Estate of Horton

In the year 1868, A. D., George B. Horton, who at that time was a married man of approximately twenty-six years of age, accompanied a considerable number of other persons on a wagon-train from the town of Burleson, Texas, to a destination in the state of California now known as the city of Compton. The wife of George B. Horton remained with her parents at their home in Texas. In the course of many years following their arrival in California, George B. Horton and his younger brother Albert, working together in their several enterprises, accumulated considerable real and personal property, all of which, with the exception of $90,000 in cash, which was deposited in a bank in the joint names of the two brothers, was carried in the name of the brother Albert. In the month of May, 1930, Albert died, and six weeks later George also passed to his reward. About sixteen months preceding the death of George each of the brothers executed a will, by the terms of which, in substance, it was provided that on the death of the testator all his property should pass to his said brother; or, in case of the prior decease of such brother, to the nephew of the testator, Walter E. Hewitt, and his niece,…