Drake v. Merkle

This was a bill in chancery, brought by Mary L. Drake, against Aaron Merkle and others, for partition. On January 5, 1856, Joseph Hendricks, the complainant’s grandfather, died intestate, being seized in fee, at the time of his death, of a tract of land in Moultrie county, containing one hundred acres. Hendricks left surviving him his widow, who died in 1879, and his two daughters, Mary E. Wright and Hannah J. Merkle, the latter being the wife of defendant Aaron Merkle, she having been married to him in the year 1855. As the fruit of their marriage two children were born—Joseph C. Merkle and…