152 Iowa 265 | Iowa | 1911
Lewis L. Light died the owner of the land involved in this controversy, leaving surviving him a widow, Amanda F. Light, andan only son, James Waldo Light. By a will duly executed and admitted to probate, Lewis L. Light devised this land to his son, James Waldo Light. James Waldo-Light died in January, 1866, intestate and without issue. Amanda F. Garrett, the widow of Lewis L. Light, married the plaintiff herein, James I. Garrett. She died in 1908, leaving surviving her, her husband, James I. Garrett. The other plaintiffs are heirs at law of the said Lewis L. Light and Amanda F. Garrett. In March, 1866, the said Amanda F. Garrett and her then husband, James I. Garrett, conveyed the land in question by warranty deed to Louisa M. Strother. The grantors are described therein as “Amanda F. Garrett, sole heir of James Waldo Light, late of the county of Howard, deceased, and James I. Garrett, her husband.” This deed was duly recorded in April, .1866. In April, 1867, Mrs. Strother conveyed the land by warranty deed to Patrick Keefe, who at the time mortgaged it back to Mrs. Strother for a part of the purchase price of- the land. This mortgage was afterwards foreclosed, and the land was sold under the foreclosure proceedings, and a sheriff’s deed executed to O. E. Dickerman in pursuance thereof. This deed was also duly recorded. In 1873 Dickerman and his wife conveyed the land by warranty deed to the defendant, Olford,
The widow here not only made no objection to the will depriving her of her dower, but in her conveyance she described herself as the sole heir of her deceased son, and by so doing indicated that she claimed title only as such heir. We are of the opinion, therefore, that Amanda F. Garrett did not take a one-third interest in the land in question immediately upon the death of her husband, and that her son James Waldo Light took the full title thereto under the will.
We are of the opinion that the rule announced in Marray v. Quigley, 119 Iowa, 6, governs this case and that the trial court rightly so decided.. There, as here, a conveyance of the fee was made by a person who held only a life estate, and we held that the remaindermen should have brought an action to determine their rights under section 3601 of the Revision (section 3273 of the Code of 1873). See, also, Crawford v. Meis, 123 Iowa, 610; Wenger v. Thompson, 128 Iowa, 750; Stern v. Selleck, 136 Iowa, 291.
Ignorance of a right does not prevent the running of the statute. Campbell v. Long, 20 Iowa, 382.
The judgment is right, and it is affirmed.