Creswell v. Welchman

Belcher, C. In August, 1888, the plaintiff Charlotte Creswell, then Charlotte Bath, was left a widow by the death of her husband, Joseph Bath. She was then nearly seventy years of age, and had no children and no relatives in this state. She owned thirty-seven acres of farming land in the county of Ventura, on which she was living, and a lot in the town of Santa Paula, the whole being of the value of about four thousand dollars. At her request, the defendant William H. Welchman, who was her nephew, and was then residing in the state of New Jersey with his wife, the other defendant, came to this state to live with and take care of her. They arrived at her home about the 1st of February, 1889, and on the twelfth of that month she, for the expressed consideration of one dollar and other good and lawful considerations, executed and delivered to them a bargain and sale deed of all her real property, but “ reserving and excepting unto the grantor herein, for her own use and benefit, a life estate in the whole of said lands hereby granted, for and during the natural life of said grantor, with the right to use, occupy, and control absolutely the said lands and tenements, and to receive, take, and have the rents, issues, and profits thereof so long as she, the said Charlotte Bath, grantor, may live.”

The defendants continued to live with plaintiff until January, 1890, when they left her house and went away, claiming that they were compelled by her to do so.

On the day defendants left, John E. Creswell, a stranger to plaintiff, called at her house, and wanted work. She took him in and kept him till March 12th, when she married him.

On May 6, 1890, this action was commenced by Mrs. Creswell and her new husband to have the deed executed by her to defendants set aside and canceled, on [361]the grounds that it “ was signed by plaintiff at the solicitations of defendants, and under undue influence exercised by them upon plaintiff, and with the intent and purpose on their part of cheating and defrauding plaintiff”; that the consideration for the conveyance had failed; “that said conveyance was made by plaintiff when of the age of seventy years, and when in feeble state of health, and when in great mental distress, and at a time when she did not know fully what she was doing, nor realize the effect upon her of the act, to wit, the execution of said deed”; and that the deed was fraudulent and void, and operated only as a cloud on her title.

The court below found that when the deed was made the plaintiff was “ competent and had sufficient capacity to convey her estate; that she signed, executed, and delivered the said deed voluntarily, of her own will, without solicitation, and free from undue influence; that no fraud was committed or attempted upon her by defendants, or either of them, to obtain said deed; that the consideration of the deed was the relationship between the parties, and the coming of defendants from their home in the state of New Jersey to the home of plaintiff in California, “ and the agreement on the part of said defendants, entered into with good faith by them, to make their home with said plaintiff, care for her, improve, repair, and make more comfortable and convenient her home, and attend to her business and affairs, and give her their companionship and society during the remainder of her lifetime”; that defendants came to California at an expense to themselves of two hundred dollars, and under plaintiff's direction “took full charge of her business and affairs, repaired and improved the dwellinghouse, the home of plaintiff, on said tract of land, by building three new rooms thereto, at an expense to themselves of four hundred dollars, and made their home with said plaintiff, provided and cared for her, gave her their companionship and society, and did fully pay, yield, and render the consideration for said deed for the space of about eleven months, when they were compelled to