Minnie MARSH Jones Estate           

Several newspaper articles from the Denison Herald of Denison, Texas refer to various beneficiaries of the Will, as well as details about the properties she left to the City of Denison with the intent to support library facilities for the Negro citizens of Denison.   Minnie Marsh had been a prominent teacher, school principal, and early feminist speaker who traveled to other states to give educational lectures of note.  Minnie’s husband, Charles H. Jones, had been described as an early Denison furniture dealer, and as a widow, Minnie continued successfully to run their Real Estate business for years.

Minnie died on July 24, 1953, and her will was filed for probate on August 26.  There were, however, legal procedures to rule both on the actual meaning of some of her wording about her wishes and, then, on outside lawsuits by distant relatives to lay claim to some of her assets.  The final court rulings took 11 years to conclude all of the issues.  The final newspaper coverage was published on January 31, 1979 to describe the good uses the Estate had funded up to that time.

Denison Herald – August 27, 1953
“Jones Will Give.. Library Project..”  [copy of the article had been badly folded]

Minnie’s self-drafted and hand-written will, dated during June 1947, revoked an earlier will that would have left the bulk of her estate for the establishment of a school for backward children.  Her new, final will made a $20,000 gift for a Negro library building to be built at the west side of the segregated Terrell High School.  Similarly, the City library was to benefit by the conversion of her home (1107 W. Sears, at Tone Ave.) into a branch of the Denison Public Library, with remodeling improvements to be made by architects to have the home beautify the neighborhood.  She also designated a $1,000 trust fund (to be known as the Janis Jones Fund in honor of her daughter who had died several years earlier in the 1940s).  The Janis Jones Fund was to be used for the maintenance of playground equipment at Jones Park in Southwest Denison, which Minnie had donated to the City previously.

Minnie’s estate directed certain gifts to individual family workers, her long-time Negro house servant, Olivia Clark (who received a home on Fannin St. and also $75/month for the remainder of her life) and Ollie Hanning, her handyman/yardman who had worked in her real estate business to clean and repair her own home and the business’ properties.  Hanning was given ownership of her real estate office on downtown Main Street.         

 Denison Herald – June 22, 1958
“Suit Challenges Minnie Jones Will”

Minnie had only bequeathed $25 to her sister in San Diego, California (Mrs. Zona M. Cobb) and $50 to her sister in Cleveland, Ohio (Mrs. Edna M. Wright).   Mrs. Cobb contested the Will as an heir with the contention that a substantial portion of the estate (valued then at approximately $200,000) that had been designated to the City should be transferred to she and her sister Mrs. Wright (who had not joined in the filing of the suit but was made a party to the action).  This court action did not contest Ollie Hanning’s inheritance or Olivia Clark’s home and monthly stipend, as well as not contesting several other miscellaneous grants.            

The suit did challenge the $20,000 bequest for a Negro library and for the use of the Jones home on Sears Street.  The suit also contended that the will did not make specific disposition of the other business and residential properties.  The City of Denison would not be able to make use of their share of the estate until a Court ruled.

Denison Herald – December 24, 1958
“Public Fund Gained In Will Settlement  -  Largest In City’s History”

The suit by Mrs. Cobb was settled on 12/23/1958 by a Federal judge in Sherman, Texas.  Each of Minnie’s sisters, Mrs. Cobb and Mrs. Wright was to receive $40,000.  W. L. Peterson, president of the State National Bank (trustee of the Minnie Jones Estate), explained that the estate was not yet liquid and that considerable time would be needed to sell some of the real estate and business property.  The business property that had been owned by Minnie consisted of the buildings used by Pennys, Belks, Moran, and Crane’s Bakery.  She had also owned two large apartment houses at 801 and 803 W. Main.   She owned her family home at 1107 W. Sears, as well as a number of smaller rent houses.

 
Denison Herald – March 16, 1960
“Schools Paid $20,000 Willed Through Minnie Jones Estate”

The Denison School Board was informed that the State National Bank had now sent the Board a $20,000 check.  Pursuant to terms of Minnie’s Will, the money was to be spent for the construction of the Negro library either at Terrell High School or at a site to be purchased.  Mr. Peterson explained in his letter that Mrs. Jones “was interested in being helpful to the Negro citizens.”   The Board assured the estate trustees that her interests would “be kept in mind” but they noted that improvements in the library facilities for Negroes had already been made, which eliminated the need for the construction/purchase of a new library.  The Board was discussing other special improvements that could be made for the Negro high school, improvements that would go beyond improvements provided by regular school funds.

 
Denison Herald – September 24, 1963
“Bizarre Suit Threatens Civic Fund”

 “…challenged by legal action so knotted by ticklish issues that it could go all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.”  New plaintiffs claimed to be heirs of Mrs. Jones by their relationship as grandchildren to her brother, Walter F. Marsh, himself deceased and ruled to have died without heirs.  The ticklish issue was that both parents of at least two of the plaintiffs were Negro.  The suit sought to set aside the 1958 District Court judgment, which had ruled that the two sisters were the only heirs.  The new suit claimed that “it was common knowledge in Denison that Walter F. Marsh married Laura Berry here and had two children, who fathered the new plaintiffs.  The case was filed in the name of Theodore Phillip Merrell Jr., with co-plaintiffs from Hudgins, Marshall, and Charlton families.  Claude Joseph Marsh was a son of Walter Marsh who had not yet decided whether to join in the suit.

Some Denison public funds had already been spent to endow the City Library and Jones Park, while the family home at 1107 W. Sears was being dismantled to clear the way for an apartment house.

 
Denison Herald – March 29, 1964
“Federal Suit Attack On Jones Estate Trust Fund Is Settled”

The suit was settled with an undisclosed payment to be made by the Estate to the plaintiffs.  The payments were to be disclosed within 6-8 weeks, delayed by the Court’s need to appoint guardians for minors among the claimants.  Some of the claimants were the children and the son-in-law of Mrs. Jones’ brother, Walter F. Marsh.  The previous 1958 court settlement of the estate had determined the two sisters as the only heirs.  No record had been available in 1958 of the grandchildren of Mrs. Jones’ brother.

 
Denison Herald – January 31, 1979
“Minnie M. Jones Estate

State National Bank trust officer, Joe Roewe, reported that $150,000 in proceeds from the estate was donated to the Texoma Medical Center’s Fund Drive.  Other funds from the trust had gone to purchase land, and pay some construction costs, for the Denison Girls Club, the Boys Club building fund, the Camp Fire Girls building fund, the Denison Public Library, the Chamber of Commerce building fund, and Downton Denison improvements made on Main Street.  The Estate, Roewe reported, would continue to be used for other future betterment of the citizens of the city.

--prepared November 8, 2016 by Charles Buford Middleton, Jr. from newspaper clippings
collected in the early 1970s from the Denison Herald archives