In this same period, Dr. Greathouse became a defendant in one of the first civil law cases tried in Hancock Chancery Court at Hawesville. The lawsuit contesting Greathouse's administration of the John and Hannah Lewis estate was filed in April 1830 by William Allison for his wife Eliza Lewis. Allison, at that time a resident of Harrison County, Ind., accused Greathouse of failing to administer the estate according to the exact terms of the John Lewis will, and for charging an "excessive, outrageous"' fee for his work as administrator.
A second lawsuit was brought against Greathouse in October 1830 by Benoni (Ben) House, the son of William House who had married Hannah Ann Lewis on July 9 of that year.
Allison contended that his wife had received the least valuable piece of the land in the Morris patent when it was divided by the court in May 1818, and accused Greathouse of favoring the other Lewis daughters over Eliza in Lewis estate matters after the death of Hannah Lewis. He wanted a redivision of the land to give his wife a more equal share.
House charged that Greathouse had dealt unfairly with him and his wife in distributing the money made from the sale of the remaining personal property of the elder Lewises in 1823. When he sued Greathouse, House was living in the plantation house built by his wife's mother, and he claimed the doctor had failed to rent the plantation land for the best price.
The court argument took four years to settle, and often became emotional.
In his defense, Dr. Greathouse conceded that he had made errors in handling the estate. "It is possible by my confidence in the honesty and integrity of the parties, I may not have acted in strict conformity with the requisitions of the law in distributing the estate, but I have not withheld anything to which they are entitled," he said. " I suggest to the complainants the propriety of making a good examination before they make charges of corruption against another."
The court issued its decree in the case in April 1834. It decided that Dr. Greathouse had made mistakes in the administration of the estate, had charged too much for his work, but generally ruled in his behalf. The judgment also upheld the 1818 division of the Morris patent and Allison got no compensation for his wife’s alleged loss.
None of the sides in the legal conflict reaped any financial or moral victories in the long court fight. At best, the results were anticlimactic and bittersweet.
Both Dr. Greathouse and Eliza Lewis Allison died before the court reached its final decision. Mrs. Allison, who had lost two infants (one still-born) in 1830 and 1831, died on Nov. 26, 1831, at the age of 37 and was buried near her Indiana home. Dr. Greathouse died Oct. 21, 1832, 28 days before his 40th birthday. He was interred in the Greathouse cemetery on a hillside found today west of New Chapel church on Commonwealth Aluminum Road.
In May 1833, a bereaved William Allison and his five children, William, John, Joseph, Francis and Susan, moved west to the Mattoon area of Coles County, Ill. He became a physician there and practiced his new profession until his death in 1854. He remarried in the mid-1830s and apparently never returned to Lewis Bottom......
Allison's migration to Illinois, a year before the court decision, was evidence that he had lost interest in the legal fight. But the deaths of Eliza Allison and Dr. Greathouse unfortunately had failed to conciliate other parties involved. In fact, during the month the court decided the case, Ben House sued R. B. Greathouse, seeking for himself and his wife a proportional share of the rich land left to the two dead sons of John Lewis, which Greathouse had bought in 1827.
PLEASE NOTE: I stopped updating the web page around 2001, but I've continued to work on my project. My family history is now in Word document format, with the goal of publishing it once I consider it to be as complete as I'm going to get it. While I'm greatly indebted to those who have assisted me in my research, I'm finding that the demands of everyday life don't allow me to consistently respond to email inquiries. So, I'm offering my most up-to-date volume for sale, at a price of $19. For those interested, it is at 118 pages right now, printed by a laser printer on 8.5x11 32-lb./98 brightness paper, and wire bound. The table of contents, revision history, and index are available at the following links. To order a copy, please email me at ingramjay@hotmail.com, and I'll send it within 3 days of payment. If you indicate the family line you are interested in, I'll send you a new bound copy if and when I update my research for that line. Thanks,
Jay
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