Of the many properties owned by George Swain on Green Street (see 906 Green Street and the Beers map inset to the right) the property at 915 Green Street was among them. Built before 1877, the home appears on the Beers map of that year and was most likely built for George Swain whom the Census records indicate was living in the home in 1880 with his wife and two young daughters.
George Washington Swain was born in Danville in 1846, the fourth of eleven children born to George Govornor Swain and Emilia A. Linn Swain. The Virginia Pilot (of Norfolk, VA), which announced his death on the 3rd of March of 1919, described Mr. Swain as a “pioneer tobacco manufacturer” and partner in the firm of Swain and Wylie. Mr. Swain married Mary Elethia Fergusson in May of 1873 in Danville. Their first child, a girl, came less than a year later in February of 1874 and did not live long enough to be given a name. A son, born in 1875, lived only three years. Daughters Laila and Nellie were born in 1878 and 1879 respectively. Gracie, born in 1882, never married and passed away in 1929 at the age of 47. Three more children, Linda in 1885, followed by Mary in 1887 and Wycliff in 1889, would be born to the family, but in 1883 the Swains sold the home to James M. Covington, trustee for his wife Emma.
James Covington, born 1848 in Caswell County, North Carolina, was a successful Danville Tobacconist who, later, would suffer a number of financial reverses. In 1902, he took a bottle of laudanum to Reservoirs Park and drank the whole of it. He passed out on a bench, but, awaking to find that the opioid hadn’t killed him, he sliced an artery on each arm, stabbed himself in the chest, and cut his throat from ear to ear. He then apparently walked 200 yards to the fountain, where he pitched himself in head first and drowned. Either he was apparently determined to die or he had help, but the suggestion of an inquest was quickly dismissed by police and his death ruled a suicide. By then the family were living on Jefferson Avenue in a house that was torn down long ago.
The family of James Covington were in the Green Street home but briefly. In 1885, they sold it to Clem and Bessie Covington.
If Clem was any relation to James, no records show it. Clem was not listed amongst the survivors of Mr. James Covington, and he is on no lists of brothers, sons, nephews or uncles. Clem was born in Halifax, Virginia in 1852, the fourth of eight children belonging to Edward Green And Lurina Ann Roberts Covington. Clem married Mary Helen Anderson on the 25th of November 1885. The couple had one son, John Anderson, who was born in 1886.
Clem worked as a weighmaster in a tobacco warehouse. In 1932, Clem died, his death certificate siting “infirmities of age”. He was three months shy of his 80th birthday. The house passed to his wife who died the following year of pneumonia. The house next became the property of son, John Anderson, who was employed as the proprietor of a hardware store and had been living on Paxton Street prior to the death of his parents. John married Ann Elizabeth “Bessie” Gwynn in 1915, and the couple had two children, Anne and John Anderson, Jr. John lived in the house for only a few years before he died from an illness that had, over a decade, slowly robbed him of life. At the age of 43, his sight began to fail and he soon was stricken completely blind. The end came while visiting Staunton in January of 1939. The cause of death was listed as hypertensive heart disease. Bessie remained in the home until her death in 1953 when she passed away due to lung cancer.
The children of John Anderson and Bessie Gwyn Covington became sole and fee simple owners of the property. In January of the following year, just three weeks later, they sold the home to Walter and Elizabeth Hagood, ending 68 years of Covington family ownership.
The Hagoods owned the home for only five years before selling the property in 1959 to Rachel G. and Frank J. Deutsch. Frank J. Deutsch was born on the 17th of January 1921. He married Sue Ann Lowery in 1943. The couple divorced in 1955, and a year later, he married Eunice “Rachel” Gosney. Mr. Deutsch passed away in 1990, and Mrs. Deutsch remained for four more years as a widow.
Since 1994, the property has been the home of the Brumfield family.
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
