44 Minn. 294 | Minn. | 1890
The dispute is as to the location of a boundary line, and involves the title to 13.34 feet of land fronting on Lyndale avenue, in the city of Minneapolis. The common source of title was Allen Harmon, who owned the government subdivision in which the land in controversy lies. There was conveyed to one Sampson by Allen Harmon, by deed dated May, 1857, a tract of land described as follows: “Beginning at a point 30 feet north of the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of the northwest £ of section 27, town 29, range 24 west, being the centre of block 33 in Wilson, Bell & Wagner’s addition to Minneapolis, in said county of Hennepin, and' running east 290 feet to block 34; thence south 418 feet, more or less, to the south line of the land sold by said Allen Harmon to Bell & Wilson; thence due west to the line of Z. M. Brown; and thence north to the point of beginning; the same being subject to the streets as now recorded of Wilson, Bell & Wagner’s addition to Minneapolis.” The same land, by the same description, passed by mesne conveyances to Bachel C. Hutchins,-who on the 11th day of February, 1875, conveyed by warranty deed to one Laraway a parcel of the above-. described tract, described as follows: “Commencing at the south-' west corner of lot 4, in block 33, in Wilson, Bell & Wagner’s addition to Minneapolis; thence due south 150 feet; then at right angles due east 260 feet; thence at right angles due north 150 feet to the southwest corner of lot 6, in block 34, of said Wilson, Bell & Wagner’s addition to Minneapolis; thence at right angles due west 260 feet to the place of beginning.” It will be observed that, as this tract is carved out of the land owned by Hutchins, its south boundary is the north boundary of the land remaining in Hutchins after such-conveyance to Laraway; and this fact must be apparent to all parties claiming title under these deeds, which were all duly recorded. Thereafter, on May 27, 1875, Laraway conveyed to one Lewis a par-.'
Lyndale avenue is the west boundary of the land conveyed to Lar-away by Hutchins, which fronted thereon 150 feet. It will also be observed that the middle line of block 33 in Wilson, Bell & Wagner’s addition is the north boundary of the land conveyed by the several deeds down to Lewis. While in the original deed of Harmon to Sampson the initial point- is 30 feet north of the southwest corner of the government subdivision named, yet it is definitely fixed in the centre line of block 33. This block is fractional, the north tier of lots, lying parallel with Lyndale avenue, being marked 1, 2, 3, and 4, and were 150 feet in depth by 50 feet in width; and south of the centre line are four fractional lots of corresponding width, and 30 feet in length, as appearing by the survey and recorded plat of that addition, which plat also shows that the tract south of the fractional lots to the Hutchins line, 120x100 feet, comprises lots 5 and
The defendant claims to have purchased the balance of the Lewis tract, the remaining 90 feet lying north on Lyndale avenue, and that the effect of the interpretation of plaintiff’s deed as insisted on by the plaintiff would be to deprive him of a like strip of 13.34 feet of land. The uncertainty arises from the initial point in the description contained in the plaintiff’s deed, which is a point 60 feet south of N. W. corner of S. W. ¿ of N. W. £ of section 27. The corner of the 40-acre tract referred to is the same point as indicated in the deed from Harmon to Sampson as 30 feet south of the middle line of block 33, but is now claimed, and found by recent surveys made since the deed to plaintiff, to be in fact only 16.64 south of that line, instead of 30 feet, as previously understood. It appears, however, from the evidence, that Allen Harmon was the owner of the land included in Wilson, Bell & Wagner’s addition when it was surveyed, as well as of the land afterwards conveyed to Sampson, all lying in one tract, and that the survey and plan thereof was made by actual measurements from the north line of the section, and without regard to the government subdivisions. By the survey as located on the land the south boundary was 1,320 feet (80 rods) south of the north line of the section, and 30 feet south of the middle line of block 33, as the same also appears upon the recorded plat. Whatever uncertainty there may have been as to the location of the government cor
Considering, then, all the circumstances under which the deed was made, as shown by the record, it would hardly be reasonable to suppose that the grantor, Lewis, intended to leave a strip south of the land granted so narrow as to be useless; and so we think effect may be given to her reference to the lots designated as showing that the land intended to be conveyed is the south 60 feet thereof. And, when the intention is manifest, it will control in the construction of' the deed, without regard to mere technical or artificial rules of construction. Witt v. St. Paul & N. P. Ry. Co., supra; Driscoll v. Green, supra; Johnson v. Simpson, 36 N. H. 91, and cases; Jackson v. Marsh, supra; Walsh v. Hill, 38 Cal. 481, 486, 487.
Order affirmed.