5 N.Y.S. 334 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1889
This is a submission without action, to determine the succession to real property in the county of Suffolk, described in the statement printed in the case. David E. Pierson died seised and possessed of the property in question on the 16th day of February, 1888, intestate as to this real estate. He was 21 years of age at the time of his death, and this property was devised to him by the last will and testament of his father, David Pier-son, who died on the 14th day of October, 1871, who was the onlychild of bis father, who had owned this property many years before his death, and who was the grandson of Capt. David Pierson, who died February 25,1829, seised and possessed of the lands in question. David E. Pierson left him surviving no father or mother, brother or sister, or descendant of any brother or sister, no uncle or aunt on his father’s side, or descendant of any uncle or aunt on the side of his father. On the side of his mother, Susan A. Pierson, formerly Susan A. Powles, who died June 20, 1881, David E. Pierson left two aunts, Margaret Beer, wife of John Beer, and Catharine Powles, and two cousins, children of a deceased aunt, all of whom are of English parentage, and reside in England, and none of whom or their parents had ever been in the United States previous to the death of David E. Pierson. John Beer, the husband of'Margaret Beer, the maternal aunt of David E. Pierson, came to this country in the year 1833, and was naturalized as a citizen of the United States on the 12th day of October, 1840. He subsequently returned to England, and married Margaret on the 4th day of July, 1876, at Southampton. Margaret was a woman of English birth and parentage, and has resided with her husband in England since her marriage, and has never been in the United States. John H. Halsey is a collateral relative of David E. Pierson on his father’s side, who is entitled to succeed to the lands in question provided Margaret E. Beer is deprived of such succession.
Our conclusion is in favor of Margaret Beer. The only obstruction in the way of her inheriting the property by descent is her disability to inherit by reason of her alienage, and such disability was removed by the act of congress of February 10, 1855, which reads as follows: “And be it further enacted
We therefore record our determination that Margaret Beers, as heir at law of David E. Pierson, is entitled to take the lands and property in question, and judgment should be rendered in her favor for the possession of such lands, with costs.
The rtile seems to be that an alien woman, who intermarries with a citizen of the United States, is to be regarded as a citizen of the United States, within the meaning of the act of February 10, 1855, though she may never have resided in this country; that the marriage per se invests the woman with the citizenship of her husband, in the place and stead of her former allegiance. The act of congress is as follows: “ And be it further enacted that any