Woolley v. Schrader (116 Ill. 29, 1886)

Mr. Chief Justice Mulkey

delivered the opinion of the Court:

The appellees, Florence A. Schrader and Benjamin D. L. Woolley, on the 27th day of May, 1881, filed in the circuit court of Whiteside county a bill for the partition of certain lands, hereinafter mentioned, against Hartson C. Woolley, Francis M. Woolley, and others. The defendants not named were formal parties, merely, and have no interest in the questions to be determined. The appellant, Francis M. WMolley, filed a cross-bill, in which he claimed to be the exclusive owner of one of the tracts sought to be partitioned. The court, upon the hearing, found all the lands subject to partition, as prayed for in the original bill, and entered a decree accordingly, from which Francis M. Woolley alone has appealed to this court.

It appears that Benjamin F. Woolley, the father of the parties above mentioned, and through whom all of them claim, died testate some time in December, 1872, leaving Margaret Woolley, his widow, and five children, viz., Maria, Hartson C., Francis M., Florence, and Benjamin D. L., the last two being then minors; that at the time of his death he was the owner, subject to certain incumbrances and alleged equities, of five farms in Whiteside county, severally known as the “Platt Farm, ” the “Watson Place, ” the “Old Homestead, ” the “Gennessee Farm” and the “Jordan Farm,” containing, respectively, one hundred and twenty; eighty, one hundred and sixty, eighty, and ninety-two acres. The tract last mentioned, and which is the main cause of the present