The home at 241 Jefferson Avenue is one of a row of houses built by respected physician Franklin George who acquired the four lots in 1891 from J.S. Pritchett. The homes that stand there today were likely built that following year. Dr. Franklin George passed away in 1897, leaving 253 Jefferson Avenue to his brother, Sumter George, the youngest of his ten siblings. The home was intended, and indeed was used by the George family as investment property.

Sumter George was born in 1862 and, like his brother’s Franklin and James, was a doctor. His obituary of 23 February 1927 descried him as “one of the most influential physicians in Danville.” He resided in a brick building on Main Street above his doctor’s practice. The building was razed and replaced by what became known as the “Arcade building” across from the pocket park where the HOME sign has been installed. When Dr. Sumter George died in 1927, the property fell to his wife who held onto it until her death in 1950.

The earliest known occupants of the dwelling included the family of A. E. Summerfield who operated a successful shoe store here for many years.

By 1920, the property was home to Ben and Lottie Harvey and their children.

Benjamin Venable Harvey was born on the 10th of September 1862 in Charlotte,, Virginia, the fourth of eight children born to Benjamin Price Harvey and Mackey Adromache Ford. Mr. Harvey lived in Danville nearly all his life and was employed by the Imperial Tobacco Company. He married Lottie Ford, also of Charlotte, in June of 1893. The couple had three children.

In 1938, retired from tobacco, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey moved to Martinsville to live with their daughter. In March of 1940, suffering from pneumonia, Mr. Harvey checked himself into Dr. King’s Sanitorium in Radford, VA. He was 77 years old and had also begun to show signs of “senile dementia”. On August 14, 1946, after several years of declining health, she suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. She died the next day.

Also living in the home around this time were Sallie Moorefield, a seamstress, and her daughter Estelle, 26, who worked as a bookkeeper. Edwin Critz, a machinist in the cotton mill and his wife Cornelia and their fraternal twin children Sally Grace and Edwin, Jr.

Mary Faris George, Sumter’s wife, died on the 13th of May 1950 from several ailments including kidney and heart failure. The property was sold to Charles A. Carr, Sr. of College Avenue. It’s unclear what the Carr’s intentions were with the house, as census records indicate that the house stood vacant for some time before the Carrs sold the home to Otwa Lee Turner in 1969. The Turners owned the house for almost two years before selling it in April of 1971 to Danny Clark Bridges who owned and lived in the residence for nearly eight years.

For nine months in 1979, the house belonged to Charles G. Smith and for the two years that followed it belonged to Ellen E. Grisales. In 1881, she sold the home to Carolyn E. Thomas Collier. Likely, Carolyn, a teacher, used the house for rental income. During her ownership, the house was the residence of Floyd Davis and his wife Geneva and another tenant, Buster Dobson.

Mr. Davis was born on the 20th of July 1919 in Pittsylvania County to Floyd Davis Sr. and Anna Low Davis. Mr. Davis was a tobacco man, and was employed by Lorillard Tobacco company. He and his wife, Geneva, had three sons, William, David, and Donnie. The couple divorced in 1979, but according to his obituary, the couple shared the Jefferson Avenue apartment.

Buster Brown Dodson was born June 24, 1912 in Pittsylvania County in the Spring Garden area, a son of Row Winston Dodson and Myrtle Owen Dodson. He married Elsie Gay Saul Dodson in 1946. She died in 1995, and he passed away three years later, but by 1992, Ms. Collier had sold the home to James Thomas. Mr. Thomas owned the home for only two years before selling it to the Luck Foundation. Two years later, C.B. Maddox and Bill Wellbank purchased the home. It is currently the residence of Brian Blair.

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