Case Name: The Overseers of the Poor of the town of Bern against The Overseers of the Poor of the town of Knox
Court: New York Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1826-10
Citations: 6 Cow. 433
Docket Number: 
Parties: The Overseers of the Poor of the town of Bern against The Overseers of the Poor of the town of Knox.
Judges: 
Reporter: Cowen's Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 433–435

Head Matter:
The Overseers of the Poor of the town of Bern against The Overseers of the Poor of the town of Knox.
ALBANY,
Oct. 1826.
On certiorari from the general sessions of the peace of the county of Albany.
The settlement of child follow» . that of the father, if he appear to hare any. If not, it follows that of the mother.
The place of a child’s birth is, prima facie, the place of its settlement; but the presumption is done away by proof that its mother had a settlement elsewhere.
Two justices made an order removing Hannah Cotton, a pauper, from the town of Bern, Albany county, to the town of Knox, in the same county ; and on appeal by Knoxi to the general sessions of Albany count}', that court quashed the order ; on which the overseers of Bern brought the present certiorari.
On the hearing before the sessions, the overseers of Knox, (the appellants) proved that Ephraim Palmer, the pauper’s maternal grand-father, was in possession of a valuable farm of about 100 acres in the town of Washington, Dutchess county, about forty-nine years before the hearing. He wTas reputed to be the owner, and devised the land, which was worth, in his life time, $25 per acre. He died about the close of the revolutionary war ; had a daughter Joannah, the mother of the pauper, who married John Cotton, who, with Joannah, his wife, after her father’s death, removed'to, and resided in l ittstown, Rens-selaer county, about a year ; and thence to Bern, in Albany county. They lived on a farm there, where the pauper, their daughter, was born, in that part of the town which is now Knox.
P. S. Parker, for the plaintiffs in error.
J. L. Wendell, contra.

Opinion:
Curia, per
Woodworth, J.
It appears that the mother of the pauper had a settlement in Dutchess county, in right of her father ; consequently, the pauper had a settlement there in right of her mother.
It is not shown that the pauper's father had any settlement. The rule is, that the settlement of the child follows that of the father, if he has any' ; if not, the settlement of the mother. (Burr. Sett. Cas. 482, No. 153. 2 Cowen, 537.)
It is stated in the case, that Cotton, the father, lived on a farm in that part of the town of Bern now Knox ; and that the pauper was born there. These facts are of no avail; for, although the place of birth is, prima.facie, the place of settlement, it is only so, when the settlement of the parents is not ascertained. Here the settlement of the pauper's mother is established. It not appearing that the father had any settlement, the pauper's settlement follows that of the mother. If, indeed, the town of Knox had failed in proving a settlement gained by either parent, the charge would have been thrown on that town, by reason of the birth.
I am of opinion that the order of the sessions be affirmed.
Order of sessions affirmed.