In 1894, William T. Sutherlin sold off a portion of his property on what would become Sutherlin Avenue to pay a debt. In July of that year, Sutherlin’s trustee, J.P. Harrison, authorized the sale of the lot at 137 Sutherlin Avenue (now 135) to Thomas B. Gresham who held the undeveloped parcel until March of 1907 when he sold it to J.O. Magruder for $1,250. It may be supposed a house appeared on the property shortly thereafter. By the time of the drafting of the 1910 Sandborn Fire Insurance map, the house was present.
James Opie Magruder was born on the 24th of September 1860 at Glenmore, the family’s ancestral estate near Keswick, Virginia (a wedding and events venue today) to Benjamin H. and Eveline Norris Magruder. He was educated at the University of Virginia, and upon graduating he became a member of the railway engineering corps and later entered the railway construction business. He was city engineer in Winston-Salem for some years before moving to Danville where he filled the same role as city engineer for two decades, arriving just at the time when Dan River Mills was being constructed and taking over the position after the death of C.A. Ballou. With the development and increasing reliance on automobiles, Mr. Magruder successfully changed track, so to speak, and in the 19-teens relocated to Lynchburg where he took a position with the Virginia State Highway engineering staff. A year later he went into private business as a civil engineer.
In 1892 he married Rosa Williamson of Eden, North Carolina. The couple had one daughter, Virginia Williamson Magruder. The couple, even from their earliest days in the house, maintained rooms to let. Among their lodgers were Annie and Lillie Harrison, sisters who were both employed as nurses, and Ollie and Allie Hodnett, twins, who were employed as tobacco buyers.
James died in 1938 in Lynchburg of pneumonia. His wife followed him in 1943 of colon cancer. Apart from her birth and parentage, not much is recorded about Rosa. Even her obituary speaks more of her husband and his life than it does of her own. Newspaper articles written at the time of the Magruder family’s exit from Danville described the man as one of “highest character, unswerving loyalty, and many winning personal qualities.”
The Magruders sold the Sutherlin Ave property not long after their relocation to Lyncbhurg. B.H. Wade was the new owner, having purchased it in 1923 for $12,000.
Ben Hampton Wade was born in 1863 at Tremont, his family’s ancestral home in Halifax county, to Nicholas L. Wade and Margaret Howard Wade. He arrived in Danville with his family about 1870 when he was seven years old. As a young adult, he became involved with the insurance movement as it was taking hold in the United States. In its early years, he signed on with the Metropolitan Life Insurance company and remained with them for forty-two years. He married Mary Virginia Bass of Person County, North Carolina in 1891. The couple had three children.
The Wade’s, too, kept lodgers. Among them were Maud and Sara Cantor, mother and daughter.
Mr. Wade died at his Sutherlin Avenue home on the 14th of April 1941 after a period of steady decline. After Mr. Wade’s death, Mary moved to Alexandria, and the house was rented out to two families, both fellow insurance men; Ernest N. Baggs and his wife Salma and Raymond Beeston and his wife Ada.
It was during this time that the address was divided and the house became both 135 Sutherlin Ave and 137 Sutherlin Ave, perhaps to make allowances for addressing of a duplex.
In March of 1949, Mary died, and the house passed into the hands of First National Bank of Danville as her executor. The bank sold the home to John N. and Evelyn Stoneham. Like the Wades, the Stonehams lived at 137 Sutherlin, while their lodgers occupied 135 Sutherlin Ave.
Jonathan Newton Stoneham was born in Front Royal, Virginia on the 24th of February 1907 to Rev. Henry Bryant Stoneham and Amelia May Buck Stoneham. He earned his B.S. in biology at the University of Virginia and did post-grad work there in biology and education. He married Evelyn Truslow Mitchell in 1936.
While in Danville, Mr. Stoneham was employed as a teacher at George Washington High School. In 1938, he joined the Turner E. Smith publishing company in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Stoneham, despite his out-of-state employment, remained in his Danville home for some years. He finally relocated to Atlanta around 1954, and the house was sold again. The new owners were Marjorie C. Motley and her husband Charles Benjamin Motley.
Marjorie Coburn Motley was born on the 13th of February 1903 in Giles County, Virginia to William Okeefe and Pearl Okeefe Charlton Coburn. Marjorie arrived in Danville in 1953. Prior to her marriage, she was a clerk in a department store. After her marriage, she took pleasure in her role as a wife and mother. Marjorie was Charles’ second wife (he was married three times). The couple were married in March of 1954 after Charles had lost his first wife (of 18 years), Eunice Hasselvander, to thyroid cancer.
Charles was born in 1912 in Dry Fork, Virginia to Maurice Whitfield Motley and Lavenia Jane Sublett Motley. Upon moving to Danville, he found employment with Dan River Inc. and was the author of several books and articles for religious publications.
In 1962, the Motleys sold their Sutherlin Avenue home to E. Gaither Hughes and Juanita Frances Hughes.
Earl Gaither Hughes was born in Evington, Virginia on February 26, 1914, the eldest of four sons born to Earl Byrd Hughes and Loulie Gaither Porter Hughes. He arrived in Danville in 1945 where he set up business as Danville Vault Corp and later Hughes Marine Service. He married Juanita English in 1940. Juanita was born in 1940 in Campbell County, Virginia. She attended Radford College and graduated with a teaching degree, becoming a teacher for first and second grade children in Danville Public Schools. She was a gardener and loved to read. Indeed, she felt so strongly about the written word, that she spent time outside of the formal classroom teaching people of all ages to read.
In 1968, Mr. Hughes died, and three years later, she married Dr. Hugh Hiter Willis, a successful doctor with an established practice in Chatham. Dr. Willis moved into the Sutherlin Avenue house and together they maintained the home until November 1976 when the couple sold it to Jacob and Lynda Lebold. The Lebolds were not here long before the home was sold again to Thomas and Jean Stahl.
In 1990, John Lenwood and Mary H. Jones purchased the home. Mr. Jones was born in Pittsylvania County on the 8th of April 1940. He worked as an elevator installer before retiring. Mr. Jones passed away in 2015 after several months of declining health. His wife, Mary Horton Jones still resides there with her daughter and son-in-law.
Sources:
Census and Vital records found at Familysearch.org
Images and vital information, including biographical sketches found at FindaGrave.com
Death notices and other information found in the Danville Register, Danville Bee and other newspaper archives at Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com
Census, Directory, Newspaper, and other information compiled by Paul Liepe
