Case ID: ill_88/html/0533-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Mr. Justice Dickey", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Abraham S. Voorhies v. Elizabeth Voorhies.
    Promissory note—given for dower interest, to maker's mother, collectible. Where a person died, leaving three children and a widow, and certain real estate in which the widow was entitled to dower, and by consent of all the land was sold and the proceeds divided, each child giving his note to the widow for $600, one of whom refused to pay his note, it was held, that the widow was entitled to collect the principal as well as the interest on the note, the notes having been given far the price of her dower in the lands sold.
    Appeal from the Circuit Court of Sangamon county; the Hon. Charles S. Zane, Judge, presiding.
    Appellee is the widow of Daniel V. Voorhies, deceased. Appellant and his brother and sister are the only heirs of deceased. At his death, Daniel V. Voorhies was the owner of a tract of land. The parties all occupied the same in common after his death. At length they all united in a sale of the property, for the net sum of §5400, of which, by consent, §3600 was divided between the children, each taking §1200, and the remaining §1800 was also divided equally between the three children, each giving to their mother (the appellee) a note for §600, and securing the same by mortgage. Two of the children have paid to their mother each the sum of §600. The appellant, one "of the sons, refuses to pay his note. At his request, his first note was canceled, and another note, with one Best as security, was given in lieu of his original note.
    An action was brought by appellee (the mother) against appellant (one of the sons) and against Best, to recover the amount due upon this §600 note. Thereupon appellant filed, a bill in chancery, to enjoin appellee from collecting on that note anything except the interest. The circuit court, upon hearing, refused the injunction and dismissed the bill, and complainant appeals.
    Hr. B. F. Burnett, for the appellant.
    Messrs. Patton & Lanphier, and Mr. E. Lane, for the appellee.
   Mr. Justice Dickey

delivered the opinion of the Court:

From the circumstances, proved, we are constrained to believe that the parties all agreed upon the sale of the premises; that the appellee was to have, in her own right, $1800 of the proceeds- of the land as the price of her dower right in the land. If this were so, we see no reason why appellant ought not to pay the principal, as well as the interest, of the note.

The decree must be affirmed.

Decree affirmed.