Seely v. Rowe

Mary Adams, a spinster aged eighty-three, died in Los Angeles, California, on June 17, 1936. By her will she gave a large part of her estate to her nephew, David A. Seely, and her nieces, Addie Plunkett, and Kate Washburne, who were her only heirs-at-law. On June 19, 1936, appellant, Marcus W. Rowe, filed in the recorder’s office of Whiteside county, Illinois, a deed which purported to convey to Rowe 302 acres of land in that county and which reserved a life estate to the grantor, Mary Adams. On June 29, 1936, her heirs filed their complaint in the circuit court of Whiteside county to set…