Howard

This is an action and appeal by' Mack Howard, as administrator of the estate of Rachael Howard, deceased, for the benefit of the heirs of the said Rachael Howard, to quiet the. title of said heirs to a tract of land comprising some 445.37 acres, which, it is claimed, Rachael Howard owned in fee simple in her lifetime by virtue of survivorship of her husband, Mark W. Howard. The said Mark W. Howard had, on July 26, 1861, executed and recorded a declaration of homestead which it is claimed covered the tract in question and grant title to which he afterward acquired for adequate consideration from grantees of the patentee of the United States, though at the time of such declaration he was merely a squatter under the purchase of squatters’ rights on what he believed to be the public domain. Grant title to the property was obtained on December 17, 1867, and November 20, 1871. The title of Rachael Howard is claimed to be paramount to and to avoid all titles or claims in said lands claimed to be derived under four deeds executed by Mark W. Howard alone in the years 1890 and 1892 to Ducy S. Howard, Phalby Ann Cleveland and Thomas B. Howard, three children of Mark W. Howard and Rachael…