Estate of Sowash

This appeal involves the construction to be given to the will of one Jacob M. Sowash, deceased. The instrument is dated February 8, 1916, and at the time of his death, which occurred December 6, 1919, Sowash was a resident of the county of Humboldt. He was possessed of certain real and personal property. He had been twice married. His second wife, Augusta M. Sowash, predeceased Mm, she having died March 26, 1919. Sowash was her second husband. The property here involved constitutes community property acquired by deceased and his wife Augusta. The will mentions three groups of children, namely, the children of deceased by his first wife, the children of Augusta M. Sowash by her former husband, and the children of deceased by his wife Augusta. The proper construction to be given to the second paragraph of the instrument is the subject of this appeal. It reads as follows:

Under the construction adopted by the trial court the entire property of the estate was distributed to the children of the deceased by Ms first and second marriages to the exclusion of the children of his wife Augusta by her former marriage, the court concluding that as Augusta had predeceased the testator the…