Oxner

This is a proceeding in the nature of an action to determine heirship, under section 1664 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in the matter of the estate of Charles M. Belshaw, deceased, who died on November 23, 1919. A testamentary disposition of all his property to his first wife having failed because of her death before his own, his estate is to be distributed according to the rules of succession applicable to cases of intestacy.

Mortimer W. Belshaw, decedent’s father, died April 28, 1898, and his estate was distributed one-half to his wife, Jane E. Belshaw, and one-half to decedent. Jane E. Belshaw died June 26, 1900, whereupon the property she had inherited from Mortimer W. Belshaw also passed to decedent.

The sixteen plaintiffs and defendant Burton J. Oxner are second cousins of decedent, in the sixth degree of relationship to him. They are descendants of three sisters and two brothers of Conrad Oxner, decedent’s maternal grandfather.* Defendant Violetta H. Purchase, formerly Violetta Belshaw, is a half-sister of Mortimer W. Belshaw, decedent’s father. She is a daughter of Mortimer W. Belshaw’s father by a second wife and is in the third degree of relationship to decedent. The…