THIS case was brought up from the Supreme Court of Missouri by a writ of error issued under the 25th section of the Judiciary Act.
It was an action in the nature of an ejectment brought by the plaintiffs in error, for the recovery of a tract of land described in the declaration as survey No. 120 of the out lots and common field lots of the village of Carondelet.
The substance of the two acts of Congress of 1812 and 1824 is given in the caption of this report, and need not be repeated.
Upon the trial, the plaintiff offered the three following pieces of evidence, all of which were rejected by the court. There was much other evidence offered both by the plaintiffs and defendants; but as the opinion of this court turned chiefly upon the propriety of this rejection, the other pieces of evidence, and instructions of the court founded thereon, will be omitted. It will be perceived that each one of the three purports to derive its efficary from the certificate of Mr. Conway, in 1839.
The plaintiffs then offered in evidence the following certificate of confirmation of the recorder of land titles of Missouri, as follows, to wit: (Indorsed on the outside 'Jno. Bte. Gamache, sen., 6 by 40 arpens, field of Carondelet. Fees $1, paid.') John Baptiste De Gamache, sen., or his legal representatives, claims an out lot, adjoining the village of Carondelet, containing six arpens in front by forty in depth, bounded, northerly, by the common fields; eastwardly, by the Mississippi River (leaving a tow between it and the river); south, by an out lot claimed by the legal representatives of Gabriel Constant, (lalmond,) sen., an[d] west by the land formerly the property of Antoine Riehl.
John Baptiste Maurice Chatillon, being duly sworn, says he knows the land claimed, and that he is about sixty-six years of age, and that he was born in Kaskaskia, and A. D. seventeen hundred and eighty-eight he removed from Ste. Genevieve to Carondelet, where he has resided ever since; that A. D. seventeen hundred and ninety-seven or ninety-eight he was employed by John Baptiste Gamache, sen., to fence in a field which said Gamache had been clearing, and working for about two years within this field lot; and he, this respondent, says, he did fence in about three arpens of this land, and did build a cabin on the same at this time; and this deponent further says that Gamache did cultivate this same field for five or six years until his death; and this deponent further says he always understood this land was owned by said John Baptiste Gamache.
JOHN BAPTISTE MAURICE his X mark. CHATILLON.
Sworn to before me, July 6th, 1825.
THEODORE HUNT, Recorder L. T.
Translated to witness. J. V. GARNIER.
RECORDER'S OFFICE,
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, 22d January, 1839.
I certify the foregoing within to be truly copied from book No. 2, page 46, of the minutes of the proceedings of the recorder of land titles in the State of Missouri, under the act of Congress of the 26th May, 1824, entitled 'An act supplementary of an act passed on the 13th day of June, 1812,' entitled 'An act making further provisions for settling the claims to land in the territory of Missouri,' all of record in this office, and confirmed by the act of 13th June, 1812, above cited.
F. R. CONWAY,
U.S. Recorder of Land Titles in the State of Missouri.
TO DANIEL DUNKLIN, Esq.,
U.S. Surveyor of Public Lands, St. Louis, Mo.
Together with a certified extract from the registry of certificates from the office of the recorder of land titles as follows, to wit:
Registry of Certificates of confirmation on town lots, out lots, and
common field lots, issued by the Recorder of Land Titles.
issued. Date. Situation. Remarks. Quantity.
was ommitted by Mr. Hunt, Bounded north by the com-
late recorder, in furnish- mon fields, eastwardly by the
ing the list of claims pro- Missippi, (leaving a tow [path]
ven up before him, to wit: between it and the river,) south
John Baptiste de Gamache. 6th July, 1825. Carondelet fields. by an out lot claimed by the le-
gal representatives of Gabriel
westwardly by the land formerly
the property of Antoine Rheil.
The above claim entered by me in the book, 12th March, 1839, having this day furnished the surveyor-general with a description thereof.
F. R. CONWAY, Recorder.
RECORDER'S OFFICE,
ST. LOUIS, January 23d, 1851.
The above is correctly copied from the registry on file in this office.
ADOLPH RENARD,
U.S. Recorder of Land Titles in the State of Missouri.