In re Estate of James

This proceeding was commenced in the superior court of Santa Cruz County under the provisions of section 1383 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the petitioner therein, Sarah M. James, appeals from an order of that court refusing to revoke letters of administration theretofore issued to the respondent, Leonora A. James, upon the estate of William E. James, deceased, and also refusing to grant letters of administration upon the said estate to the petitioner.

The petitioner and the respondent each claims to be the widow of the deceased, and these conflicting claims present the general question which the court is required to determine at this time.

The petitioner, Sarah M. James, was married to the deceased in the state of Hew York, in the year 1859, and they lived together in that relation until 1871, when they separated. Thereafter James went to Missouri, and on May 18, 1874, commenced in one of the circuit courts of that state an action against petitioner for a divorce, and on July 3, 1874, obtained a decree purporting to dissolve the bonds of matrimony theretofore existing between himself and the petitioner. The petitioner here was, during all the time of the pendency of the…