When the Harrington’s Jefferson Avenue property (discussed in a previous post) went up for auction in 1885, both lots were purchased by James Wood. Not much is known about Mr. Wood. He was born in 1831 in Virginia and married Caroline Chambers on the 9th of January 1854 in Culpeper, Virginia. The couple had five children. James, who resided at 131, was a tobacco buyer and had offices at 125 under the title Wood & Son. Mr. Wood died in 1886, just months after acquiring the home. His widow remained, and when she died in 1898, a squabble ensued as to the division of the estate. The youngest child, Lizzie, took her brother to court over the matter, and in 1899, the house was sold at auction and purchased by Bettie M. Douthat who maintained the property as a two unit apartment building.
Twenty years after the Douthats purchased the property, another squabble ensued. Bettie having died, A.W. and Patty fought over the right to benefit by the property. At last it was sold, and David Kushner purchased it.
Rabbi David Moses Kushner was born the 14th of March 1872 in Lithuania. Before arriving in the United States, he studied at Vilna Yeshiva (university) in Lithuania, which school Rabbi Kushner’s obituary referred to as “the great seat of Hebraic learning”. David married Sarah Rebecca Witten about 1898, and in 1900 the couple arrived in the United States. They first lived in Washington, D.C. where they spent their first year in the home of cantor Yoelson. Canton Yoelson was the father of actor Al Yoelson who became Al Jolson who gained fame in the movie “The Jazz Singer” which was the first talking movie.
In 1901, the family moved to Petersburg, Virginia where Mr. Kushner was called to fill the position of rabbi of the orthodox Jewish congregation there. In 1904 the Kushers moved to Danville where Rabbi Kushner served the small orthodox congregation there. The congregation completed construction of its synagogue, located on Wilson Street in 1910. It was known as Aetz Chayim which means “tree of life”.
Shortly after the new building was completed, Rabbi Kushner officiated the Bar Mitzvah of his eldest son, Herman, which was the first Bar Mitvah celebrated in the new building. Rabbi Kushner continued to serve in the leadership at Aetz Chayim until 1912, however, he remained closely associated with the congregation for the rest of his life. After 1912, he served as rabbi for the Jewish congregation in South Boston, Virginia.
In addition to his ministerial responsibilities, Rabbi Kushner operated a clothing and dry goods store on Craghead street. Sadly, the building was destroyed by fire in 1964.
In 1920, as the result of a recommendation by Mayor Harry Wooding, Kushner street was named in the rabbi’s honor.
Rabbi and Sarah Kushner had five children. The family occupied one half of the house while letting the other half out to renters. In 1950, Rabbi and Mrs. Kushner sold the home to their son, Dr. Robert L. Kushner, who converted a portion of the building into office space in which he located his dental practice.
Dr. Kushner died in 1979. Several years later, his wife, Jean F. Kushner sold the proper to Ricky R. Graham. Mr. Graham operated an exterminating company from the building, and rented the other half to Louise’s Beauty Salon.
In recent years, the property has been beautifully restored and is currently owned and maintained, along with its neighbor at 131 Jefferson Avenue, by Corrie and Iulian Bobe under the name Front Porch Living.
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
