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
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