78 Iowa 472 | Iowa | 1889
I. The plaintiff claims under the patent title, and the defendants under a tax title, and upon adverse possession for more than ten years, held under color of title. The controlling facts in the case are these: The land in controversy is the southwest quarter, section 35, township 100, range 23, which was patented to Norman Churchill, plaintiff’s grantor, November 17, 1884. Upon this brief chain of title plaintiff bases her claim to the land. The defendants •claim under a tax title, based upon a treasurer’s deed made September 6, 1868, on a tax sale made in 1865 for the taxes of 1861, 1862 and 1863. Defendants insist that the land was at these dates in fact owned by Norman Churchill, his title being based upon an entry and location on a military land-warrant, made in 1857. The facts as to the entry of the land are these : Churchill made application to enter the land in 1857, but, through a mistake it is presumed, the entry and patent issued thereon described the land in the southeast quarter instead of the southwest quarter. The patent was returned by patentee, and cancelled, and, in 1884, a patent correctly describing the land was issued. It appears that the land was entered upon the abstracts of entries kept in the proper county offices, which show the entry of the land by Churchill. Defendants claim that they and their grantor have 'held adverse possession of the land for more than ten years under color of title.'