The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-06-07

WISE
WYNSE.
appeal from the Circuit Court Of Holns,
N ore than forty years ago there 90.
Holmes county, in this State, man c.iI;"
himself Charles Wise. His parontso mug
past antecedents were wholly unkpown S
except to very few persons, he seems On =,
have preserved great reticence on tbese 10
jeets. lie lived in Holmes county coptinr--.,:
I ly thereafter until his death in $50 All ="
the meantime accumulated a consider.ba
landed estate. Dying interstate, unmarricJ
and without known heirs, his propertv &C..
/ his death was by regular proceedings escbeots5
/ to the State and from the State subseonsnTS
4 purchased by appellee. Within the Tina H.!
/ tied by our statute (Code 1850. s92l I'M,
action has been brought for the recovery 20
| the property by those who claim to he ne
/ heirs-at-law of the decedelt They me-
/ that they are the children of Thomas Wisc
/ deceased, formerly a resident of place kpovI
! as "Heli's Corner in Amelia county NJ
ginia, where the corners OF three countiss
come together. That nearly fifty wears 40,
/ their father had younger brother nams3
/ Charles, who having seduced young laiv ~
respectable family, fed the country 10 cscans
the vengeance Of her relatives AMI that Es
announced at the time to an intimate fria1i
J
and that he should take care that no one IN
I Virginia should ever discover the place of bis
! future home. The friend TO whom this stats
ment was made is still alive and these facts
are established by his testimony. From Thai
/ time forth until within a short time he.
/ fore the bringing OF this suit nothing was ever
heard in Virginia Of the subsequent career of
Charles Wise. Having made this proof
/ plaintiffs proposed to prove by Two witnesses
/ living in Holmes couaty, thar the man known
/ there as Charles Wise and whose estate is in
Yolved in this litigation, told them that be
come from n place ia Virginia known as
/ "BelPs Corner, where tine corners of three
counties come together that he had there a
brother named Thomas, and that he had lcf
/ there because of some trouble about woman
/ The whole OF this proaered testimony was ex-
cluded by the court below except the isolated
statement OF the deceased that he had A
brother named Thomas. The witness not
/ being allowed to state that the deceased had
said that his brother Thomas lived ia Virginia
or that he himself came from that State.
J. f. Gwin and T. X. Weiscgor for appellant.
NJ Green, contra
/ CHALMERS, j.,
/ Held.
/. The later and better considered authori-
! ties repudiate the distinction between decla.
rations as TO place and those touching other
/ family matters, where the inquiry is strictly
one OF pedigree and the declarations as 10
J place are not relied on as giving any right by
reason Of the place, but proof Of the place is
made merely by way OF Identification of the
person or family,
= The general rule undoubtedly is that be.
fore hearsay declarations in matters Of pcdi.
gree can be introduced in evidence, some
proof dehORS the declarations must be made,
that the declaraut was in fact u member Of the
family about which he was speaking, where
the attempt is to set up some right derived
through the dcclarant and to establish that
right by his own statements as to The pedigree
of the famil V of which he claimed to DE a mem.
Der. If Charles Wise had married here and
left children, il is clear that those children
could not have claimed any interest in the es-
tate of Thomas Wise, in Virginia, by virtue
alone Of the statement of their father that
Thomas was his brother,
8. Where Il plaintiff is seeking to reach the
estate Of the declarant, the statements Of the
leclarant with reference TO his family and
kindred are admissible FOR such purpose.
4. Independently of any authorities we
think er RecesSitdte rel and as matter Of cont
mon sense, declarations as are here offered
and under the circumstances here existing
should always be received in evidence. They
stand to some extent upon the footing Of dec
larati0ns against interest or what Mr.. Whnr.
ton calls q Serving declarations Re-
rer''d and "a al granted
o be rcportcd.)