Saturday, August 30, 2014

Testimony of Clay Leach from Leach vs Leach lawsuit.

The following testimony of Clay Leach was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the ninth of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.


OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)

Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach, Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.

vs.

S. D. Leach, Defendant.

DEPOSITIONS FOR DEFENDANT

Also the deposition of Clay Leach taken at the same time and place and for the purpose stated in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn, deposed as follows:
Examined by Otto C. Martin, attorney for defendant.

Q. 1   State your name.
A. Clay Leach.

Q. 2  Your age?
A.   45.

Q. 3  Your residence?
A.   Beaver Dam, Route 3.

Q. 4   In what community do you live?
A.   Rob Roy.

Q. 5   What is your occupation?
A.   Farming.

Q. 6   I believe you are a brother of S. D. Leach?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 7   A son of Jasper N. Leach?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 8  You are the youngest child?
A.   No, Scott is the youngest.

Q. 9   Do you now live on your father's old home place?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 10  The one he owned when he died?
A.    Yes sir.

Q. 11   How near is that to the S. W. Leach farm?
A.  It adjoins it.

Q. 12   On which side?
A.  On the North.

Q. l3   How long have you lived where you are now living?
A.   All my life.

Q. 14   You knew S. W. Leach while he lived?
A.  Yes sir .

Q. 15   Was he related to you?
A. Yes, distantly related.

Q. 16   You knew his wife also?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 17   Have you been on the S. W. Leach farm very much?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 18  How long have you known it?
A.   Practically all my life, since I have been old enough to know anything about it.

Q. 19   You are 45 now, you were about 16 years old when Mr. S. W. Leach died?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 20   Do you remember when your father bought this farm from S. W. Leach's widow?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 21   Do you know what he paid for it?
A.  $2,000.00.

Q. 22   Were you with him when he bought it?
A. Well, no, I was not with him at the time. I don't think.

Q. 23   Do you know whether or not your father later sold an interest in that farm to Jake Leach?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 24   How much interest did he sell him?
A. Half interest.

Q. 25   For how much?
A.   $1,000.00.

Q. 26   Do you know when the timber on this S. W. Leach f arm was cut?
A.  The year the bought it or the following year along about that time.

Q. 27   Who cut that timber?
A.  I think Jake Leach cut it.

Q. 28   Who bought it, if you know?
A.  Stimson Lumber Company.

Q. 29   All of it?
A. A part of it was in ties.

Q. 30 Who were the ties sold to?
A.   I don 't know.

Q. 31   Do you know what they got for that timber?
A.  I think $1,000.00, for what they sold to Stimson.

Q. 32   Do you know what they sold the ties for?
A.   No sir.

Q. 33   Do you know who bought them?
A.   No sir, I don't. I don’t know whether they were taken t o the railroad or to the river.

Q. 34  Do you have any idea how many ties they got off that place?
A.  No sir.

Q. 35   Did they sell to Stimson in the tree, or how?
A.   They sold it in the tree.

Q. 36   When did your father die?
A.   In 1935.

Q. 37   When did Jake get rid of his interest in that farm?
A.   About 1936 or 1937.

Q. 38   After your father died?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 39   Who did he sell to?
A.   My brother S. D. Leach.

Q. 40  How did you other children get rid of your interest?
A.  My father gave it to my brother S. D.

Q. 41  How much did S. D. pay Jake for his half interest?
A.   $400 .00.

Q. 42  Then your father gave him a half interest and the other children made the deed to S. D. - that correct?
A. That is right.

Q. 43   How many children were there?
A.  Six of us.

Q. 44   Including S. D.?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 45   Who are these children?
A.  Harry Leach, Annie M. Porter, Jobe Leach, S. D. Leach, myself and then Scott.

Q. 46  Jobe Leach 1s now dead?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 47   Five boys and one girl?
A.   That is right.

Q. 48  Now, I will ask you if your knew about S. D. Leach selling this farm to a man by the name of Adams, in 1943?
A.   Yes sir, but I don't remember his name.

Q. 49  Do you know what he was to get for this place from Adams?
A.  I thin it was $800.00.

Q. 50   Where is S. D. Leach now?
A.   He is at Indianapolis, Indiana.

Q. 51   Hew long has he been out of this state?
A. He has been out of the state most of the time since about 1924. He lived here in this state three different times since, about a year each time.

Q. 52   How long has he been at Indianapolis?
A.   Four years.

Q. 53   Now you say you knew this place of S. W. Leach's, tell the court what kind of buildings were on that farm when Mr. Leach died?
A.  There was a log house that had been weather-boarded and ceiled on the inside. There were two big rooms, and a small kitchen, a hallway between the two big rooms.

Q. 54  Was there an upstairs?
A.  Yes, one finished room up there.

Q. 55  Was that house ever painted?
A.   No sir, There was a small barn~ not very well built.

Q. 56   Do you know anything about the ages of those buildings?
A.   The house was old when I can first remember it.

Q. 57    What other buildings on that place?
A.   A small chicken house.

Q. 58   Any fence on that place when Mr. Leach died?
A.   None to amount to anything.

Q. 59   I believe there were 112 acres in that farm?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 60   About how many acres in timber was there?
A.   I judge 30 or 35.

Q. 61  What kind of timber, the size, etc.?
A.   Most of it was small timber, some log timber on it. It was Oak principally.

Q. 62  Any soft wood?
A.   Not a whole lot, as I remember.

Q. 63 What about the other part of the farm, other than the timber land?
A.  It was just an old farm, most of it grown up.

Q. 64   How much of it was productive or that you could cultivate and produce crops?
A.  Might little at that time. I would say around 15 acres.

Q. 65  Any of this bottom land?
A. About 2 ½ acres.

Q. 66  Did Jake, or any of the other owner since S. W. Leach owned it do anything to improve the land in any way?
A.   Jake tilled a little of that bottom, put up some fencing, reroofed the house once.

Q. 67   Did Jake Leach live there?
A.  Yes sir, at that time.

Q. 68   How long did Jake 1ive on that farm?
A.   I couldn't say exactly, ten or twelve years.

Q. 69  What, in your opinion, was the fair market value of that farm, the buildings, improvements and timber, in 1919, when your father bought it from Mrs. Finis Leach?
A. I would think that $2,000.00 was a fair price for it.

Q. 70   What would the, surface and improvements have been worth without the timber?
A. I would say $600.00.

Q. 71   Considering the fact that Mrs. Leach was 62 years old when Mr. Leach died, and in poor health, what would her life estate have been worth that time, her life estate only entitling her to live on the farm and have possession, control and use of it, and get the rents and profits from it during her life time, with no interest in the coal or minerals; what
would that have been worth?
A. That would have been worth very little.

Q. 72   About what would you say it was worth, considering her age and the conditions of her health, and considering that she only had the use of the surface and improvements, and got the rents and profits, of course, the purchaser would have to pay the taxes and upkeep?
A.  It would not have been worth over three or four hundred dollars.

Q. 73   You know, of course, Mr. Leach's children, do you not?
A.  I don’t know as I would know all of them.

Q. 74   That is Oscar over there, do you know him?
A.  No, Oscar left out there when I was small.

Q. 75   Did you know Leslie Leach?
A.  Yes, I knew him.

Q. 76   He died about a month before his father's death?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 77   There was Clyde. Did you know him?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 78  Do you know where he was living when Mr. Leach died?
A.  No sir.

Q. 79   Where was Chester Leach living when his father died?
A.  On an adjoining farm, on the east side of this place.

Q. 80    Did he own a farm adjoining his father's farm?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 81   Was he living there when your father bought that farm?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 82   Do you know whether or not he advised his mother to sell the farm?
A.  That is what I have heard.

Q. 83 You don't know that of your own personal knowledge?
A.  No sir.

Cross-examined by Claude E. Smith, attorney for plaintiffs.

Q. 1 You say you lived on an adjoining farm to the S. W. Leach farm?
A.  Yes

Q. 2   How does the farm you live on compare with this S. W. Leach farm?
A.  We have more bottom land.

Q. 3  The upland about the same quality?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 4  I believe your father owned the farm you now live on when S. W. Leach died?
A.   That is right.

Q. 5   The Stimson Lumber Company did not get any timber from this farm, except log timber, did they?
A.   That is right.

Q. 6   Such timber as could be sawed into lumber?
A.   That is right.

Q. 7   I believe you say the greater part of this timber was not log timber?
A.   I said it was small timber.

Q. 8  Was the greater part of this tie timber?
A.    A lot of it was.

Q. 9   Half of it?
A.   No, I don't know as I would say half of it.

Q. 10  You say it consisted of White Oak and Black Oak?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. l1    Was this good sound timber?
A.   Well, I don’t know if it was all, some trees possibly were damaged.

Q. 12   What relation was Jake Leach to your father?
A.   He was a nephew.

Q. 13   You say he lived on this Leach place ten or twelve years?
A.   Something like that, I don't know just the exact time.

Q. 14   Was this farm occupied by anyone else after Jake left it?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 15   Who lived there last, or after he moved away?
A.  There was several lived there.

Q.16   Would you recall any of them?
A.   Clay Baird lived there one year, Kenneth Davis one year, and Boyce Phelps lived there, I don't know just how long.

Q. 17  Is the property habitable now?
A.   No

Q. 18  How long has it been uninhabitable?
A.   About three years.

Q. 19   That dwelling house has practically rotted down?
A.   There is a lot of lumber in it yet. Over one room the roof has fallen in.

Q. 20   The barn is gone?
A.  Yes sir.

Q.21   The other outbuildings are all gone?
A.  They have fallen down.

Q 22   How long since this has been occupied by any one living there?
A.   About three years.

Q. 23   How long since any of the land was cultivated or kept up in any way?
A.  Around three years, I guess. Something 1ike that.

Q 24    What kind of crops have been grown on that place since Mr. Leach died?
A.  There has been corn, and one or two crops of dark tobacco.

Q. 25   Do you know anything about what was received for the timber that was sold to Stimson Lumber Co., except what you have been told.
A. That is all.

Re-direct examination by Otto C. Martin, Attorney for defendant.

Q. 1   Who told you what they got for the timber?
A.  My father, I guess.


END

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Testimony of C. Wayne Leach from Leach vs Leach lawsuit.

The following testimony of C. Wayne Leach was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the eighth of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.


OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)

Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach, Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.

vs.

S. D. Leach, Defendant.

DEPOSITIONS FOR DEFENDANT

Also the deposition of C. Wayne Leach taken at the same time and place and for the purpose stated in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn and examined by Otto C. Martin, attorney for defendant, testified as follows.

Q. 1   State your name?
A.   C. Wayne Leach.

Q. 2   How old are you?
A.   I am 54.

Q. 3   Where do you live?
A.   I live just out of Hartford.

Q. 4   Where were you born and reared?
A.   Near Bald Knob.

Q. 5   Or Rob Roy?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 6  Whose son were you?
A.   My father was Black Leach.

Q. 7   How old were you when you left that community?
A.   Well, it has been about 16 years. I was about 38 years old.

Q. 8  Did you know S. W. Leach?
A.   I did.

Q. 9   Were you related to him?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 10   Know his wife, Mrs. Finis Leach?
A.  Yes, I knew her. I was not related to her only by being married to Uncle Sam.

Q. 11   How far was the farm on which you lived from the farm where Mr. S. W. Leach lived when he died?
A.   About two miles I guess.

Q. 12   Your farm was down toward Beaver Dam?
A.  Yes sir, on the Old Hartford and Morgantown road close to the old Brick House graveyard or what is known as the cedar field.

Q. 13   How long had you known that farm?
A.   All my life.

Q. 14   Were you on it frequently?
A.   I used to be on it quite a bit, in uncle Sam's life time.

Q. 15   Do you know about the buildings on that farm?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 16   Tell the Court about the kind and character of t he buildings on that farm  when he died?
A.   They were in pretty bad shape.

Q. 17   What kind of dwelling house was there?
A.   A log house, weather-boarded. I don’t think it ever had any paint on it, not in my  knowing. I would not consider it very much of a house at that time.

Q. 18   What age was it?
A.   I judge it had been there a generation or two.

Q. 19  What about the other buildings?
A.   The barn was fairly good, just a small barn.

Q. 20   A frame barn?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 21   Any other buildings on the place?
A.  None to amount to anything.

Q. 22   Do you know about the timber on this farm?
A.   There was some timber on it, I remember.

Q. 23  . About how much would you say, how many acres?
A.   I would suppose around 30 or 35 acres.

Q. 24    What character of timber?
A.   Short-bodied timber, not long bodied.

Q. 25   Very large?
A.  Not large, no.

Q. 26   What was the character of the soil where this timber was growing?
A.   It was thin.

Q. 27  How about the other part of the farm?
A.   It was about worn out since I can remember.

Q. 28   How much of that farm was suitable to raise crops on or suitable for cultivation?
A.   A very small amount.

Q. 29   How many acres?
A.  I would not think over 10 or 12 acres.

Q. 30   Did Mr.  S. W. Leach farm very much?
A.   A little patch of corn is all I ever saw growing there.

Q. 31   I believe he was county assessor at one time?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 32   Was also deputy assessor and magistrate?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 33   And did not do much farming?
A.  No sir, and he had a bunch of bees he messed with quite a bit.

Q. 34  In 1919 what was the condition of the roads in that section of the county?
A. They were quite bad.

Q. 35  Were there any state roads or rural highways then?
A. No sir.

Q. 36   Nothing but county roads?
A.  That is all and they got impassable in places in the winter time.

Q. 37   Were there any sales of land in that section in 1918 and 1919?
A.   No sir, not to amount to anything.

Q. 38   How would price of farm land at that time compare with prices of farm lands now?
A. Then they were away below what they are now.

Q. 39  What about the difference in the price of farm products then and now.
A.  They were not a fourth as high as now.

Q. 40   Do you remember when that farm was sold to J. N. Leach?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 4l   Were you living in that community at that time?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 42   Were you present on the day that Mrs. Leach sold the personal property, at the sale?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 43   What in your opinion was the fair, reasonable market value of that farm, surface, timber and improvements at that time?
A. Well, I think $2,000.00 was a good price at that time.

Q. 44   You mean including the timber?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 45  What was the farm reasonably worth without the timber?
A.  $800.00, maybe $1,000.00.  I would not want it at that.

Q. 46  If the purchaser were only buying Mrs. Leach’s life estate, she being 62 years of age at the time and in poor health, her life estate giving the purchaser only a right to possession and use of the farm during her life time, no right to the timber or minerals, what would you say that would have been worth?
A. It would have been worth mighty little.

Q. 47  What in your opinion would it have been worth, assuming she was 62 years of age and in poor health?
A.   I don't see how a fellow could give over $100.00 a year, the condition the place was in.

Q. 48   Do you know when the timber was cut off?
A.  I remember when it was cut off.

Q. 49   About how long after Jasper Leach bought that farm before the timber was out off of it?
A.  I don't remember just about that, but not long.

Q. 50. Do you know what they got for that timber?
A.  My understanding was they got $1,000.00.

Q. 51  Jake Leach out that timber , I believe?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 52   Was any of that timber large enough for lumber?
A.  Some, yes sir.

Q. 53  What about the biggest portion of the timber?
A. The biggest portion was tie timber.

Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for plaintiffs.

Q. 1  What species or kind of timber was on that place?
A.  Principally Oak.

Q. 2   White Oak and Black Oak?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 3   You say there were 30 or 35 acres in timber?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 4   Have you seen that farm recently?
A. I haven’t been out that way for two or three years.

Q. 5  Do you know whether the house and barn are now gone?
A.  They were still there tow or three years ago when I was there. I don't know about them now

END

Friday, August 22, 2014

Testimony of Roy Williams from Leach vs Leach lawsuit.

The following testimony of Rob Williams was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the seventh of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.

OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)

Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach, Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.

vs.

S. D. Leach, Defendant.

DEPOSITIONS FOR DEFENDANT

Also the deposition of Roy Williams, taken at the same time and placed and tor the purpose stated in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn and examined by Otto C. Martin, Attorney for defendant, testified as follows:

Q. 1   State your name please.
A.    Roy Williams.

Q. 2 Your age.
A.     56 years .

Q. 3   Where do you live?
A.   I live in the Rob Roy community .

Q. 4   You a farmer?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 5   Did you know S. W. Leach during his life time?
A.  Yes sir, I did.

Q. 6    How near did you live to where he was living when he died?
A.   A farm between us, three-quarters of a mile, I guess.

Q. 7   How long have you live where you now live?
A.    Since I was 12 years old.

Q. 8   How long have you known this farm?
A.   Since I was grown and have known any land, you know.

Q. 9   You were about 27 years old when Mr. Leach died?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 10   Have you been on that land very often?
A.  Not so many times, but several times.

Q. 11  You knew about the kind of farm it was?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 12   How much of that land was suitable to grow crops on, how much was productive?
A.  10 or 15 acres.

Q. 13   Do you know anything about the timber on that land?
A.   No, not to observe it closely.

Q. 14   Were you ever through it?
A.  Yes, I have been through it.

Q. 15   What kind of timber was growing on that land when Mr. Leach died?
A.  Medium, I guess, 0ak.

Q. 16  Taking this farm, the kind of buildings on it, the surface and timber, into consideration, its location, in 1919, when Mrs. Leach sold this farm to Jasper Leach, what in your opinion was the reasonable fair market value of that farm, timber, improvements, and everything at that time?
A.  At the time that was sold, I would say about $2,000.00.

Q. 17   Without the timber what would you say the farm and improvements were worth?
A.  The buildings were old, and the way timber was selling then I would cut that half into.

Q. 18  Suppose anyone had purchased from Mrs. Leach her life estate in that farm, and that she was 62 years old, when Mr. Leach died, and in poor health, and only the right to the use of the farm so long as she might live, what would have been the value of her life estate?
A. You mean to purchase the farm and make a living on it?

Q. 19   Just purchasing her life estate, that is her right to use it that is the surface and improvements, but not the timber, as long as she might live?
A. Not over $200.00 a year. I guess I would give her that much.

Q. 20   What, in your opinion, would have been the fair renta1 value of that farm at that time in the condition it was in, the cash rental value per year?
A. You mean per acre?

Q. 2l   No, just the farm for farming purposes?
A.   Not over $250.00 a year.

Q. 22   Could you have made any profit with no more of it producing at $250.00 per year cash rental?
A.   No, I guess not.

Q. 23   You could not make a good 1iving?
A.   No sir.

Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for plaintiffs

Q. 1  What kind of timber was growing on this land?
A.  Black Oak was the principal kind.  This was just like you see in old fields.

Q. 2  Any other kind?
A.  Some White Oak. I noticed no Poplar.

Q. 3  As you recall the kind of timber on that land when Mr. Leach died was White Oak and Black Oak?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 4   Was there a pretty good growth of that kind of timber on this 1and?
A.   About an average.

Q. 5  What was the condition of the dwelling house on Feb. 15, 1919, when Mrs. Leach, the widow of S. W. Leach, sold to Jasper Leach?
A.  It was in living condition was about all.

Q. 6  Were there any other buildings on that land except the dwelling house?
A.  There was a barn.

Q. 7  What kind of barn?
A.  I judge 30 by 40 - -maybe 50.

Q. 8  A frame barn?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 9  Are any of those bu1ldings there now?
A.   Most of them are gone now.

Q. 10   The farm has been permitted to go to what we ordinarily call waste.
A.   That is right.

Q. 11    The timber has been cut off of it has it not?
A. Yes sir.


END

Friday, August 15, 2014

Testimony of Rob Williams from Leach vs Leach lawsuit.

The following testimony of Rob Williams was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the sixth of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.

OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)

Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach, Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.

vs.

S. D. Leach, Defendant.

DEPOSITIONS FOR DEFENDANT

Also the deposition of Rob Williams, taken at the same time and for the purpose set out in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn and examined by Otto C. Martin, Attorney for defendant, testified as follows:

Q. 1   State your name.
A.   Rob Williams

Q. 2  Your age.
A.  56.

Q. 3   Where do you live?
A.  At Rob Roy.

Q. 4   That also known as t he Bald Knob section?
A.   That is right.

Q. 5   How long have you lived in that section?
A.    Practical1y all my life.

Q. 6   Were you born on the farm you now live on?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 7  You are a son of Sep T. Williams?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 8   Did you know S. W. Leach during his lifetime?
A.   I did.

Q. 9   How far is the farm on which you live from the farm on which he lived when he died?
A.  One farm between our farm and his, about a half mile.

Q. 10  Your farm is on the o1d Hartford and Morgantown road?
A.   Yes sir

Q. 11  This Leach farm is on the Bald Knob and Pincheco road?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 12   Have you been on this S. W. Leach farm very much?
A.  A good deal.

Q. 13   Do you know how long Mr. Leach had lived on that farm before he died?
A.  As long as I can remember. I don't know just how long.

Q. 14   Mr. Leach died in December, 1918, 29 years ago last December. What kind of buildings were on that farm when he died, Rob?
A.  Otto, I was in the Navy in 1918 and 1919.

Q. 15   Before you went to the Navy then?
A.  They were in reasonably good condition.

Q. 16  What buildings were on this f arm?
A.   A house and barn.

Q. l7   What kind of a house?
A.   A log house.

Q. 18  What kind of a barn?
A.   A boxed barn.

Q. 19   Do you know the age of those buildings?
A.   No sir, I don't.

Q. 20  You say they were in reasonably good condition when you went into the Navy?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 21  What about the farm itself for agricultural purposes?
A.   It was in very low state for agricultural purposes. It was thin land.

Q. 22   Did Mr. Leach cultivate this land much?
A.  Not a great deal.

Q. 23   How much of that land was suitable for cultivation in 1918, when you went into the Navy?
A.  About 30 acres.

Q. 24   Was all that good crop land.
A.  No sir.

Q. 25   What kind of land was it?
A.   Not over 15 acres of good producing land on the place.

Q. 26   What was the condition of the remainder of the land?
A.  Very thin soil and been run hard.

Q. 27  Was it washed?
A.   Some.

Q.28   Do you know about the timber on the land?
A.   Not a great deal.

Q. 29   Had you seen it?
A.   Yes, I squirrel hunted there.

Q. 30   What kind of timber was it?
A.   Oak and poplar - just the ordinary run of timber.

Q. 3l   What was the nature of the soil where this timber was growing?
A.   Kinda sandy soil.

Q. 32  Strong soil?
A.   No sir.

Q. 33   About what size timber was this?
A.  It would run, I would say, from two feet down.

Q. 34   Do you know about the number of acres of timber growing on that farm?
A.  I would think about 30 acres. I don’t know exactly the number of acres.

Q. 35   Any bottom land on that farm?
A.  Not what we call bottom land, a little branch bottom.

Q. 36   How much branch bottom?
A.    Not over four or five acres.

Q. 37   About how old was Mr. Leach when he died, if you know?
A.   I don't know exactly.  He was getting up in the seventies I imagine.
Q. 38   Did you know his wife, Mrs. Finis Leach?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 39  What was her age when he died?
A.   About 80 I imagine.

Q. 40   Her age when Mr. Leach died?
A.   Between 5O and 60, I imagine.

Q. 41  You knew these sons - four of them?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 42  Had they all married and left home before Mr. Leach died?
A.  Yes sir

Q. 43   Do you know where Chester was living when his father died?
A.   I don't know whether he was living on his farm then or not.

Q. 44  He owned a farm close to his father’s farm?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 45  What kind of roads did you have in that section in 1919?
A.  Bad.

Q. 46  Any state or rural highways?
A.   No closer than we call Argle Leach' s.

Q. 47  Near Beaver Dam?
A.   About a mile and a half.

Q. 48  That section had county roads only?
A.    County dirt roads.

Q. 49   Rob, what in your opinion was the fair , reasonable market value of the farm of S. W. Leach, including the buildings, surface and timber growing on it in 1919, when she sold the farm to Jasper Leach?
A.   I would say $2,000.00 would be fair price for it.

Q. 50  With the timber?
A.    Yes sir.

Q. 51 What would it be without the timber?
A.    $800.00, I would say.

Q. 52   Now, supposing you had only been buying Mrs. Leach's life estate in that farm, considering the fact she was 62 years old and in poor health when Mr. Leach died, what would you say that 1ife estate was worth?
A.  I don't know all that is included in her 1ife estate.

Q. 53    The right to the use of the farm as long as she lived, the right to use the surface and improvements, but not the timber, get the crops grown on it, the rents, considering she was 62 years old and in poor health what would you say her life estate was worth?
What was it worth to anybody wanting to buy her life estate?
A.  I would say $2,000.00.

Q. 54   You mean her life estate?
A.  Her life estate is what the farm would produce in that length of time?

Q. 55   The use of the farm so long as she lived, get the proceeds of it, the use of the surface and improvements, but not the timber, and she was 62 years old when Mr. Leach died and in poor health?
A.  I would not want to pay over $1,000.00.  If I bought it, I would not want it for just that number of year. I would want it outright.

Q. 56   Taking that farm in the condition you say it was in, the number of acres suitable for cultivation, what would have been the fair reasonable rental of that farm per year?
A.  $75.00.

Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for plaintiffs.

Q. 1  Were you out of the Navy when the timber was cut off  that place?
A.   I got out of t he Navy in September, 1919.

Q. 2   You were possibly out at that time?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 3   Did you know of the timber being cut off that farm?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 4    Do you know who cut it?
A.   Jake Leach was the one who cut it.

Q. 5   Who did they sell this timber to?
A.   I don't know.

Q. 6   What did he cut it into?
A.  Mostly ties.

Q. 7   Cut any lumber timber?
A.   Some, I think.

Q. 8   Do you mean that Jake actually did the cutting or sell it to someone and they had it cut?
A. Jake did most of the actual cutting. He was a timber man himself.

Q. 9   About how many acres was there in timber on that farm?
A.   I think about 30 acres.

Q. 10   Pretty well timbered?
A.   Very well, ordinary run of timber, oak, poplar and beech - what ordinarily grows on any land.

Q. 11 What kind of Oak?
A.   White Oak and some Black Oak.

Q. 12   Do you know whether or not the timber had been cut from that land before Jake cut it?
A.  No, I think not.

Q. 13   You don't know whether it had been cut over before or not?
A.   No, I but I don't think so.

Q. 14   Have you seen this farm lately?
A.   Yes, this fall.

Q. 15   The dwelling house is practically rotted down?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 16   The barn gone?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 17   Any other outbuildings that might have been on it, are gone too?
A.   There was none to amount to anything .

Q. 18   Do you know whether or not there were any buildings other than the dwelling house and barn?
A.  A chicken house, may be a coal house, none to amount to anything.

Q. 19   That dwelling house was occupied by S. W. Leach and wife, and his sons until they married and went away, for years and years before he died?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 20   It was kept in reasonably good condition for occupancy?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 21   Do you have any idea about what that dwelling house was worth on Feb.15, 1919, shortly after S. W.  Leach died?
A.   I imagine three or four hundred dollars.

Q. 22   What was the barn worth at that time?
A.   $200.00

Q. 23   What is your idea as to the worth of this farm in its present condition?
A.   I would estimate it at around $1,000.00.

Q. 24   Is the farm worth as much now as it was when Mrs. Leach sold it, leaving out of consideration the timber that was on it?
A. No sir.

Q. 25   How much was the farm worth then, in your opinion, leaving out of consideration the timber on it?
A.   About $1,000 .00.

Q. 26   It is worth practically the same now as it was then so far as making a living, notwithstanding the fact the dwelling house is gone and the barn is gone?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 27   It is grown up now, the cleared land has grown up?
A.  Pretty well.

Q. 28   In order to cultivate it you would have to clear it again?
A.  Not all of it, some of it you would have to clear.

Re-direct examination by Otto C. Martin, attorney for defendant.

Q. 1  Rob, there is a good deal of difference in the value of farm lands in this county now and in 1919?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 2   A considerable increase in value?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 3   In the last few years there has been a rural improved highway constructed from Beaver Dam to Rob Roy, that is rocked?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 4   How close does it come to this farm?
A.   About a mile I guess.

Q. 5  The price of farm products are higher and have been for the past two years, a good dea1 higher than ever before?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 6  Wou1d that have anything to do with the value of farm lands?
A.  It boosts the price of farm lands a deal.

Q. 7  In other words that same farm would be worth a good deal more now than in 1919?
A.   Oh yes.

Q. 8   Do you know what Oak ties were selling for in 1919, Rob?
A.   I think from 80 cents to $1.00.

Q. 9   What are they worth now?
A.   $1.50 to $1.75.

Q. 10   Double what they were then?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 11   Do you know what Jake Leach and Jasper Leach got for the timber they sold off this farm?
A.   No sir.

Q. 12   How many ties do you say could have been manufactured from that timber?
A.   I have no idea.

Re-cross examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for plaintiffs.

Q. 1   What kind of crops did S. W. Leach raise on this farm?
A.   Mostly corn.

Q. 2   Have any tobacco?
A.  He did not raise any tobacco.

Q. 3  Raise a fair crop of corn?
A.  Yes sir.

Re-redirect examination by Otto C. Martin, attorney for defendant.

Q. 1   Mr. S. W. Leach was a magistrate in this county at one time?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 2   Also County Assessor at one time?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 3   And also Deputy Assessor?
A. Yes sir.


END

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Testimony of F. M. Williams from Leach vs Leach lawsuit.

The following testimony of F. M. Williams was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the fifth of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.

OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)

Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach, Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.

vs.

S. D. Leach, Defendant.

DEPOSITIONS FOR DEFENDANT


Also the deposition of F. M. Williams, taken at the same time and place and for the purpose set out in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn and examined by Otto C. Martin, Attorney for defendant, testified as follows:

Q. 1  State your name, please.
A. F. M. Williams.

Q. 2  Your age?
A. 66.

Q. 3  Where do you live?
A. I live out about two miles east of Beaver Dam, near Liberty Church.

Q. 4   How far from the Rob Roy Section or neighborhood?
A.  2 1/2 or 3 miles.

Q. 5  How long have you lived in that neighborhood?
A.  All my life.

Q. 6   Did you know S. W. Leach during his life time?
A.  Yes sir.

Q.7   Did you know his wife, Mrs. Finis Leach?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 8   Know his boys, Oscar, Leslie, Chester and Clyde?
A. I knew them all.

Q. 9   How long had you known them?
A.   Practically all my life.

Q. 10  Did you know the farm on which S.W. Leach lived at the time of his death?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. 11   Were you frequently in that home?
A.  Occasionally.

Q. 12   Were you related to Mr. Leach?
A.   I guess I was distantly .

Q. l3   How long had you known the farm on which he lived when he died?
A.  I had know it practically all my life. When a boy I would, go by there going to the Cicero Taylor place.

Q. 14   That was an adjoining farm on the same county road?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 15   That was called the Bald Knob and Pincheco road?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. l6   It crossed the Hartford and Morgantown road?
A.  Yes sir, just beyond the Sam Leach place.

Q. 17   The Bald Knob and Pincheco road crossed the Old Hartford and Morgantown road at Chinn's farm?
A.  That is right.

Q. 18   Sam Leach died in December, 1918, 29 years ago, state to the court what kind of building were on the farm when he died, if you know?
A.   As well as I remember there was a two room log house with a hall between the rooms, a barn of some kind and that is about as much as I know about it.

Q. l9   What kind of land did he have on this farm?
A.  It was pretty thin 1and.

Q. 20   Any timber on it?
A.  Yes, there was some timber.

Q. 21   Do you know how long Mr. Leach had lived on this place before he died?
A.  No sir, I don't.

Q. 22    Had he lived there since you had know that community?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 23   How much of this farm would you say was suitable for cultivation, to raise crops on ?
A.  That would be a rough guess. I would not think more than 40 acres.

Q. 24   Would that 40 acres produce crops?
A.  A part of it would not make much. It was growed up the first time I ever saw it.

Q. 25   Washed?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 26  Grown up in what?
A. In bushes.

Q. 27  Did you ever go through this woods, or timber?
A.  It is a rough road through there. I have travelled it.

Q. 28   What kind of timber was that?
A.  Principally oak timber.

Q. 29   What character of soil was it where this timber was growing?
A.   It was mostly post oak, branch bottom land.

Q. 30   Was it large timber or small?
A.   It was average, I would think.

Q. 31   Very many logs in there that could be sawed up into lumber?
A.    There was some.

Q. 32   Any improved roads in that section of the county back in 1919?
A.   No sir.

Q. 33   County dirt roads was all you had?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 34   No state highways or rural highways?
A.   No sir.

Q. 35  There has been built in the last few years a rural highway from Beaver Dam out to Rob Roy?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 36  That is rocked?
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 37   How close is that rock road to this Leach farm?
A.    I would think it was a mile.

Q. 38   Now Mr. Williams, state what in your opinion was the fair, reasonable value of that farm including the buildings , surface and timber growing on it in February, 1919, when Mrs. Finis Leach sold it to Jasper Leach?
A.   I don’t have much idea about the value of land. I would consider the land at something like $1,000.00 without the timber.

Q. 39   Including the buildings?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 40   You mean $1,000.00 for the land and improvements - where you got a good title?
A. Yes sir. I would not consider buying it if I couldn't get a good title.

Q. 4l   Suppose you had only been buying Mrs. Leach’s life estate taking into consideration you only got the use of the place while she lived or during her life time?
A.   I wouldn't know about that.

Q. 42   Would that he worth 1 ,000.00?
A.   If I was going to buy a piece of 1and I would want a good deed.

Q. 43   Suppose you were only buying the land during her life and she was 62 years old and in poor health, what would you have valued that farm at under those conditions?
A.   Not very much - not over half of it.

Cross examination by Claude E. Smith , Attorney for plaintiffs.

Q. l   You say you live near Liberty Church?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 2   How far from this S. W. Leach farm?
A.   2 or 3 miles.

Q. 3    You never had any occasion to be on the S.W. Leach farm very often?
A.  I would go through there occasionally, traveling that ridge road.

Q. 4  Your knowledge of the farm was obtained from your passing along that ridge road out to the highway?
A.   Yes sir, some.

Q. 5   When did you last see that farm?
A.  It has been a year or two since I have been through that road.

Q. 6   The dwelling house has rotted down?
A.  It was in bad condition the last time I saw it.

Q. 7   The barn gone?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 8    The timber gone?

A.   I think it has been cut over.

Q. 9   The timber was out shortly after J.N. Leach bought it?
A.   I imagine that is when it was cut.

Q. 10   You observed when you went through when they were cutting it and after it was cut?
A.  Oh yes.

Q. 11   It is your recollection that the timber was cut off shortly after J. N. Leach bought this farm?
A.   I think so.

Q. 12   That was approximately 28 years ago?
A.   I guess something like that.

Q. 13   What timber is there now is what has grown since they cut it over?
A.   They probably cut from ten to twelve inches up when they worked it.

Q.14. Approximately how many acres of this 112 acres was in timber, if you know?
A.  I couldn't tell you exactly. I imagine about 30 acres, that would be just a rough guess.

Q. 15   That land is a different character of land to your land?
A. I have some real good land and some about like it, in gullies.

Q. 16  You live farther down in the low lands from the Leach farm?
A.   Yes sir.


END

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Testimony of Laban Hines from Leach vs Leach lawsuit.

The following testimony of Laban Hines was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the fourth of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.

OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)

Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach, Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.

vs.

S. D. Leach, Defendant.

DEPOSITIONS FOR DEFENDANT

Also the deposition of Laban Hines, taken at the same time and place, and for the purpose stated in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn and examined by Otto C. Martin,
testified, as follows:

Q. 1   State your name please sir?
A.   Laban Hines.

Q. 2  Your age?
A.   68.
Q. 3  Where do you live?
A.  I live about 1 ½ miles this side of Cromwell, there at Lige Jackson's.

Q. 4  Are you a farmer?
A. Yes sir, farmed most all my life.

Q. 5  Did you ever reside in what is known as the Rob Roy section of Ohio County?
A.   Yes Sir, I owned land there.

Q. 6   What farm did you own in that section?
A.   The Cicero Taylor place.

Q. 7  When did you buy the Cicero Taylor place?
A. It has been about 41 or 42 years ago.

Q. 8   How do you fix the date?
A. I don' t remember.

Q. 9   Where did you move from to that section?
A.  From Gran Christian's place in the Rosine section.

Q. 10   Do you have a boy who was born about the time you moved to that Cicero Taylor place?
A.  He was about 8 months old when we moved down there.

Q. 11   How old is he now?
A.   He is either 40 or 41.

Q. 12   Was S. W. Leach living when you moved down there?
A.    Yes sir.

Q. 13   You knew him?
A.    Yes sir. I knew him a number of years.

Q. 14   Were you living on the Cicero Taylor place when he died?
A.  Yes sir.

Q. 15   How near was the Cicero Taylor place to the S. W. Leach place?
A.  It joined his farm.

Q. 16   How many acres in the Cicero Taylor place?
A.   95 acres.

Q. 17   What sort of buildings on that farm when you bought it?
A.   A house which cost $500.00 to put it up, a four room weather-boarded frame house, ceiled inside.

Q. 18   How old was this house?
A.   It had not been built but just a short time.

Q. 19  What about the other buildings?
A.  There was a barn.

Q. 20   How old was that barn?
A.   It was an aged building.

Q. 21   What kind of soil on this Cicero Taylor place?
A.   Clay like and rocky.

Q. 22   Hilly?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 23   How did it compare with the Leach farm?
A.   It lays better, some places on that place pretty level and some hills. It 1ays better than the Leach place.

Q. 24   How much of the Taylor farm was suitable to grow crops on?
A.   Some of it done very well, no big sight.

Q. 25   How did it compare for farm purposes with the Leach farm? That portion or part you cultivated, back in 1918?
A. It as in better shape to tend than the Leach place.

Q. 26   How much did you pay for it?
A.  I paid $600.00 for it.

Q. 27   Now then, do you know bout how much of the Leach land was cleared and suitable for cultivation?
A.   A lot of it was no account at all.

Q. 28   How much of it was no account?
A.   Most of it was thin land.

Q. 29   Was the Leach land cleared up or not?
A.  When I moved down there it was cleared up but it was worn out.

Q. 30   Any timber on it?
A.    Some small timber.

Q. 31   How much timber on it, about how much?
A. I reckon about 25 or 30 acres of small timber.

Q. 32   Was there any fencing on the land when Mr. Leach died?
A.   There had been some fence, but it was down rotted down and gone.

Q. 33  What buildings were on the land when you moved there?
A.   There was an old barn over there, the house was old too.

Q. 34   Did you know Mrs. Leach the widow of S. W. Leach?
A.  Yes air, my wife stayed with her several nights after uncle Sam died.

Q. 35   About how old was she when he died?
A.   I guess 65 or maybe older.

Q. 36   What was the condition of her health at that time?
A. It was bad. That was the reason my wife stayed with her.

Q. 37   You knew these boys of Mr. Leach's?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 38. Chester lived there close to his father's farm?
A. Yes, but I never saw him over there.

Q. 39   How close to his father 's farm?
A.   I expect a half mile, something like that.

Q. 40   Where were the other boys living when their father died?
A.   One lived at Beaver Dam.

Q. 41   Leslie lived at Beaver Dam, but he died before his father did. Where did Clyde live?
A.   I don't know so much about these boys. I know one of them lived at Beaver Dam and Chester lived over there on the road.

Q. 42   Mr. Hines, state what in your opinion the S. W. Leach farm was worth in 19l9? About 28 years ago? The surface, improvements, timber and all, what was its fair, reasonable market value in 1919?
A. Uncle Sam wanted to sell the p1ace to me, he wanted to go to Beaver Dam and buy a place and wanted to sell his place to me and I asked him what he wanted for it, and he said $2,000.00; I told him I cou1d not give that much for it and I offered him $1,500.00 .

Q. 43   Did you think $1,500.0 was a fair price for it at that time
A.   Yes sir.

Q. 44    What in your opinion would Mrs. Leach's life estate have been worth in that farm, considering her age when she died, and the condition of her health?

A.  Not very much - not worth very much.

Q. 45   How much, in your opinion, considering her age and health?
A.   In her health she could not live long - I think $500.00 would been a big price.

Q. 46   What, in your opinion, would that farm have been worth with the timber off of it?
A.   It is like that place of mine. I gave $600.00 for it, taking the land, timber and all.

Q. 47   My question was - what is it worth without the timber, what would the surface and the improvements be worth?
A.   If I wanted the land I would not have given more than $ 600.

Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for Plaintiffs.

Q. 1   What is that place worth now with the timber off, and the house and barn gone?
A.  The land, of course, might be worth.....

Q. 2   The question is, what is that place worth now?
A.   I expect $600.00.

Q. 3   So, it is worth as much with the timber gone, the dwelling house and other improvements gone, as it was when Mr. Leach died, outside of the timber?
A. That would hardly be right, would it. As to the barn and house they were not much when he died - the barn and house were not much count when he died. Just the land had value, not much to the homestead.

Q. 4   Now, considering the timber was sold for $2,000.00 shortly after Jasper Leach bought this farm from Mrs. Finis Leach, would that effect its value any when S. W. Leach died?

Attorney for defendant objects, and states that the timber was sold for $1,000.00. Discussion.

Q. 4 (continued). Now considering that the timber that was on the land when Jasper Leach  bought it from Mrs. Leach, sold for $2,000.00, would that affect your estimate as to the value of the farm when sold to Jasper Leach?
A.  The barn and house was in bad condition when he died.

Q. 5   Do you think that answers my question?
A.   I offered uncle Sam $1,500.00 for the house, land and all, and he was offering it to me for $2,000.

Q. 6   When was that?
A.   Just a little while before he died. He wanted to buy a place at Beaver Dam and after he died she went to Beaver Dam and bought a house there.

Q. 7   Did Mr. Leach raise any crops on this land while he lived there?
A.   He never raised much.

Q. 8    You moved into t hat neighborhood some forty years ago, that would have been about 1908?
A.   My boy was 8 months old and I believe he is 41 now.

Q. 9  You gave $600.00 tor 95 acres adjoining this Leach farm?
A. Yes sir.

Q. 10   Did that l and have any merchantable timber on it?
A. Enough was cut off of it to build a barn and two houses.

Q. 11   What kind of timber was this?
A.  White Oak, black oak and walnut.

Q. 12   How much timber did you cut, how many thousand feet did you cut?
A.  It takes lot to build two houses and a barn.

Q. 13   Well, how many hundred or thousand feet of lumber?
A.  I didn't count the number of feet, but there was enough for two houses and a barn.

Q. 14  You don’t know how many hundred or thousand feet went into that barn or those houses? You don't know that?
A.  We will say it this way, if it all belonged to one man, and he wanted to use it, it didn't make any difference how many feet there was.

Q. 15   You don't know how many feet of lumber went into that barn or either of those houses?
A. I did not care. I wanted my house built.

Q. 16   What I am asking you is, do you know?
A.  I built the barn and two houses and that was all there was to it.

Q. 17   Was the dwelling house on the S.W. Leach farm rotted down when he died?
A.   It was an old house, the barn was about rotted down. It was all shattered up.

Q. 18   I want to know definitely whether that S. W. Leach house was practically rotted down before he died?
A. It was in bad shape, the barn and house both were.

Q. 19   What is your farm worth now, Mr. Hines?
A.   I never said anything about it being for sale. I gave $600.00 for it and my house burned down.

Q. 20   Do you have any idea what is the fair cash value of your farm - the condition it is now in?
A. I never said I wanted to sell it.

Q. 2l   You have no idea of its value - answer my question it you will?
A.   It ought to be worth the money I gave for it.

Q. 22   Will you sell it for $600.00?
A.   Yes. I will. Enough timber on it to build a house and barn.

Q. 23   Are you cultivating that farm now?
A.  Have some Korean on it at this time.

Q. 24  You don't live on it?
A.  No sir.

Q. 26   How long since you lived on it?
A.   I lived adjoining it ten or twelve years. I went to Louisville and stayed eight years .

Q. 27   When did you come back?
A.   Some time ago.

Q. 28   Have any idea of when you lived in Louisville?
A.  I have been back about six years.

END