John Cline
Cincinnati Enquirer, 2 October 1902, page 12
NEWPORT
The effort of four persons to have themselves established as
grandchildren of the late John Cline, of Newport, by virtue of a record of the
Probate Court of this county, whereby Cline designated the mother of those
persons as his daughter, is to have another airing in the Court in a short time.
It was learned yesterday that an attack will be made upon the proceedings of the Probate Court restoring that old record on the ground that the persons interested in opposition to the restoration were not given notice, as required by law. It was an oversight it is believed, that such notice was not given, but nevertheless it is declared by the attorneys interested against it to be fatal and when the proper time comes there will be a motion to set aside the restoration.
This will bring up the question whether there was a statute in existence in Ohio permitting a person to designate an heir, at the time John Cline is alleged to have made such declaration in Court, to wit in 1847.
There has been published the fact that George E Bert and Clarence Morn and Annie M Johnson have put in the claim that their mother, Clara Morin, was the adopted daughter of John Cline, but there has not been given the story of the situation. One of the affidavits in support of the petition was made by E H Morin, who was the husband of Clara Morin, who was alleged to have been the late heir of Mr. Cline. He says that in 1865 he was paying attention to Clara Cline and asked John Cline for her hand in marriage; that thereupon Cline said to him that is was proper he should know Clara's history.
That she was his daughter but by his wife's sister and not by his wife; that when he found he was the father of a child by a woman who was unable to support it, he decided to adopt the child; that the child was born in 1844, and lived with her mother in Indiana until 1847; when he sent for the mother to bring the child here and she did so; that he then went before the Probate Court in Cincinnati and made declaration that she was his daughter.
That she should stand in the relation to him as his heir at law. Morin went on to say that he was married to Clara and lived with her until her death in 1891, four children being born to them; that those children were recognized by Mr. Cline as his grandchildren, the girl living with him after the death of his wife until her marriage to a man named Johnson.
That the boy, George, lived with Cline for a number of years; that Cline always referred to Clara as his daughter and said often that she would get all his property at his death.
There is to be an attack upon the restoration of such an alleged record and it will be claimed that not until April 29, 1854, was there any statute in Ohio which gave a person the right to make such a declaration of heir ship. The estate is a large one and if the Morins should succeed in having themselves recognized as the grandchildren of the deceased, the estate would go to them and not to his nephews and nieces.
Tomorrow in Newport the matter of the introduction of the restored record as proof is to be before the Court and it will be resisted by the nephews and nieces of the deceased.