Snow v. Ferrea

By the Court: This suit was for the foreclosure of a mortgage executed by one Angelo Ferrea to Henry Hannibal, the assignor of plaintiff) to secure the performance of the following written contract:

[197]“Vallejo, November 17th, 1862.

“ On demand, after Henry Hannibal shall obtain the title of the United States of America, and execute to me a good and valid warranty deed against all parties, the United States of America included, in and to what is known as the Brown-lee Field, upon the Suscol Rancho, Solano County, State of California, as a consideration therefor, I promise to pay to Henry Hannibal, or order, the sum of six hundred and thirty and sixty one hundredths dollars, with interest thereon until paid of one per cent per month, payable annually.

(Signed) “ANGELO FERREA.”

The record discloses the following facts: The mortgaged premises were a portion of the Suscol Rancho, in the County of Solano. On the day of the execution of the mortgage, Hannibal, being in actual possession of the land, and claiming under a grant from M. G. Vallejo, conveyed the same by a warranty deed to Angelo Ferrea, and as a part of the consideration of the sale received from him the agreement and mortgage in suit.

Angelo Ferrea' went into possession under the deed, and on the 5th day of September, 1863, sold and conveyed the land to the appellant, Nicholas Ferrea, who had notice of the mortgage.

At the date of the conveyance from Hannibal to Angelo Ferrea, the grant and title of Vallejo had been adjudged to be void by a decree of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Act of Congress of March 3d, 1863,^extended the lines of the public surveys over the Suscol Rancho, and gave to all bona fide purchasers from Vallejo or his assigns the right to enter the land so purchased, to the extent to which the same had been reduced to possession at the date of the adjudication of the Supreme Court. Nicholas Ferrea presented his claim under the Act as a bona fide purchaser, and on the 20th day of July, 1867, received a patent from [198]the United States. He now claims to hold the land free from the lien of the mortgage, alleging, among other defenses, a total failure of the consideration of the contract for payment.