JOHN BOOTH (INDIANA) vs JOHN BOOTH (LOUDOUN)
CASE M1892
15TH SEPT 1834
DEPOSITION OF JOHN GEORGE
The deposition of sundry witnesses taken at the office of F. H. Luckett in Leesburg on the 15th day of Sept. 1834 pursuant to the inclosed notice to be read as evidence in the suit now defending in the Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery for the County of Loudoun in which John Boothe of Indiana is Plaintiff and John Boothe of Loudoun is Defendant.
The examination of John George, who being first sworn, saith:
Q1: by Pltffs Counsel: Did you buy from one of the Boothes eighty acres of land or thereabouts? If so, from which of them, and about what time? What was the name of the father of Defendant, and what that of his uncle, who lived in Loudoun?
A: I did buy a piece of land of about eighty acres from John Boothe, an uncle of Def. I think it was in the year 1818. Defendant’s father was named James Boothe, the brother of John Boothe from Whom I bought the land.
Q2: by same. What did you agree to give for the land?
A: I think I gave Sixty five dollars an acre.
Q3: by same. Did you after paying 1/4 or 1/5 of the purchase money refuse to pay the balance and for what reason?
A: I did not refuse to pay the balance.
Q4: by same. After you had paid a part of the purchase money, what occasioned John Boothe the defendant, to go to the State of Indiana?
A: I do not know exactly; but after I had made the first payment upon which a deed was to have been made to me, Mr. Boothe from whom I purchased asked me to wait until his nephew went to the western country to get a Deed from his cousin, that he could then make me a deed and then would be no trouble.
Q5: by same. Who became bound in a bond for the title to you, given by John Boothe, the Uncle of Defendant?
A: John Booth the Defendant.
Q6: by same. Had you conversation with the defendant after it was understood he was to go to Indiana? What did he say about getting the title from John Boothe of Indiana to the land you bought?
A: I do not now recollect to have had such conversation with him, except in regard to some shares of land, distinct from this which Deft was to purchase for Deponant, from the Chambers or Stumps who held under the 'Will of Robert Boothe' the father of John & James and I was to give him $50 per acre for all such land as he could purchase.
Q7: by same. Did he afterwards go? And what became of the rest of your purchase money? Did you give bonds or cash?
A: He did go to the West. After he came back and made me ________, I assigned over Notes on Daniel Householder, to the John Boothe from whom I purchased, to the _______ of the balance of my purchase.
Q8: by same. Did defendant ever tell you what sort of man Plaintiff was in his habits?
A: We had some little talk upon that subject; he said he was a loose man, would drink rather too much and would not take care of what he had, or to that affect.
Q9: by same. Was John Boothe, the Uncle of Defendant from whom you bought, intemperate or not?
A: He was a man that drank a good deal of liquor too; though he was a very honorable man.
Q10: by same. After the sale of his land to you, had he anything of any account besides the Bonds you assigned to him?
A: I do not think he had except a little household furniture he might have had. About the time I assigned the bonds to him, I think he bought a small piece of Land, of perhaps about 12 acres.
Q11: by same. Is John Boothe, the Deft., the same who came twelve years ago brought in for proof, the Will of John Boothe his Uncle from whom you bought?
A: He is the same.
Q12: by same. Do you know ___ the land, sixty acres, sold by Deft. Atty in fact for the Pltff; to his father James Boothe? If so, what was it worth per acre in 1820, and what is it now worth?
A: I do know the land well. I cannot now undertake to say what it was worth in 1820, land had fallen at that time, but I can't recollect how much it is likely it might have been sold at about 30$ - and I suppose it is now worth about the same.
Defendant reserves all legal exceptions as well to matters of fact as substance.
Q1: by Deft Counsel. What time in 1818 did you buy of John Boothe Senr?
A: I bargained for it in June 1818 and then paid $50 – and was to pay and did pay on the 24th August 1594.93# in full of the first payment.
Q2: by same. About the time you bought of John Boothe Senr. Did you take legal advice in regard to the title of said John Boothe Senr., and what was the purport of the Counsel’s opinion? Was it not that John Boothe Senr. has as good a right as any man could have, what was it?
A: I did take counsel – from what was stated from Jno Boothe Senr. To the counsel, the opinion of this Counsel was that he had a good right and could make me a good deed – or whether Counsel was taken by John Boothe Senr. And myself in the presence of John Boothe Jr. – This counsel was taken at the time the 50# was paid in June.
Q3. by same. Who was the counsel? And was it said that the Statute of Limitation had barred any rights that the Plaintiff or his father ever had?
A: Mr. Henderson was the Counsel. I understood the Counsel that it was length of time that gave John Boothe Senr. a good right. I judged so, from what John Boothe Senr. had stated to him.
And further saith not,
John George
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