Wilson v. Maddox

33 S.E. 775, 46 W. Va. 641, 1899 W. Va. LEXIS 91
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 17, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 33 S.E. 775 (Wilson v. Maddox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Maddox, 33 S.E. 775, 46 W. Va. 641, 1899 W. Va. LEXIS 91 (W. Va. 1899).

Opinion

McWhorter, judge:

James Maddox and Sarah Ann Maddox, Ms wife, by [642]*642deed of January 31, 1893, conveyed to Irvin Stutler a certain tract of one hundred and twenty-ñve acres of land on Buffalo creek, in Harrison County, for the consideration, as set out in the deed, “of their affection for the party of the second part, whom they raised from a child,” and the further consideration of five dollars paid, and reserved in said deed, for the benefit of Sarah A. Maddox, the mansion house, and forty acres of land adjoining thereto, whenever she should desire it, which house and forty acres were to remain in her possession and under the control of-said Sarah Ann Maddox during her lifetime, and at her death all right of possession and title should revert to said Irvin Stutler, his heirs_ and assigns. Soon after the execution of the deed, James Maddox died, having bequeathed all his personal estate to his said wife, Sarah. After his death, Mary A. Hoff, Charles S. Maddox, Lola Maddox Burt, Mary E. Culver, Mathew B. Maddox, L. B. Maddox, and F. Bird Young brought their suit in equity in the circuit court of Harrison County against Irvin Stutler, Sarah A. Maddox, J. I. Alexander, administrator of James Maddox, deceased, and Delia A. Smith, Adeline Swisher, A. A. Smith, and E. W. Smith, heirs at law of Mary Smith, to annul, vacate, and set aside said deed to Stutler. On the 22nd day of May, 1896, said cause was heard, and the court decreed that said deed to Stutler “was and is wholly invalid, null, and void,” and canceled, annulled, and set aside the same, and further decreed that the plaintiffs in said suit and the said Smiths, defendants, were the owners in fee of said tract of land, as the heirs at law of said James Maddox, subject, however, to the dower of said Sarah therein as the widow of James Maddox, and. awarded said owners in fee a writ of possession for said land. At the August rules, 1897, Bettie Wilson, J. W. Maddox, Anna Angus, Sarah Lemley, Serena V. Dailey, Albert Maddox, J. A. Maddox,, Annette Maddox, Frank Maddox, May F. Lemley, Maggie Sawyer, George Maddox, Sarah Ott, and Mary L. Curry filed their bill in said court against Sarah A. Maddox, Mary A. Hoff, Charles S. Maddox, Lola Maddox Burt, Mary E. Culver, Mathew B. Maddox, L. B. Maddox, F. Bird Young, Delia A. Smith, E. W. Smith» A. A. Smith, Adaline Swisher, Sarah Davis, or the unknown heirs at law of said Sarah Davis, and J. I. Alexander, administrator of James Maddox, ¡deceased, [643]*643alleging that James Maddox died on the-day of February, 1893; that at the time of his death he owned and possessed a tract of one hundred and twenty-five acres of land, on which he resided, and which was described by metes and bounds in a paper writing signed by said James Maddox, dated January 31, 1893, and recorded in the clerk’s office of said county (and exhibiting with their bill the said deed from Maddox and wife to Stutler); that said James Maddox died intestate as to said real estate; that he left no child or children, nor the descendants of any child or children, to inherit his estate, and the same passed to his brothers and sisters and their descendants; “that at the time of his death James Maddox left, him surviving, said Mathew E. Maddox, his brother, said Mary A. Hoff, his half-sister, L. E. Maddox, the only heir at law of Alexander Maddox, a deceased half-brother, Charles S. Maddox, Lola Maddox Burt, and Mary E. Culver, the heirs at law of Samuel Maddox, another deceased brother, F. Bird Young, the only heir at law of a deceased sister, Delia A. Smith, E. W. Smith, A. A. Smith, and Adaline Swisher, the heirs at law of another deceased sister, Sarah Davis, another sister, or the unknown heirs at law of said Sarah Davis, and your complainants, Sarah Ott and Mary L. Curry, the children of William O. Maddox, another deceased brother, and your other complainants, Betty Wilson, J. W. Maddox, Anna Angus, Sarah Lemley, Serena V. Dailey, Albert Maddox, J. A. Maddox, Frank Maddox, May F. Lemley, Maggie Sawyer and George Maddox, who are the children and heirs at law of George Maddox, who was the son of the said William 0. Maddox, deceased”; that many years prior to the death of James his said .sister Sarah Davis left the State of West Virginia, and plaintiffs did not know whether she was living or dead, and, if dead, they did not know whether she left any child or children, and did not know the names of her heirs at law; that while the said James Maddox made the paper writing for said lands to Irvin Stutler, which is in the form and nature of a deed for said lands, and the same was recorded in the clerk’s office, the same was in fact never delivered by said Maddox to Stutler, and the legal title to said lands therefore never passed to said Stutler under said writing (and; alleging the said former suit, and the decree setting aside the deed to Stutler); that plaintiffs’ ancestor, William O. Maddon, was [644]*644a full brother of said' James Maddox, and that said Sarah Davis was a full sister of said James Maddox; that plaintiffs and Sarah Davis were not made parties to said former cause, nor were the heirs at law, if any, of said Sarah Davis made parties thereto, and were not legally bound by the decree in said cause; that plaintiffs were jointly entitled to one-seventh of said lands, one-third, of which belonged to said Sarah Ott, one-third to Mary L. Curry, and the remaining third to the other plaintiffs jointly, one-seventh of said land to Mathew R. Maddox, one-seventh jointly to Mary A. Hoff and L. R. Maddox, one-seventh to F. Bird Young, one-seventh to Della Smith, E. W. Smith, A. A. Smith, and Adaline Swisher, one-seventh to Charles S. Maddox, Mary E. Culver, and Lola Maddox Burt, and the remaining one-seventh to Sarah Davis or her heirs at law, and Sarah Ann Maddox to dower in the whole; that the real estate was susceptible of partition among the parties entitled thereto, but, if it could not be so divided, it should be sold, and the proceeds divided. And they pray that the parties named in the caption of the bill be made parties defendants, and required to answer the same; that process issue, and that said decree, a copy of which was exhibited with the bill, so far as it held and decreed the legal title to said lands to be in the plaintiffs in the said suit and the defendants Smith, be modified, changed, and altered, and plaintiffs in suit at bar and Sarah Davis or her heirs at law be decreed to be joint heirs at law of ■ said James Maddox, and as such entitled to participate in the division of said lands; that the same be divided between the parties entitled thereto, or sold and the proceeds divided; that the dower interest of Sarah A. Maddox be assigned to her in kind, etc.; and for general relief. The ■ defendants Delia A. Smith, E. W. Smith, A. A. Smith; and Adaline Swisher filed their demurrer (and also Sarah A. Maddox filed her demurrer) to plaintiffs’ bill, and say that plaintiffs have not by their bill made such a case as entitles them in a court of equity to the relief sought, and for grounds thereof say that by plaintiffs’ bill they show that one Irvin Stutler is a necessary and indispensable party to said suit; that by their bill plaintiffs show that vthe deed from Maddox to Stutler is good and valid as .against plaintiffs; that the bill shows that plaintiffs and [645]*645.said Sarah Davis in the bill mentioned' were not parties to the suit in the bill mentioned, to vacate and annul the said deed to Stutler, and that said decree vacating and annulling said deed is not binding upon them, and that said deed is valid and binding as against plaintiffs.

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Bluebook (online)
33 S.E. 775, 46 W. Va. 641, 1899 W. Va. LEXIS 91, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-maddox-wva-1899.