In 1873, the “Town of Danville” conveyed a lot of land, now known as 830 Green Street, to Thomas McCully, trustee for Elizabeth O. McCully “for her own use and benefit.” Twenty years later, Elizabeth sold the property, still undeveloped, to Jane E. Hughes. Eight years later, in 1900, she sold the “lot of land” to Montilla Clark. It was shortly after that that the house at 830 Green Street was built.
Montilla Thomas “Monk” Clark, whom we’ve discussed before, was born in Fauquier County, Virginia on May 13th, 1863, to Edwin and Judith Clark. Clark was employed as a driver for the Southern Railway for 54 years. Despite his “probity and care,” he was involved in a couple of derailments. Though he had driven it many times before, he was not at the engine of the Old ’97 when it plummeted from its trestle here in 1903.
Monk Clark resided in the Green Street house until his death in 1937, sharing the home with his wife, Ella, and their seven children. On the morning of his death on the 18th of February 1937, Monk took over his engine in Danville in good health and operated it without incident to its destination in Spencer, North Carolina. As stated in a previous post, he descended from the cab, looked his engine over “as a matter of routine” and went to the washroom where he changed his clothes. He then went to the café at the nearby Y.M.C.A. and ordered an orange drink. While consuming the drink, he suddenly slumped off his stool. When fellow patrons attempted to lift him back up, they found that he had died, quietly and unexpectedly of a heart attack.
For reasons unknown, Monk had transferred the deed to the Green Street property to his wife, Ella, in 1930, seven years prior to his death. Ella was a native of Danville, having been born here in 1871, the fifth of nine children born to Charles Henry and Mary Ann Daniel Crawley.
In 1956, Ella transferred the property to her son, Edwin. Five years later, upon Ella’s death in 1961, Edwin sold the home to Loyd Thomas and Bessie Powers.
Loyd Powers was born in 1911 in Charlotte County, Virginia. He married Bessie Myrtle Williams, his second wife, in 1944. His first wife, Hallie Blanche Atkins, died in 1942, leaving him and their three-year-old son, Loyd, Jr. Loyd died in 1966 in a motor vehicle accident at the age of 26. When Loyd, Sr. died in 1986 of colon cancer, Bessie sold the home to John and Danny Wilson. The Wilsons held onto the property until 2007.
The house is presently the property of Robert Tuthill and artist Alison Sibbers who have maintained the beautiful home since they purchased it in 2020.
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
