CHAPTER NINE

It was not long after their marriage that Reuben Allen was involved in the ongoing Carter v. Skaggs lawsuit. The year before, on October 10, 1843, the trespass to try title suit had come to trial. Skaggs’ exceptions had been overruled and a jury had been named. ¹ On October 10, 1853, the jury had been unable to reach a verdict and was dismissed. ² The next day, October 15, 1853, Abraham Carter had asked for a change of venue to Grayson County. ³ The most common reason for a change of venue is the inability of a fair hearing in the original county. Robert Skaggs, however, did not want the change of venue and on April 11, 1854, the case was continued without the change of venue as it was without Skaggs’ consent. ⁴ On October 15, 1854, the case was continued. Carter, however, decided to try again for a change of venue despite Skaggs’ objection. To achieve this goal he presented the court with an affidavit, a sworn statement in writing, from three men. These three men were Benjamin White, David Howard and Abby’s new husband, Reuben Allen. North Carolina born Benjamin White, sixty-three, was a Collin County Peters colonist. David Howard, fifty-four, whose northeast corner of land touched the southwest corner of White’s, ⁵ was an illiterate Peters colonist born in Tennessee.

What these two men, White and Howard, had to do with the case is unknown. Why Reuben Allen, Abby Helm’s second husband, was involved is very curious, especially when it is recalled that Bill Carter is the man who threatened Thompson Helms with his rifle in 1848. Perhaps White and Howard stated that emotions were too high in Collin County for a fair trial. Allen, being a Grayson County resident, may have wanted the change for convenience. Yet why should he care since he was not involved in the case? These question and speculations must go unanswered as the change of venue was granted in October, 1855 to Grayson County ⁶ and a diligent search of the Grayson County courthouse in Sherman, Texas has not turned up any records outside of the Grayson County District Court Minutes, which are housed in the Sherman Public Library. It is possible that the records burned in a fire that occurred at the courthouse in later years.

Also in October of 1854, the Helms estate administrator, Jonas Dawson, filed a slander suit against Abraham Carter. ⁷ While no records appear to exist that would explain the reason for the case, the suit itself may be considered evidence of the strong emotions surrounding the Skaggs and Carter controversy. Dawson was to be involved as a witness in the latest lawsuit transferred to Grayson County. ⁸

"A list of property found at the death of Abigail Hellum deceast as follows:

One tea kettle One lot of books

One small pot and lid One smoothing iron

One brass kettle Two water barrels

One oven and lid One oven

One skillet and lid One bedstead

Two wooden buckets Three chairs

One cedar pole One table

One churn One wheat fan

One stone jug One razor

One stone crock One teaspoon

One stone jar One-half dozen tablespoons

One-half set of cups and saucers One small lot of bacon

One and a half set of plates One half bushel of meal

One milk pitcher One bushel of wheat

One sugar bowl One old side saddle

Seven glass bottles One sythe (scythe) and cradle

One set of knives and forks One padlock and chain

One pair of pot hooks One wagon and harness

One coffee pot Two plows

One tea canister One ax

One milk strainer Two wheating (sic)hoes

Two pie pans One spinning wheel

One wash pan One pair of hooks

One deft bowl Eight head of horses

One half gallon tin cup One white sow

One coffee mill Five cows and calves

One cream pitcher One cow and yearling

One stew kettle Three two year old heifers

One box with clothing in One two year old bull

Thirteen dollars in cash Three yearling heifers

One trunk and clothing One shoat

One trunk and clothing Two beds and bed clothing."

Three items in Abby’s inventory are indicators of the family’s level of prosperity. First is the coffee mill, a rare possession in the early years. Second is the "deft bowl", a piece of china, usually of a blue and white pattern. Last is the "lot of books", indicating that education was valued.

On July 25, 1855, Robert Skaggs sued the Helms Estate for $98.81 1/4. This amount, apparently, was the remainder of the $299.62 1/4 bill for various legal fees that Thompson had agreed to pay. The agreement between Thompson Helms and Robert Skaggs appears to have been made in December 1852, wherein Skaggs gave the production of his farm as security for Skaggs’ part of the expenses in the last lawsuit. This ties back into the land transaction of November 1852, in which the two men basically agreed to trade land on each side of Honey Creek. Title to the land, which Skaggs was transferring to Thompson Helms, was not clear until the court decision in favor of Skaggs on May 2, 1855.²¹ Now that the title was clear the remaining factors in the Helms-Skaggs land transaction could be settled. The various legal fees of the $299.81 1/4 stretch back to 1849 and included witness fees, lawyers fees and clerk fees. Part of these costs had been paid by Thompson, leaving the $98.81 1/4 that Skaggs was asking for on June 25, 1855. The court agreed that the Helms estate should pay the remainder.

Also in June 1855 the court ordered that "Robert Skaggs make a deed to certain Lands belonging to the Estate of Thompson Helms deceased in accordance with a Title Bond made by said Skaggs and Thompson Helms in his said Helms lifetime...". At the same time the court ordered Jonas Dawson to likewise make a deed to Skaggs in accordance with the same agreement. ²²

In June the court had ordered Jonas Dawson to keep the Helms children and to send them to school until the next term of court. ²⁴ The children stayed with him until at least August 1 as Dawson submitted a bill for caring for the children from June 10 until August 1 (seven weeks at three dollars a week). In June, however, the problem of the legal guardian was addressed when Thomas Kendall, Abby’s cousin, petitioned the court for the guardianship. W. H. Herron, William Pelham and George T. Key were his securities in the sum of $4,000. ²⁵ William H. Herron was Kendall’s brother-in-law and a friend of Thompson’s. Kentucky born William Pelham was a fifty-five years old Collin County resident. George Key was one of the doctors who attended Thompson before his death. On July 31, 1855, Kendall was appointed guardian of the Helms children by Chief Justice H. Jamerson. ²⁶ In October 1855, Kendall was ordered by the court to "take care, educate and protect" the eight minor children "free of charge upon the Estate for and in consideration of the use of the farm belonging to said Estate." ²⁷

October was to be a month in which Jonas Dawson spent a lot of time in court. On October 29, with all the legal matters regarding Skaggs taken care of, Dawson filed his final report as administrator asking to be released from that position. The final bill for the estate to pay was to Jonas Dawson. This was paid by two notes from Leonidas Wilson ($24.43) and Pleasant Wilson ($8.37) leaving a balance of $10.88, which was given to the minor children. Jonas Dawson’s last action as the administrator on October 29 was to pay a probate court fee of $12.20. On the same day he paid County Clerk J. L. Lovejoy $5.00 for publication of a notice in the Dallas Herald newspaper. Since current collections of this newspaper start in December 1855, there is not way to determine what this notice contained. One unanswered question in the final accounting concerned Abby Helms’ estate, which was not listed. It is probable at the livestock, tools, household goods and whatever, stayed on the farm, which was taken over by Thomas Kendall.