United States v. White (64 U.S. 249)

THIS was an appeal from the District Court of the United States for the northern district of California.

The petition was filed by Charles White, claiming under Manuel Ortega, who gave in evidence the following documents of title, viz:

1. June 12, 1840. A petition of Ortega to the Governor Alvarado for a grant of land called Arroyo de San Antonio, describing its boundaries.

2. June 20, 1840. Reference by the Governor to the military commander of the frontier of Sonoma, to make report.

3. Report of M. G. Vallejo, that the land may be granted.

4. The marginal decree signed by Alvarado, as follows:

MONTEREY, August 10, 1840.

In conformity with the information given by the military commander of the frontier of Sonoma, and in virtue of the faculties with which I am invested, I grant to Don Antonio Ortega the land petitioned for, with the understanding that, to expedite the respective title and to regulate the necessary documents by which he shall mark out the lines and perform those necessary acts, he shall make a map, as required by law, which he will present opportunely.

This decree shall be returned to him, that it may serve him as a security during the other operations indicated.

(Signed) ALVARADO.

This title never having been completed by a final grant, the expediente is not to be found among the archives, having been returned to the petitioner to 'serve him as a security' in the mean while. But its authenticity is proved by the testimony of the officers, Vallejo and Alvarado, who themselves signed the documents. Their genuineness is therefore not disputed, at least there is no testimony going to impeach the characters of these witnesses.

In order to establish an equity, the claimants examined, first, Ortega himself, who testified that, after the decree made by Alvarado in his favor and in the same year, he applied to Alvarado for a full and formal title; but it was during a recess of the Departmental Assembly, and he could not obtain it. That he presented a diseno or map to the Governor, and went to Oregon, leaving his papers in the private custody of Governor Alvarado. A copy of this map is attached. He says he did not occupy the land himself in person; but that Juan Miranda, his father-in-law, occupied it for him, by placing his son there. That Miranda, the father, died in 1845, and his son continued to occupy the land. That he (Ortega) went to Oregon in 1843, and did not return till after the occupancy of California by the Americans. That after his return he went to Alvarado and got his papers for the purpose of establishing his claim, which he conveyed to a priest named Brouillet. As to the custody and delivery of the papers, he is corroborated by Alvarado.

Richardson, another witness, also testified that he knew the land; that it was occupied by virtue of a contract between Ortega and Miranda, and the occupation continued till 1850 by the son of Miranda; that both Ortega and Miranda told him that Miranda occupied the rancho for Ortega; that a house was built; and the land occupied by cattle and horses, and by cultivation.

Vallejo testified as follows:

'It was, I think, about 1838 or 1839 that Ortega applied to me for permission to settle there; and immediately after I gave that permission, he moved on to the land, taking with him his father-in-law, Juan Miranda, and his family; he built a house there and a corral, and stocked the place with horses and cattle; I furnished him with stock to stock the place, and he went on to cultivate a portion of the land; he after that obtained a grant from Governor Alvarado about 1840; Ortega, when he placed his father-in-law on the land, was an officer in the army, and was a portion of the time with his command, and went occasionally to his ranch.'

One Jose de la Rosa also testifies that he made the map for Ortega in 1839 or 1840-wrote his petition for him, and saw the grant of Alvarado in his possession on the ranch of San Antonio. That Ortega's wife and family resided on the ranch with her father's family; that Ortega himself left the country, and did not return till 1847; that in 1844 the witness wrote a petition for Miranda for this same land, and presented it to the Governor Micheltorena for him; that a grant to him was written by one Clark, in the Secretary's office, which was never signed, on account of civil disturbances.

A witness named Martin was called by the attorney for the United States, who swore that he occupied this land in 1832 by license from General Vittoria, and had 'a loan of the land;' that he continued such possession till 1837; built a house and cultivated the land; that he delivered possession of the land to Miranda, and removed his house to another tract; that Miranda took possession by putting his son on the land, with cattle, &c.; that Ortega was married, in 1838, to Miranda's daughter; that he had delivered the possession to Miranda before that time; that Miranda's son continued the possession till he was sold out by the sheriff.

Mesa, who lived in the family of Miranda at the time this land was occupied, swears that it was claimed and occupied by Miranda, who had been working in the mission for some years; that the cattle were given to him in pay for his labor, and branded with Miranda's brand; that Miranda occupied it, with the consent of Vallejo, for the purpose of applying to the Government for a title; that Ortega was poor, and had no property but a horse. This witness is also confirmed by the testimony of Francesca Miranda, the wife of Ortega, and whom he had forsaken when he went to Oregon.

The expediente of Miranda is found among the archives. It commences with a petition in February, 1844, by Miranda, representing that for more than four years he had been in possession of a place in the Arroyo San Antonio, which had been granted to him by Vallejo, but that the papers were lost. The informe is in due form; the grant drawn out, but not signed.

The board of commissioners adjudged that the claim of the petitioner was valid, and decreed that it should be confirmed.

The District Court affirmed this decree, and the United States appealed to this court.

It was argued by Mr. Black (Attorney General) and Mr. Crittenden for the United States, and by Mr. Cushing and Mr. Phillips for the appellee.

The arguments in the case involved the title of Miranda as contradictory to the title of Ortega, and, under the opinion of the court, it is deemed proper to omit them.

Mr. Justice GRIER delivered the opinion of the court.