Outer Page:
C.P. Shearman
      et al
      vs.
Sarah E. Shearman
      et al
Filed, June 3, 1903
 
TO THE HONORABLE THOMAS M. McCONNELL, CHANCELLOR, HOLDING THE CHANCERY COURT
AT ATHENS, TENNESSEE.
 
C.P. Sherman and John C. Sherman, residents of New Mexico,
Grover C. Sherman, a member of the Thirteenth Battery Field
Artillery, U.S.A., now located at Fort Russell, Wyoming; Emma
P. Shearman, a resident of Roswell, New Mexico; Hattie Neal Shear-
man and James H. Shearman, residents of McMinn County, Tennessee:
the last four of the aforesaid mention parties are minors and sue 
through and by their Guardian, George G. Williams, Complainants.
                             VS.
Mattie E. Shearman and husband, Mike Shearman; Sarah E. Shear-
man, Residents of McMinn County; William H. Shearman, a resident
of the state of Illinois; Sarah F. Talley and husband, David B. Talley, 
residents of the State of Washington; and George T. Shearman, a
resident of Indian Territory, Defendants.
 
           Complainants respectfully show to the Court:
     That Thomas J. Shearman died on or about October 25th, 1902
seized and possessed in fee of a tract or body of land lying and
being in the Fifth Civil District of McMinn County, Tennesse,
containing about Six hundred and sixty-five [665 acres and
bounded as follows:
                On the North by James A. reagan and Will Wilson;
on the East by the heirs of Sallie Gibbs and of Christopher
Shell, and by Allen Emerson and J.d> Lowry; on the South by the
heirs of Frank Shearman and of William Chamlee; and on the West
by Mike Shearman and the heirs of Frank Shearman.
Said tract of land of six hundred and sixty-five acres, more or less
is embraced in and covered by four deeds which are herewith
filed as a part of this bill and marked Exhibits "A", "B", "C" and
"D" respectively, but need not be copied in issuing process.
Said deeds will be read at the hearing, except as to Exhibit "A",
which is so torn and in part so distroyed that it renders a portion
of the deed illegible, that is, a portion of said deed is gone.
     Only about sixty-five acres of the land embraced in said deed
Exhibit "A", was owned by Thomas J. Shearman at the time of his
death. This deed, Exhibit "A", was executed by J.F. Shearman
to the intestate on December 28, 1860; the deed, Exhibit "B",
was executed by Eldred Lane in 1861 conveying to the intestate
thirty-three acres more or less; the deed, Exhibit "C", was exe-
cuted by T.N. Shearman in the year 1880, conveying to the intestate
Four hundred and sixty-nine acres, more or less.
     There are no imcumbrances on said land known to complainants
except an attachment bill has been filed in the Court by E.B. 
Madison against C.P. Shearman, one of the complainants to this
Bill, attaching his undivided interest in the above tract of land
to secure the payment of an account of Fifty Dollars [$50.00]
alleged to be due him as the surviving partner of the law firm
of Gaston & Madison for professional services rendered; said  cause
is No. 1814 on the Docket of this Court: and except also, that
the said intestate entered into a written contract just a short
time before his death, with one, Frank Knave, in and by which he
sold to said Knave so much of the timber on the above tract of
land as would make cross-ties and telephone poles.
      Said Knave has been for some weeks working on this timber
contract getting out and delivering ties and poles and the said
Knave is to complete, finish and wind up said contract by the 
1st day of August, 1903, or at fartherest, he is to finish said
contract during a said month of August.
 
                                II.
 
      The said Thomas J. Shearman, deceased, left the follow-
ing his only children and heirs at law:
     [1] C.P. Shearman, [2] John C. Shearman, [3] William H.
Shearman, [4] Sarah F. Talley, formerly Shearman, wife of David
B. Talley, [5] Mattie E. Shearman, wife of Mike Shearman, all of
whom are living and parties to this suit, [6] T.N. Shearman,
who is dead, leaving as his sole heirs George T. Shearman, Grover C. 
Shearman, Emma P. Shearman, Hattie Neal Shearman and James H.
Shearman. George T. Shearman is past twenty-one years of age,
Grover C. Shearman, Emma P. Shearman, Hattie Neal Shearman, and
James H. Shearman are all minors of and for whom George G.
Williams is the regular guardian.
     The said Thomas J. Shearman, deceased, also left a widow, the
defendant, Sarah E. Shearman; neither homestead nor dower have
been assigned to said widow; he also has another son and another 
daughter, both of whom died many years before their father, leaving
no issue surviving them.
 
                                         III.
 
          The said parties are owners of said tract of land or
have interests therein as tenants in common, or otherwise, in the
following proportions or manners.
        [1] C.P. Shearman, [2] John C. Shearman, [3] William H. Shearman, [4] Sarah F. Talley, [5] Mattie E.
Shearman each own an undivided one-sixth in
the above lands; [6] George T. Shearman, Grover C. Shearman, Emma P. Shearman, Hattie Neal Shearman and
James H. Shearman each own an un-
divided one-thirtieth [1/30].
 
      Mike Shearman and David B. Talley are made parties solely as the
husbands respectively of defendants Mattie E. Shearman and Sarah F.
Talley.
 
                                      IV.
 
      The said tract of land is not near enough to any town to be in any way
used for town purposes and is adapted exclusively to farming purposes and
uses.
      Said lands are not suseptible of an advantageous division and it would
be manifestly to the interest of all the heirs that the same be sold for partition instead of partition in kind. The
land is of such description that it is not susept-
ible of an equitable apportionment in kind among the various owners and
presents a case where it would be manifestly to the interest of all the parties
that the division should be made by sale.
 
                                          V.
 
      The residences of the various tenants in common and of the life tenants
are as stated in the caption.
 
                                       VI.
 
      Therefore, the premises considered, complainants pray:
 1.-That all those named as defendants in the caption be made such by service of subpoena on the residents,
and by publication as to the non-residents, returnable to July Rules, and that they all be required to answer
the bill, but the oath of the defendants to their answers is waived.
2.-That the rights of the parties to said lands be settled and declared by the
decree of the Court, and that the said tract of land be sold and the proceeds
be  divided among the parties in accordance with their respective rights; and
to this end, that all necessary references to the Master be made.
3.-That the homestead and dower rights of Sarah E. Shearman in said tract of land be sold with the rest of the
land, to the end that the purchaser may get an unincumbered title in fee, said Sarah E. Sherman being willing,
as comp-
lainants are informed and charge, to have the proper proportion of the funds
arising from the sale of said lands invested under the orders and decrees of
Your Honor's Court, and the income therefrom paid over yearly to her during 
her natural life; and at her death, that the said fund, thus invested, be devided 
among the heirs of the said Thomas J. Sherman, deceased.
4.-And complainants also pray for general relief.
 
                                                           ________________Solicitor.
 
State of Tennessee,)
                             )
County of McMinn   )
 
          George G. Williams makes oath that he is the solicitor of the complain-
ants, that he knows the contents of the above bill, and that the same is true to the best of his knowledge,
information and belief.
 
                                                              _____________________
 
Sworn to and subscribed
before me this____day of June, 1903
 
                                      ___________________________
 

Contributed By:   Barbara Crane Shearman
Return To:  McMinn Co. Web Genealogy Project