The lot at 133 Sutherlin Avenue was first acquired by F.X. Burton at the time Major Sutherlin sold off this portion of his estate in 1898. Mr. Burton died in 1904 leaving the property to his wife, Alice, who over the next twenty-five years of her life, would become one of Danville’s leading philanthropists. At the time of her death in 1929 the calculation as to the sum of her gifts could not be determined but was estimated to be in the several hundreds of thousands. In 1907, she sold the empty lot on Sutherlin Avenue to Miss Lizzie Lowndes, a teacher and private caregiver and educator of some of Danville’s pr0minent families, including Herbert Lee Boatwright who occupied a home behind her on Chestnut Street. It is said she built her house on Sutherlin Avenue by way of a gift of money, though who made the gift it isn’t quite possible to say. Perhaps it was Mrs. Burton, after all. In an article published in the Register and Bee on the 24th of April 1977, an Averett College student by the name of Sandra Harville conducted research on three houses on Sutherlin Avenue (chosen at random) 133 being one of them. According to Miss Harville, Miss Lowndes constructed a school room in the basement of the home. Lizzie died in 1940 of “senility” at the age of 90. She had been associated for many years with the Randolph-Macon Institute (later Stratford College) and with Roanoke Female College, which institution she joined and where she resided after she sold her Sutherlin Avenue home in 1919.

The new owners of the home in 1919 were Garnett Wright and Addie Cox Johnson. Mr. Johnson was born in Danville in 1886 to Robert Temple and Kate Wright Johnson. After attending Danville’s public schools, he went on to complete his medical training at Atlantic Medical College in Baltimore, Maryland, after which he completed his internship at the Maryland Homeopathic Hospital in Baltimore. He returned to Danville in 1910 and opened a medical practice here with offices downtown and in Schoolfield. During World War I, he served as lieutenant in the Medical Corps. After returning home, he  continued to serve in the National Guard in the 29th Division. In 1925, he married Ada Cox. The couple had one daughter, Martha Gray Johnson, born June 24, 1929. With the opening of World War II, he returned to active duty as a captain, retiring as a colonel at the end of the war.

Dr. Johnson died in 1966 of a heart attack, and the house then passed to his wife. Addie Trent Cox was born 23 March 1891 in Ridgeway, Henry County, Virginia. Before her marriage, Addie worked as a dressmaker but prided herself on her housemaking duties upon marriage. Her obituary says little about her, and much of her personal life is lost to history. She remained in the home four years after her husband’s death, dying of breast cancer in 1969, at which time the home passed to their daughter Martha Gray who, by then, was married to Page McCauley. Martha soled the home to the family of Alpha C. Powell.

The Powells owned the home for only a few years before selling it to John F. McEllen, who, like Mr. Powell, only lived there about three years before moving on.

The house next became the property of Mary Crumpler Carter who remained in the home for a number of years, but by 1990 the property was listed as vacant in the city directory. In 1992, it became the home of Elaine Day, current owner of the Bagby house at 133 Sutherlin Avenue. Elaine sold the home to Barbara Clarke in 1996, and the house was her home until last fall (October 2023) when our beloved neighbor passed away following a sudden stroke. Barbara began teaching at Averett University in 1992, joining the language department as an assistant professor. In 1999 she became an associate professor and in 2005 became professor. She was department chair of the Language Department for many years and retired in 2017. She shared her home with her brother, Don, who remains there today. Barbara is sorely missed.

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