49 W. Va. 696 | W. Va. | 1901
The State of West Virginia filed her bill in equity in the circuit court of Webster County against Jeanette S. Tavenner and
The defendants Jeanette S. Tavenner, widow, and Jeanette A. Tavenner and B. E. Shears, heirs at law of Cabell Tavenner, filed their answer to plaintiff’s bill, showing the purchase of the said one thousand two hundred and eighty-one acres by Cabell Tavenner, and the conveyance thereof to him by commissioner Mintor Bailey; that Cabell Tavenner died in the year 1849 intestate as to the lands in question, and was the owner of said tract of one thousand two hundred and eighty-one acres at the time of his death; that for many years the lands were involved in suit, and for that reason defendants failed to look after the taxes on the land as they should but said suits having been fully and finally settled, after investigating found the title had been forfeited to the State of West Yirginia; that respondents were the
Defendant Emma H. Hubbard filed her answer, claiming to, be the true owner of the land in question; first under the sale for delinquent taxes of 1871 and 1872 as two tracts of five hundred v and ninety-seven acres in name of Cabell Tavenner and purchased by B. C. Conrad, not redeemed and his purchase assigned to McCray, and conveyed 1° McCray by Sawyer the clerk, by the deed of October 4, 1877, then returned delinquent in the
On the 6th day of August, 1897, the 'cause was referred to commissioner B. D. Hutchinson to inquire into and report upon the matters set forth in the bill and answers; the amount of taxes and interest due and unpaid, on each tract, lot or parcel or part of tract mentioned in the bill, in whom the legal title
On the 26th day of July, 1898, the commissioner filed his report, including therewith “the evidence, documents, papers and other testimony introduced and filed before your commissioner,” which were made a part of said report. The defendants, widow and heirs at law of Cabell Tavenner filed exceptions to said report of commissioner Hutchinson, and the plaintiff excepted to said report because “he should have reported the whole taxes from 1881 to the present time as chargeable against the land with interest.” The cause was heard on the 10th day of November, 1899, when the court sustained the defendant’s exceptions to the commissioner’s report and decreed that the defendants, the heirs of Cabell Tavenner, were the only parties to the suit who had title to the five hundred acre tract of land in controversy, and they were entitled to redeem the same from the forfeiture for non-payment of .the taxes thereon; that the deed from Sawyer, clerk, to McCray, dated October 4, 1877, purporting to convey the five hundred acre tract, be set aside, annulled and cancelled, and also the deed of Clerk Conrad to B. C. Conrad, dated 23 September, 1881, purporting to convey the same tract, be set aside, annulled and cancelled, and referred the cause to commissioner Hutchinson to ascertain and report the taxes properly chargeable against said tract of land in the name of Cabell Tavenner, deceased, or of the heirs. From which decree the defendant, Emma Hubbard, appealed, and assigns as errors the sustaining of the exceptions and each of them of Tavenner’s heirs to the commissioner’s report, also in setting aside the said deed from Sawyer, the clerk, to McCray of 4th of October, 1877, and the deed from Clerk Conrad to B. C. Conrad dated September 23, 1881, as well as declaring the said Taven-ner’s heirs to have title to the land and the right to redeem the same, and recommitting the cause to commissioner to ascertain and report the taxes chargeable against the land in Tavenner’s name, and also for decreeing against appellant’s claim of title, and in not confirming the commissioner’s report.
The first exception to the report of the commissioner is “in
I see no error in the decree complained of, and it should be affirmed.
Affirmed.