Harris v. Harris

HARRISON, J.

The plaintiff was married to one W. N. Harris at Stockton, in this state, in Oetobér, 1873, and thereafter lived with him as his wife until March 26, 1892. At that date an agreement, called a separation agreement, was entered into between them, under which they lived apart for about two years, and then resumed their former relation, and continued to live together until the death of Harris, in October, 1898. Harris had been married in Georgia, in July, 1848, and when he came to California, in 1850, he left his wife in Georgia, where she continued to live until her death, in 1892, and also a son, John L. Harris, one of the defendants herein, the issue of that marriage, who was born in September, 1849. The plaintiff was, however, ignorant of the fact that Harris had a wife, and did not know of the existence of his son or of the fact of his previous marriage until after his death. At the time of her marriage to him she was the owner of the Gem Mine, and also of a one-third interest in the Mazeppa Mine—two mining claims situated in Tuolumne County. Por several years after their marriage Harris prospected and worked the Gem Mine, and during that time took a large amount of gold therefrom. Nothing appears to have been done upon the .Mazeppa Mine other than assessment work prior to December, 1879. At that time Harris purchased from Dixon and Rodgers, two of the original locators of the mine, a two-thirds interest in the mine, and received a conveyance therefor from them. In March, 1880, with the consent of the plaintiff, he relocated the mine in his own name, and on May 31, 1882, upon his application therefor, a patent for the mine was issued to him by the

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United States. In July, 1877, Harris purchased a mining claim of Hix and Onby, which he located in 1885 in his own name as thé Junietta Mine. By the aforesaid separation agreement Harris conveyed to the plaintiff all of his interest in the Gem Mine and in certain other property, and the plaintiff conveyed to Harris all her claim or right “to any and all other property owned or claimed by him, or any other property that he might thereafter acquire or have at the time of his decease.” During the year prior to his death Harris made contracts for the sale of the Mazeppa and the Junietta mines, to be paid for in installments. A portion of the purchase price under these contracts was paid to him in his lifetime, and the remainder to his executor after his death.