Roger C White
Tri-Weekly Kentucky Yeoman, Franklin Ky. Saturday, 9 July 1859, page 3
White vs. White from Campbell County Circuit Court
Roger C White, who was a native of Ireland, died in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he resided in May 1851. At his death he was the owner of lot 105, as known on the original plan of the city of Newport, bought by him after he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He died without issue, leaving at his death a wife, a mother, brother and sister, also natives of Ireland, but resident in Ohio.
His brother, William White, took possession of the lot and in July 1852, obtained a deed from his mother and sister, and afterwards claimed the lot as his own. Before his brother's death, William had declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, by taking the preparatory oath and in May 1854, took the final oath and thereby was naturalized.
Ann White, the widow, procured an act of the legislature of Kentucky authorizing and empowering the auditor to convey the lot to her, on the ground that her husband had died without heirs capable of inheriting and that the title had vested in the commonwealth and the auditor conveyed to her. She brought this suit for the lot.
The court per Chief Justice Simpson held-That William White, by having declared his intention to become a citizen, did not acquire the character of a denizen as known at common law and thereby became capable of inheriting lands in this state. He was still an alien and could not inherit. (Hunt vs. Warick's heirs, Hardin 61)
William White, his brother and sister being aliens, acquired no right by the laws of descent to said lot; the title vested in the commonwealth at the death of Roger C White, and the subsequent naturalization of William White did not divest her of the title. The mother, sister and brother's deed passed no right to William, because they being aliens, acquired none from Roger C White.
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Louisville Daily Courier, Tuesday, 19 July 1859, page 1
The Court of Appeals of Kentucky, in a case arising on a
claim on the estate of Roger C White, a native of Ireland, but a citizen of the
United States, who died here in 1851, owning real estate in Newport Ky. has
decided that by the laws of Kentucky aliens cannot take lands by descent, unless
they resided two years in the state next before the descent cast, and the party
must be fully naturalized, taking out the first paper.