Researching an Old House: Did I Find My Answers?

Highway 29 is the perfect road to drive when researching an old house. If you have to drive between two places, I can't picture a better road to take. The route between courthouses takes you by a number of historic buildings and houses that just seem to set the mood for researching an old house.

I immediately got to work. My first task was to find the old map located in Deed Book Q on pages 602 and 603. I had no idea whether these pages would be of use, but it was sure to be a start. The map shows how the land of Abram Wimbish was subdivided in the 1880s.

Abram Wimbish owned the house at 413 Greensboro Road, which became 413 West Main Street, and then 120 College Avenue in the 1920s. The beautiful yellow Gothic cottage was the starting point for my quest. Although the house now sits on a small parcel of land, in 1877 it sat on 81 acres land that extended from Howeland Circle to just past Virginia Avenue. There will be a more detailed entry on the house itself soon, but for now I'm going to stick to what is relevant to Ms. Gott's house.

While I was at the Danville Courthouse, I thought to snap a picture of the F.W. Beers Map of Danville and Pittsylvania County from 1877 that hangs on the wall just inside the record room. Ms. Gott's house doesn't appear on the map, but it's important when combined with the later map that a deed pointed me to.

 For reference, the area that says "LARGE ORCHARD" is roughly where Howeland Circle is today, and the "Danville Water Reservoir" is, as best as I can ascertain, where Virginia Avenue and Mount Vernon Avenue intersect. Another reference point would be the small stream, that runs through the property. I read of a swamp or marsh that was once at the bottom of Avondale Drive. So, I would assume where the stream crosses the train tracks is somewhere near Southampton Avenue and Stratford Place. In fact, now that I look at it, the proposed half mile race course may have become a reality. In looking at Google Maps, the curve of Westhampton Avenue seems to mimic that of the race course, but that could just be coincidence.

In the 1880s, Abram Wimbish passed away and his family was left with massive amounts of debt. In 1882,  an agreement was made so that his wife, Fannie, could keep the house if the property was subdivided and the land sold at auction to satisfy the debts.The Wimbish property was divided into 5 parcels. J.T. Watson bought a triangular piece at the outer left edge of the property, extending from about the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Carolina Avenue to the train tracks, down to South Main Street, and at an angle back to Carolina Avenue. J.M. Neal and E. H. Miller bought the land that now makes up Howeland Circle, Westhampton Avenue, Stratford Place, Brockton Place, and Southampton Avenue to the train tracks. Mrs. Wimbish was left with land that extended to back to Carolina Avenue, east to Virginia Avenue, and west to about halfway to Westhampton Avenue.

The last parcel of land, which encompasses the upper part of Carolina Avenue, parts of College Avenue, and Avondale was sold to W. P. Robinson. It is he who bought the land which now contains Ms. Gott's house.

Unfortunately, the revised Wimbish Property is entirely in the margin on the book, and thus nearly impossible to make out. The road that runs through the center of the area is part of Howeland Circle and then follows a straight line to Carolina Avenue and ends where the alley is today. In fact, it wasn't until 1920 that Carolina Avenue was extended to meet Virginia Avenue.

This map was made in 1882. I could, unfortunately, find no evidence of a house on the land that W. P. Robinson purchased. In fact, the first mention I could find of anyone living there was 10 years later, when his wife was suffering the same fate that Mrs. Wimbish did. She was in debt from payments on her house, merchandise for the Dry Goods Store she and her late husband ran on Main Street, and other things.

So, did I get my answers? Not entirely. I know that there was someone living in the general area of Ms. Gott's house in 1892, and I know that in 1924, only 32 years later, the newspaper suggested that Ms. Gott's house was the oldest house in the neighborhood, other than 120 College Avenue (the Wimbish property). But, I still have questions...many questions. My search did not yield any information about how J. E. Perkinson, who sold the property in 1924, came into possession of it. Nor did I find out why I found his brother's name on a book cover in the attic.

For now, I will have to guess that the house was built in the mid 1880s. Perhaps building permits can be found. I, personally, won't have time to do anymore research at the courthouse until this summer. I might be able to get someone to be a proxy for me, but I don't know. The house still has many stories to tell, and I hope to one day be able to recant them all.