The Third Owners of the Bluebonnet House… The Vandeveers’ Return
In the meantime, a court battle was taking place over the ownership of the 212 acres and the Bluebonnet House. In the August 1856 probate court, the Logan Vandeveer estate claimed an undivided half interest ownership of the property (probably claiming it as community property in right of the heirs’ deceased mother) and the administrators intended to sell it. Meanwhile, in May of 1856 and May of 1857, Dorbandt claimed the same property and paid taxes on it. The Vandeveer heirs eventually won the lengthy battle, proved their half interest, and bought out Dorbandt. In the June 1857 probate session, Eliza Vandeveer Hubbard received the 212 acres known as the “Dorbandt Tract” in Survey 207, plus 1,205 acres in Survey 206, southeast of 207.
Logan’s daughter Eliza and her husband John Hubbard took ownership at once, as their first child, P. L. Hubbard, was born in the Bluebonnet House in June, 1857. The infant died weeks later and was buried not far from the house. His tombstone is in the possession of the current owner of the property. Some have speculated that the child’s initials stood for Peter Logan Hubbard, possibly named for Peter Kerr, another early pioneer of the county, and the child’s grandfather Logan.
The couple had three more children who were almost certainly born in the Bluebonnet House. One son, Henry Gary, immortalized himself by scratching his full name twice on the sandstone part of the house, and these childish defacements can still be seen today. All three of the children grew to adulthood and are buried in the Burnet Cemetery on Rhomberg Street. At that time, the house consisted of the central two-story sandstone part, but it has been speculated that Hubbard built the one-story “kitchen” sometime before 1863.
