JOHN ERVIN-LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES OF. FEBRUARY 2, 1855. Mr. HILLYER, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Private Land Claims, to whom was referred the petition of the legal representatives of John Ervin, report : That they have had the same under consideration and beg leave to report a bill. Your committee find that at the 32d Congress a bill and report were introduced into the Senate, in response to a petition of John Ervin, deceased, by Mr. Downs, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, which report your committee adopt as a statement of the case: "The petitioner represents, and the evidence sustains his averment, that twenty-three years since he settled on and improved a tract of land in the Bastrop claim, in Louisiana, and has resided on and cultivated it ever since; that long previously to his settlement this land had been sold by the grantee to Ballinger, who, after having made some improvements on it, abandoned it and left the country, and has not been heard of since, nor has any agent or heirs appeared or been heard of to act for him; that in consequence of this absence petitioner has not been able, as he intended to do, to purchase the title of said Ballinger, but that he has held peaceable and uninterrupted possession of it long enough to give him a title by prescription against all claimants, except the United States, under the laws of Louisiana; that an act of Congress passed at the last session, (3d March, 1851) intended, among other things, to give a donation claim to such settlers for over twenty years, as he is, but that it has been decided not to embrace his case, because he has not a written title from Ballinger, holding under the original grantee; that he was a pioneer in the wilderness when he settled this place, on which, by his own labor and that of his family raised on it, he has made considerable improvements; that he is now old and infirm, and poor, and not able to make other improvements if he fails to secure this, and prays that he may be confirmed in his title to said land, to the extent of six hundred and forty acres, the quantity granted by the act of 3d March, 1851, to other claimants under the grant who have occupied and cultivated the land for more than twenty years. "The committee are of opinion that his case comes within the spirit of the act of 3d of March, 1851, referred to in the petition, and other acts allowing donation claims to early settlers in remote frontier districts of country, and report a bill accordingly, and recommend its passage, guarded in such a manner as not to affect the rights of others. "STATE OF LOUISIANA, Parish of Morhouse. "Personally came and appeared before me, David Stewart, of the parish of Union, State of Louisiana, who being duly sworn according to law, saith: That he has resided within the old parish of Onachitee, or in some of the new parishes which have been formed from its territory, for about fifty-two years; that deponent is well acquainted with John Ervin, who resides in the parish of Morhouse, (formerly part of the parish of Onachitee,) and has known him for twenty-nine years past; deponent is well acquainted with the place where said Ervin lives on the Bayou Bartholomew. Deponent well remembers a person named Joseph Ballinger, having formerly lived at the same place some fifty years ago. Ballinger had an improvement there. About forty years ago Ballinger left the country, and has never, to the knowledge of deponent, returned to this country since, nor has deponent ever heard what has become of him; no one, to the knowledge of deponent, has ever claimed to be his heir, nor has deponent ever heard of any one pretending to act in his behalf as agent or legal representative. Deponent is one of the oldest remaining inhabitants in the country, and was acquainted with most, if not all the old inhabitants. Deponent further saith, that John Ervin has been settled and living upon the Ballinger tract aforesaid for upwards of twenty years; has made a considerable improvement there, and has raised a respectable family, and has always been esteemed and looked upon by his neighbors as an honest and meritorious man. his DAVID x STEWART. mark. "Sworn to and subscribed before me, on the 20th day of October, A. D. 1851. A. McIVER, Justice of the Peace. "To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. "The undersigned, inhabitants of the parish of Morhouse, in the State of Louisiana, respectfully beg leave to represent to your honorable bodies, that they are well acquainted with John Ervin, of the said parish and State, who has applied to Congress for an act of relief under the provisions of the act of the third day of March, 1851, relating to cer tain classes of private land claims in the Bastrop grant. Your memorialists have understood that by the rule of construction of the said act, adopted by the commissioners appointed by law to carry the same into effect, the claim of Mr. John Ervin would not be embraced. "Your memorialists knowing the claim of Mr. Ervin to be meritorious; that he has, from the best information in their possession, actually resided upon and cultivated the tract of land where he now resides for upwards of twenty years; that he has in all respects fulfilled the provisions of the act of third March, 1851, where the same has been in his power, and that the only deficiency which exists in his claim is the absence of a chain of proper title from the Baron de Bastrop or his vendees, which, from the absence of Joseph Ballinger and all his representatives from the country, and the total abandonment of the land by him and them, without the existence of any agent for near thirty years, from whom the same could be obtained; joined to the fact that, by the existing laws of the State of Louisiana, Mr. Ervin has acquired a title by prescription, perfect against the said Ballinger and his heirs, and which in a legal contest with any, save only the government of the United States, would be held paramount, presents, in the opinion of your memorialists, a case for the liberal exercise of the power of Congress in the furtherance of his wishes. Your memorialists believing that the act of the third of March was intended to be liberal in effect, and to provide a home, by donation, to the respectable and hard-working pioneers of the country, and believing also that, under so general an act, cases of merit must necessarily occur which are not embraced in its provisions, respectfully recommend the passage of an act to enable Mr. John Ervin to be admitted to make proof of occupation and cultivation of the tract of land on which he lives, before the register and recorder of the land office at Monroe, Louisiana, for twenty years preceding the date of the said act of Congress of March 3, 1851, and that the production of paper title be dispensed with upon proof of a title by prescription against all other claimants than the government of the United States, and for such and further relief as your honorable bodies may deem proper and just. "EDW. R. PARKER, 2d Session. No. 71. WILLIS BENEFIEL. [To accompany bill H. R. No. 725.] FEBRUARY 2, 1855. Mr. HENN, from the Committee on Public Lands, made the following REPORT. The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the petition of Willis Benefiel, asking relief on account of the failure of title to a certain tract of land located by him, ask leave to report: That they have examined the papers filed in this case, and find the facts to be as follows: that said Benefiel served for the term of one year as a soldier in Captain Briggs' company, 2d regiment Indiana volunteers, during the war with Mexico; that for said service there was granted to him a land warrant (No. 5202) for 160 acres of land, under the act of 11th of February, 1847; that on the 31st day of December, 1847, he located said land warrant on the northwest. quarter of section 21, township 9 north, of range 9 west, in the district of lands subject to sale at the land office at Vincennes, Indiana; that on the 10th day of June, 1849, a patent was issued in his favor for said land; that said Benefiel settled upon said land and improved the same by fencing and cultivating between sixty and seventy acres, and by erecting buildings thereon-all of which improvements are estimated to be worth $1,200. That said quarter-section has since been claimed by the State of Indiana as a part of the lands granted to said State for the construction of the Wabash and Erie canal, under the act of March 3, 1845, and the same was confirmed to said State under said act by decision of the Secretary of the Interior, dated March 24, 1852; whereby, notwithstanding the issue of said patent to said Benefiel, his title has wholly failed. The committee are of the opinion that Mr. Benefiel has been seriously damaged by the failure of title as before related, and that the injury he has sustained has been occasioned wholly by the fault of the United States, and not on account of any laches or fault of his own, and therefore he ought to have relief. The committee have had some doubt as to the measure of damages that ought to be allowed, but are of the opinion that at least six hundred and forty acres of land ought to be granted to said Benefiel, in lieu of the 160 acres to which title has failed; and therefore they report a bill authorizing him to enter that quantity free of cost, the passage of which they respectfully recommend. |