Hatton v. Hatton

VAN DYKE, J.

This is an action for divorce.

The appeal from the judgment in this case was taken long after the time allowed by law for taking such appeal, and hence cannot be considered, as this court never acquired jurisdiction thereof.

The main contention on the appeal from the order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial is, that the findings against her in favor of the defendant are not supported by the evidence.

The parties were married in Canada, it appears, in 1868, and after coming to this state, they ¡settled at San José, in Santa Clara County. In 1888 the husband went to Porter-

[354]

ville, Tulare County, in search of better employment, and there succeeded in finding business in his trade as a wagon-worker. When he went he left money for his wife for family use, and came back on a visit in a few months, and on his return to Porterville started a carpenter-shop of his own, and succeeded quite well in business there. The plaintiff admits that her husband did better by going to Porterville than San José, and in her complaint herein alleges that the property he had accumulated there, up to the time of bringing the action, was of the value of about twenty thousand dollars. She also admits that during all this time he contributed towards the support of the family. After he was located in business at Porterville he often visited his family in San José, and his wife also at different times went to stop with him a while at Porterville. When she returned from one of these visits she received a letter, in August, 1891, in which he stated she had communicated a venereal disease to him. She replied to this letter, making a counter-charge that he had been untrue to her. It appears, however, from the testimony of physicians introduced by the respective parties, that neither had the venereal disease; so they both were mistaken as to that. The parties, however, continued to exchange visits back and forth, maintaining the relation of husband and wife, and kept up a frequent correspondence. At one time, in 1893, when advised by his wife that their boy was dangerously ill, he started immediately, and arrived at San José just before he died. Thereafter he urged her to leave San José and go to live with him. In his testimony he says: “After the death of the boy I tried to get her to give up the lodging-house and come with me to Porterville, but she seemed to say that she could not leave the grave of the boy, and that she would prefer living here for a while, and that was her excúse for not going there. I asked her frequently, both by letter and in our conversation. I would try to persuade her to come to Porterville and give up the lodging-house. I never asked her to go prior to 1893. I did not do so because I didn’t want to take the boy out of school here and take him to Porterville, where there was no such facilities for school.” Their married daughter was with the mother at Porterville on many of these visits, and was stopping there at the time the suit was commenced.