Whaley v. Lemmon

281 S.W. 321
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 27, 1926
DocketNo. 2597.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 281 S.W. 321 (Whaley v. Lemmon) 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
Whaley v. Lemmon, 281 S.W. 321 (Tex. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

JACKSON, J. J. C.

Whaley and Mrs. Laura Josephine Jones, an unmarried woman, plaintiffs, brought suit in trespass to try title in the district court of Hockley county, Tex., against Geo. W. Lemmon to recover a strip of land alleged by them to constitute a portion of the extreme southern part of league 22 in Hockley county, Tex. Plaintiff also instituted a similar suit in the same court against J. L. and Emma Hankins to recover a strip of land alleged by them to constitute a different portion of the extreme southern part of league 22 and the extreme southern part of league 23. They alleged that leagues 22 and 23 were McCulloch county school land, and that they are the owners thereof, subject to the lien of McCulloch county to secure the payment of a balance of the purchase price.

J. L. and Emma Hankins answered that they were the owners of surveys Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in block 1 in Hockley county, lying immediately south of league 23, and south of part of league 22, and that the strip of *322 land which plaintiffs sought to recover against them was a part of, and included in, their said surveys.

Geo. W. Lemmon answered that he was the owner of surveys Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 in block 1 in Hockley county, lying immediately south of league 22, and that the strip of land involved in the suit against him was a part of, and included in, his said surveys.

The defendants in each suit pleaded general denial, not guilty, agreed boundary, and acquiescence therein, estoppel, and the statutes of 3,.5, and 10 years limitations.

By agreement the cases were consolidated and tried together before a jury, and at the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court peremptorily instructed a verdict for the defendants, who are appellees, and entered judgment against the plaintiffs, who are appellants.

The first, assignment challenges, as error, the action of the trial court in directing a verdict against appellants, because, under the pleading and the evidence, there were issues of fact which they were entitled to have determined by a jury.

It was agreed that appellants are the owners of leagues Nos. 22 and 23 of the McCul-loch county school land, subject to the lien retained by McCulloch county to secure the payment of a balance of the purchase money, and subject to the defenses pleaded by the appellees, and that the appellees J. L. and Emma Hankins are the owners of surveys Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in block 1; and ap-pellee Lemmon is the owner of surveys Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 in block 1, unless the respective titles of the defendants to some part of said surveys are defeated by the questions involved in this litigation.

The record discloses that plaintiff’s land, leagues 22 and 23, were McCulloch county school land, and patented in 1884; that the lands of appellees’, surveys 1 to 11, involved in the controversy were scrap school land, first surveyed in March, 1902, resurveyed in March, 1917, and patents issued theretp on April 17, 1917. That the south boundary line of leagues 22 and 23 is the north boundary line of surveys 1 to 11, and the strip in controversy lies south of the line which ap-pellees contend is the south boundary line of leagues 22 and 23, and north of the line which appellants contend is the north boundary line of surveys 1 to 11. The strip in controversy is approximately 29 varas in width at the east end, and approximately 89 varas in width at the west end, and includes approximately 100 acres.

That in 1911 McCulloch county caused its four leagues of school land, which included leagues 22 and 23, to be resurveyed and platted by D. M. Lowrance, and these leagues were thereby sectionized and subdivided into sections and fractional sections. In this resurvey an iron pipe was placed at the corners of each tract of the subdivision, and an iron pipe was placed at what the surveyor adopted as the southwest corner of league 23, and at the corners of each tract of the Subdivision, which had for its south line the south boundary line of leagues. 22 and 23. That in 1913 McCulloch county sold its four leagues of land to C. H. Capps, and the commissioners’ court, in its order for the sale and conveyance thereof, directed that the plat made by D. M. Lowrance sectionizing the leagues be acknowledged by the county judge as the county’s plat of the subdivision of the leagues, and it, together with the field notes of Mr. Lowrance of said subdivisions, be placed of record in the deed records of Mc-Culloch and Hockley counties, Tex.

The deed by which the county conveyed the leagues to C. H. Capps in pursuance of the order of the commissioners’ court contains the order adopting the plat and field notes of the subdivision made by Lowrance; recites that they are recorded in the deed records of McCulloch and Hockley counties; and refers to them in aid of the description of the lands conveyed.

The deed contains a general description, which reads:

“Situated in Hockley county, Tex., and known as the four leagues of land granted by the state of Texas to McCulloch county for public free school purposes; said leagues being numbered 21, 22, 23 and 24, by virtue of patent numbers 176, 177, 178, and 179, in volume 24, dated May 3, 1884, and recorded respectively in volume 1, on pages 39, 40, 42, and 44 of the deed records of Hockley county, in the office of the county clerk of Baylor county, Tex., to which county Hockley was on September 5,1885, attached for registration purposes, and to which patents reference is •here made as a part of this conveyance, and which said four leagues of land have been surveyed, platted, and sectionalized as follows, to wit.” ’ •

The conveyance then particularly describes each section or tract of the subdivision by metes and bounds, according to the field notes made by Mr. Lowrance, which call for the-iron pipes placed by him at the corners of each section or tract of the subdivision, and for the pipes placed by him at the corners of the sections and tracts of the subdivision,. which have for their south boundary the line he adopted as the south boundary line of leagues 22 and 23. The deed conveyed the tracts or sections of the subdivision separately, and retained a separate lien against each tract or section to secure the payment' of the purchase money against such section or tract only, and the notes stipulate they are secured by a vendor’s lien on land described, “according to the map, plat, and dedication thereof, and the subdivisions thereof as surveyed by D. M. Lowrance.”

By deed of date December 1, 1916, O. H. Capps conveyed said four leagues of land to the appellants herein, and, after the description by section and league, continues:

*323 “According to the field notes thereof which were made by D. M. Lowranee, surveyor, on September 15,1911, in accordance with a resolution and order of the commissioners court of Mc-Culloch county, made and entered December 8, 1913, recorded in the minutes of said court in minute book 6, page 110, to which reference is here made.”

The strip of land in controversy lies south of what we will designate as the “Lowranee line,” which is marked by the iron pipes still to be found on the ground at the corners of each section and fractional section, which has for the south line the line Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
281 S.W. 321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whaley-v-lemmon-texapp-1926.