Greene County, NC - House & Harper vs House & Hooker, 1841 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ N.C. SUPREME COURT CASE #2959 - HOUSE & HARPER vs HOUSE & HOOKER –– 1841, Greene County, NC. Found at the NC Archives, Raleigh, NC and abstracted by Martha Mewborn Marble. The Will of Joseph House found in the case was in an earlier newsletter. April 1831 - To Judge of Court of Equity – Susannah House and Rachel House are infants and represented by John Beeman their guardian – Joseph House, dec of Greene Co. had considerable property – Susannah and Rachel were his grandchildren and the left them $2,200 to be equally divided when they arrived at the age of 21 – if they died before 21 the money was to be divided between his 4 youngest children – Sally, James, Thomas and Francis – the extrs James House and James W. Hooker took the Will to Court – they took all the personal property some $20,000 worth which was more than enough to discharge any debt – the girls are both still under 21 and concerned they will not receive their inheritance – Beeman was appt. their guardian and he requested security from the executors 13 April 1831 - House and Hooker answer – one of the debts due to sd Joseph House was from John Williams for $100 (sic) – Williams has withheld payment of the debt and there is no other money to pay the girls – they admit they are also indebted – James House said there is a judgment against him for $6500 and he can use a parcel of land from his father to pay $2000 – James W. Hooker said there was a judgement against him for $1200 and he has paid $1100 of it and expects to pay the rest soon – Hooker further says after all his debts are paid he would be worth not less than $3000. There are a number of estate records in the folder which are not enlightening as to genealogical records but the researcher may wish to peruse the original records. It appears the estate was filed at the Nov Term 1824. Buying from the estate sale on 18 Sept 1824 were Francis, Thomas, Sally and James House, James Hooker, Susannah Dixon and William Turnage. By the Oct Term 1841, James Harper had been appointed Guardian to Susannah and Rachel. The suit continued with Harper vs James House and James W. Hooker. Sally was married to a Croom by Sept 1834. There are numerous depositions in this case, some with new information and some a repeat of the identical information which have been eliminated. DEPOSITIONS 1. James W. Hooker – went with James House the son of Joseph House and his exec to the house of Joseph House to examine papers before the Will was probated – found notes due to Joseph for $1700 and a POA from John Williams to allow Joseph to collect money owed him by James G. Sheppard. At the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions May Term of 1824 the Will was probated and the following notes taken in: Reading Jones – 9 March 1822 - $3.51 Robert Harper – 30 May 1822 - $2.33 Thomas Speight – 15 May 1822 - $40 Jas. M. Bright – 28 Feb 1822 - $26.09 David Tindal – 10 April 1821 - $2.90 John Pope – 1 Jan 1824 - $19.40 Wm. Holliday – 8 Jan 1820 - $14.22 Wm. Alderidge – 3 March 1822 - $2.55 Thomas Edwards – 9 March 1822 - $4.32 Henry A. Taylor – 10 April 1822 - $4.00 Total principal of $119.82 Other notes – J. W. Hooker owed $900 – Hooker pd $68 to sd House before his death – Hooker sold land given to him by his father (sic) and paid off the rest of the note – this deposition dated 10 Oct 1841 2. John Beeman – 8 April 1834 - James House to remove from the state and not leaving enough property behind to pay off the rest of the estate 3. Benjamin Davis and Robert Davis his son – Pitt County – 10 Oct 1835 – said John Williams came to my house and said he lived in Georgia in June 1832 – asked him how he got his money and he said he got more than he expected but said he could not get his money out of Rasberry. 4. Joseph Rasberry – 15 Sept 1836 – given to Wyatt Moye and Bennett W. Murphrey – question - did Williams ask you who was Sheriff 4 or 5 years ago – answer – I told him John W. Taylor – asked who were his debities (sic) – answer – Moses Westbrook and William Dixon – Williams asked Rasberry to give the Sheriff a notice because he lived too far 5. Geo ?? Williams – 20 Feb 1836 – bought lands of Thomas House for Wright Edmundson 6. John Turnage – 20 Feb 1836 – said he knew slaves Shade, Bob, Chena and child which James House had after his father’s death – House sold Shade and took the others with him when he left the area. Turnage bought Nelly and Newit from Thomas House 7. Isham Dixon – 20 Feb 1836 – What was the property of Susannah Dixon from her father, Joseph House - negro woman and two or three children and the land she now lives on 8. Nathan Hooker – 14 March 1835 – he has a deed in trust on James W. Hooker’s property for a large sum of money 9. Washington Dixon – states sum of $2500 would not be safe in the hands of House and Hooker – states Susannah and Rachel are children of Joseph House, Jr – Joseph Rasberry and John Williams got $2000 out of Hooker and House unjustly 10. William Williams – 13 March 1835 – authorized along with Henry Miller and John Edwards to take depositions in the case – all parties present – depositions taken at the store of Nathan Hooker in Greene County – Williams testified “that some time before the death of Joseph House, dec he inquired of me whether I knew the situation of James G. Sheppard saying that Sheppard owed him a considerable amount of money for lands which he had sold several years previous to that time, that Sheppard had promised to sell ??? him a part of his lands in payment, that he had agreed to give the price which Sheppard asked him for it and gone to his house several times to close the bargain but that Sheppard had always been absent from home when he went”. “During the Court of Equity between the executors of Joseph House dec and John Williams of Georgia, I had a conversation with Benjamin Rasberry a witness in said suit, who stated to me that he had heard Mr. House in his lifetime express his fears that he should loose money which James G. Sheppard owed him”. Mr. Rasberry stated he did not know which debt House was referring to. NOTE: It sounds as if there was another Court Equity case regarding the estate of James House that involved James G. Sheppard and John Williams. 11. Elizabeth Butts – 14 March 1835 - heard Sally Croom ask her father, old Joseph House, dec, if he had taken the debt that John Williams of Georgia owed to him on Shepard, his answer was that he had not and he did not intend to do it and you may not make yourself uneasy about it. – Question to Butts by the def – Did you ever hear Trythena House say anything to her Father why he did not send her Brother James to attend to his business -answer – After Mr. Williams moved to Georgia he came back several times to attend to his business. I heard his Daughter ask him why he did not send her brother James to do his business and his answer was James was too honest. Elizabeth signed by mark 12. Sarah Croom – 14 March 1835 - question - Do you not know that your Father’s heirs took three negroes ??? in their possession soon after his death – answer it was not long after his death – question – did Susannah and Rachel House rec. from the estate their part – answer - they did not – question – did you hear your father say the money that John Williams and Sheppard owned him to be for Susannah & Rachel House – answer – yes and he intended to leave them $2200. Signed her name 13. William McGound (name difficult to read and may not be spelled correctly in the papers) – 14 March 1835 – I think last August two years past I went over in Pitt Co and met with Willoby Whitchard and he told me James Hooker wanted him to attend Greene Co Court but he couldn’t go – he said “he never gave in evidence in a certain County in the State of Georgia” – stated that Whitchard mentioned a suit between House and John Williams of Georgia. Signed his name 5 November 1836 - Wm. M. Albritton and William B. Taylor, Justices, took the depositions of the following persons at the courthouse in Snow Hill on behalf of the defendants 1. Isham Dixon – question – did you hear Joseph Rasberry say that John Williams came to his house and on their way to William Williams ask him who were the deputy sheriff of this county – answer – yes and Rasberry did not want to see them and he expected House and Hooker to sue him, stated that Whitchard never swore to any statement question – did you not hear Rasberry say I had paid more money that I ought to have paid – answer – yes 2. Blaney Turnage – said the heirs of Joseph House took the legacies in their possession and he rented the land of James House which used to belong to Joseph House, dec – states Thomas House had some of the negroes and lands of Joseph House – did not know if Susannah and Rachel received their legacy 3. Seth Speight – John Williams of Ga. told me he brought suit against James W. Hooker for a sum of money and he made Joseph Rasberry his agent and that Rasberry did not receive $1000 of that money because it did not belong to him but it belonged to Joseph House‘s grandchildren 4. Charles H. Harper – John Williams asked me who the surety of James G. Shepherd was and I said he had not given any for two or three years – Williams said he would lose money on him – Williams had left it in the hands of W. ?? House to collect 5. William Williams – states that John Williams of Ga. received a judgement against James W. Hooker, principal, William Williams and William Pope Securities – the jury found for the plaintiff and awarded damages to $450 and cost – principal of debt was $2250 - $1500 of the above judgement not to be enforced OUTCOME OF CASE – Court found for Susannah and Rachel House ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Martha Mewborn Marble - mmarble@erols.com ___________________________________________________________________