Joseph Landon Tyack was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1839. He arrived in Danville after his service to the Confederacy, about 1866. In 1867 he married Sarah Allen Doe, the daughter of Thomas Doe, a farmer and early Danville real estate magnate. The couple were married at her family home at 1032 Main Street (the present site of Danville Urologic Clinic).
For the first several years of their marriage they lived in Mr. Doe’s Main Street home while, according to city directories, Doe resided on Holbrook Street near Union Street (now Memorial Drive) until his passing in 1883. Thomas Doe at one time owned most of the area we now call the Holbrook-Ross Historic District from Main Street to the river. He may have had a dairy in that area.
Mr. Tyack began his professional career in Danville as a salesman. Newspapers from the 1870’s show him as the proprietor of a brisk business selling shoes and hats from his shop on Main Street. He later worked in the tobacco business.
In 1899, the Tyacks built the Queen Anne Victorian home at 162 Sutherlin Avenue. The couple had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. Two sons, Thomas Doe Tyack and Joseph Landon Tyack, Jr., represented cigarette firms.
Mr. Tyack died in 1906 at the age of sixty-six of pneumonia after a brief illness. He had been active and healthy up until that time. After her husband’s death, Mrs. Tyack held onto and rented the house for a time, but by 1920 it was the property of Chase Wheatley.
Chase Stuart Wheatley was born in 1862 in Granger, Ohio to Flavius Wheatley who came to the United States from North Yorkshire, England. The family relocated to Danville sometime before 1880 and took up residence in what was then the county (West Main Street now) before moving into town. In 1900, Chase was a boarder in the home of George K. Griggs at 848 Green Street and in 1910 he was living in the home of his father-in-law on Wilson Street. He had worked as an educator before arriving in Danville and upon relocating here formed a partnership with Professor John W. Cook and the two men opened a private commercial school. Later, Mr. Wheately took a position at the “old Loyal Street School” (Robert E. Lee School) where he eventually became assistant principal and then principal, a post he held for 41 years. All in all, he worked in education for 54 years of his life.
Chase married Ellen “Nellie” Taylor in 1903. Nellie was born in Danville in 1847, the daughter of Albert G. and Eliza Burks Taylor. Nellie, too, taught in the school on Loyal Street and was described as “a gifted instructor”. She was also a member of The Wednesday Club and of the Ladies Benevolent Association “which was responsible for the foundation of the Old General Hospital.”
The couple had one son, Chase Stuart Wheatley, Jr. (pictured left) whom they called Stuart. He became an attorney.
The Wheatley home has seen a number of additions and improvements over time. It was not, when it was originally built, quite as large as it is now. Even for the Wheatleys it was a large enough house that they took on boarders. Among them was Miss Augusta Yates who lived there from the time of her brother-in-law, Judge Archibald Aiken’s death in 1917 (with whom she previously lived) until her death in 1932.
In January of 1936, the Wheatley family was struck by several tragedies at once. A month prior, in December, Mrs. Wheatley came down with pneumonia. Exacerbated by a heart condition, the infection spread to both lungs. While Mr. Wheatley waited anxiously for any news of his wife’s improvement, his brother-in-law, A.B. Carrington fell ill following surgery for a heart complaint. The strain of these dual concerns weighed upon him so heavily that his heart gave out and on 26 of January he suffered a sudden heart attack and died. News was shortly received that, just two hours previous, Mr. Carrington had also passed away. Just three days later, Mrs. Wheatley succumbed and a double funeral was held for the couple who were remembered as having contributed their lives to the education and edification of many of Danville’s citizens.
Since the Wheatleys residency, the house has changed hands several times, mostly serving as rental property and apartments. The home presently belongs to the Moore family of Liverpool, England.
Sources:
Census, Directory, and newspaper information collected by Paul Liepe.
Obituary and other notices in the archives of the Danville Bee and Danville Register available at Newspapers.com, or in PDF by request.
Other vital information found at Familysearch.org.
