Elias White's Estate Partition Agreement
(Source: Vol. M, page 261 of Deeds and Records, Bowie Co. TX)

On 21 January 1889, the entire records of Bowie County, Texas, were destroyed by fire. By a special act of the Legislature of the State of Texas, (see Article No. 3729 of the Revised Civil Statues of Texas), the abstract books and files of the Texarkana Title & Abstract Company, Inc. were made admissible as evidence in all courts of the State.  It was from this source that I was able to obtain a copy of the Partition Agreement of the estate of Elias White, deceased, which was dated 1878 and had been filed for record on 1 November 1878 in the Office of the County Clerk of Bowie County, Texas.

It was recorded in Volume M, page 261, of the Deed Records and reads: 

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(This Estate record supports ""Proof of Marriage"" where no
  marriage record is available, prior to the Bowie County
  Court House Fire of 1889)

Explanation of who the Signers 
on the Partition were:

Signed: 
Mrs. Susan Creed    [daughter of Elias White, wife of Sam Harlan and Patrick Creed]
Leroy Alford           [wife of Martha, son-in-law of Elias White]
Martha Alford         [daughter of Elias White, wife of Leroy Alford] 
Jane Landrum         [daughter of Elias White, wife of Lozen Landrum]
Jacob Roy               [husband of Martha Evaline (Evie) White, son-in-law of Elias White]
Evie Roy                  [grand daughter of Elias White, daughter of Wm M White deceased]
Mrs. M. C. Smith    [Mary Caroline White Tapp Smith, daughter of Elias White, 1st 
                                married Charles Y. Tapp, 2nd married Wm F Smith]

Lot 1 on map shall be the property of Mary Caroline Smith;  [dau of Elias White]
Lot 2 we assign to the heirs of John White;                            [son of Elias White]
Lot 3 we assign to Jane Landrum;                                        [dau of Elias White]
Lot 4 we assign to the heirs of Benj. White;                           [son of Elias White]
Lot 5 we assign to the heirs of WM. White;                           [son of Elias White]
*Lot 6 & 7 we assign to the heirs of Jeremiah Bobo;            [husband of Hester White & Sarah White]
Lot 8 we assign to Martha Alford.                                        [dau of Elias White]

*Note 2 lots to Hester, I believe that Jeremiah's 1st wife
  Sarah White, is one of the unknown female children of Elias
  no one else received 2 lots! Jerry had 2 children with Sarah
  and 2 children with Hester.  Martha White Bobo daughter of
  Hester and her Husband Francis Edgar McCloskey probably
  handled the Bobo's portion of the inheritance, we may be able
  to find deed sales after the court house fire of 1889, lending
  proof that the 2 lots were intended to cover Hester & Sarah...
  'Heirs of Jeremiah Bobo' would cover all 4 surviving children
  from both marriages, to Hester and Sarah White.

  There is no mention of the other suspected Daughter of Elias
  Jerusha White Wilbanks, but she did not come to Texas, but
  remained in Union Co South Carolina until 1852, then migrated
  to Tippah County Mississippi with husband Cooper Wilbanks,
  in 1852.

  There is no mention of Suspected unknown Son L L White,
  that probably died before Elias, he appears on a land plate
  and a grave stone marked L L was at one time in the Creed
  Cemetery, in Redwater, Bowie Co TX.  Was probably single.

Notes:
Some of the Deeds written on Elias's former properties can be 
found on his Children and Descendants Web Pages, on this site.

Just a few notes during the Search "For the Lost Partition".

NOTE:  Oct 7, 2000 - 
Glenn Thrapp informs me today (Oct 2000), the Title Company has a new name:  Its now 'Stewart Title Of Texarkana', 218 Main, Texarkana, Texas,  (903) 794-6188. They have a copy of the old land books. Their records are abstracted by land title Headright. They don't have an owner index.  In the 1980's, Kay White's Brother-in-law, Richmond White, was given  the Partition Agreement,  from a former worker at the Texarkana Title Company, Miss Gabor, now deceased.  She knew Richard White and gave him the original copy of the Partition, there is an abstract of this partition on file at Stewart Title. Vol M, P.261

NOTE:  Oct 17, 2000 - 
From Glenn Thrapp, bad news on the Partition Agreement:  
"I went to Stewart Title of Texarkana today. After about a 30 minute search, we couldn't find the partition agreement that I had in my hand. They said that normally Miss Gabor gave you more than you asked for. This appears to be a dead end. A farther search of the Bowie Co. records might turn up something. When a court house burned, people were supposed to re-file their deeds. Sometimes it didn't happen for 50 years or longer. Seventeen years after my search, I don't remember how far I searched. Do you know about Miss Jennie Tapp? When she died in 1932, she was the end of the Tapp line. Believe there were 32 cousins that filed against her will. Some of the names I could never make a connection to the family".

NOTE - UPDATE: Jan 29, 2003 - 
A Note from cousin Gene Lynch:
"Went to Stewart title today, and found an abstract of the Estate Partition on file Vol. M, Page 261. "

"Also found a hand written deed of Elias White's dated 1873". 

Note: The Above Partition is also written in Kay White's Book, p.13 & 14, "White, Merrill, Etc".
         Glenn Thrapp had originally provided me a typed copy of the Partition.