstrong to be by them equally divided between said heirs.”

The heirs who inherited the land were the children of the first marriage, John F., Martin G., Monroe A., Nancy, and Elizabeth, and the children of the second marriage, Lucian J. and John K., Jr. The homestead included in the 200 acres was the homestead on which John K. Armstrong, Sr., and his second wife, Margaret, had lived from the time of their marriage in 1855 until the death of John K. Armstrong, Sr., in 1859. After the decree mentioned, Mrs. Margaret Armstrong lived on the land as her homestead until her death in 1908. The two sons, Lucian J. and John K., Jr., were born on the land, and after their marriage lived on it until the times here[337]*337inafter stated. It was proven that at a time long before Mrs. Margaret Armstrong died in 190S three children of the first marriage, M. A. Armstrong, the heirs of Monroe Armstrong, and John E. Armstrong, conveyed their undivided interest in the land to John K. Armstrong, Jr., placing in him, with his inherited interest included, a four-sevenths interest in the land.

Lucian J. Armstrong with his wife and infant child, now Mrs. B. W. Welch, moved in 1897 to Bandera county and then to Coke county, where he died in 1899. In 1899 following his death, the widow and daughter of Lucian J. Armstrong removed back to the county where the land in suit is located. They did not go upon the land and again occupy it as before leaving in 1897, but lived at another place all the time since 1899. Mrs. Clark lived within a mile of the land since 1S99 with the exception of two years. The daughter, Mrs. B. 'W. Welch, lived for some years with her mother, and after grown to worjanhood worked away for a telephone company until her marriage. They never claimed the land until after April,-1931, when the oil boom started, and they never claimed any part of the rents of the land and never paid any taxes.

It was proven without dispute that John K. Armstrong, Jr., lived on the land all his lifetime except during some eight or nine years during which time he lived in Long-view. While living in Longview, the land was rented to tenants by John IC Armstrong, Jr. Upon his marriage he built a house on the land, and he and family lived in it, and after its destruction by fire he rebuilt a residence on the land and lived in it with his family. The entire tract is fenced, and about fifty acres cultivated and the rest used as pasture and woods lot. After his mother’s death, John IC Armstrong, Jr., on June 13, 1913, executed a deed conveying 6 acres of the land to the Gladewater Cemetery Association. On April 20, 1915, he conveyed by deed to E. T. Norton 14⅛ acres of the land. On November 1, 1916, John K. Armstrong, Jr., joined by his wife by deed conveyed by metes and bounds the entire land, except the portions previously sold, to his son, T. M'. Armstrong, the defendant in this suit. The deed recited as consideration the sum of $3,500, evidenced by three vendor’s lien notes. There was due delivery, respectively, of the deed and the consideration. The deed was duly registered in the county clerk’s office on November 29, 1916.

It was proven without dispute that upon the execution of the deed by his father on November 1, 1916, T. M. Armstrong went into possession of the land and mortgaged it to secure money,, and has continuously since that time cultivated, used, and enjoyed it and rendered it for taxes in his own name and paid all taxes when due to time of this suit, and claimed the land as .his own. A number of witnesses testify as to the sole use and occupancy of the land by T. M. Armstrong. The mortgage given by T. M. Armstrong was duly recorded in the county clerk’s office.

There was evidence in behalf of T. M. Armstrong that Lucian J. Armstrong sold the land in suit to his brother, J. IC Armstrong, Jr., by parol sale in 1S97. Mr. York testified: “I know the occasion of Lucian Armstrong leaving this country.

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Bluebook (online)
62 S.W.2d 335, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welch-v-armstrong-texapp-1933.