JACKSON v. COON

JACKSON v. COON
1926 OK 521
247 P. 27
118 Okla. 221
Case Number: 16616
Decided: 06/01/1926
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

JACKSON
v.
COON et al.

Syllabus

¶0 Appeal and Error--Reversal--Insufficiency of Evidence. The judgment of the trial court, in a law action, will be reversed when there is no competent evidence to support the same. E. D. Means, C.

A. Holley, and E. D. Holley, for plaintiff in error.
Bond, Melvon & Melton, for defendants in error.

JARMAN, C.

¶1 Jonas Jackson instituted two separate actions in the court below to recover an undivided one-half interest in two separate portions of the allotment of John Freeman, deceased, duly enrolled full-blood Choctaw Indian. By order of the court, the two actions were consolidated for trial, resulting in a judgment for the defendants, from which the plaintiff, Jackson, has appealed. On the following facts there is no dispute between the plaintiff and the defendants: John Freeman, a duly enrolled full-blood Choctaw Indian, having received parents to the homestead and surplus portions of his allotment, died intestate, seized and possessed thereof, and left surviving him, his mother, Seeley Freeman, now Seeley James, and a paternal cousin, Jenny Billy. The decedent's father, a full-blood Indian, died sometime prior to the death of the decedent. Jonas Jackson, the plaintiff, is a remote descendant and the only representative of Jenny Billy. Plaintiff contends that Jenny Billy, paternal cousin of decedent, inherited an undivided one-half interest in and to his allotment, and that he, the plaintiff, being the only representative and descendant of Jenny Billy, inherited and became the owner of such undivided one-half interest. The defendants contend that Seeley Freeman, now Seeley James, inherited and became the owner in fee simple of the entire allotment of the decedent, and that, by deeds executed by the said Seeley James, nee Freeman, duly approved by the proper county court and by mesne conveyances, the defendants became the owners of said allotment.

¶2 The plaintiff contends that John Freeman died in June, 1907, prior to statehood, and that chapter 49 of Mansfield's Digest of Arkansas, as extended over the Indian Territory, governed the devolution of the estate of said decedent. The defendants contend that the decedent died subsequent to statehood, and that, therefore, the devolution of said estate was governed by the laws of Oklahoma. It is agreed by the parties that if the decedent died prior to statehood the plaintiff is the owner of an undivided one-half interest in the allotment of the decedent, whereas, if he died subsequent to statehood, Seeley James, nee Freeman, inherited and became the owner in fee simple of the entire allotment of decedent, and that the defendants, by deed from her duly approved, and mesne conveyances, are the owners of said allotment in fee simple. The trial court found that the decedent died subsequent to statehood, and this is the only question for determination on appeal.