The Lea-Goforth House, 166 Chestnut Street

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The lot upon which the house at 166 Chestnut Street was built was once part of the property at 909 Green Street.

In 1929, the Green Street property was owned by Henry Vaden Lea, a native of Sutherlin, Virginia, and his wife Cora Dickerson Lea. You can read more about them in the article on 900 Green Street. That same year, Henry and his wife sold the property as part of a trade to George Addison Lea and thereafter assumed residence at 401 West Main Street.

George Addison Lea was born on the 17th of April 1857 in Caswell County, North Carolina and was the brother of John Greene Lea of 238 Jefferson Ave. It’s likely the brothers arrived in Danville around the same time, following the murder of John W. Stephens in 1870 in the Yanceyville Courthouse. You can read more about that here.

George was a tobacconist and had his own concern which was operated under his name. He married Emma Mason Betts in 1858 and the couple had six children.

George died in 1938, three years after having been struck by an automobile. He suffered a broken hip from which he never fully recovered and spent the last year of his life as an invalid.

It was probably about that time that George Lee acquired the property from Henry Lea (pronounced the same but no relation) that the quaint two-story wood frame house was constructed here. In May of 1930, six months after purchasing the property, George Lea sold the lot at 166 Chestnut Street, including the home, to Carol M. O’Dell.

The O’Dells maintained the house as rental property for the next twelve years. among their tenants were Joseph and Bess Remer, employees of the cotton mill.

In 1942, the house became the property of Adolph Kingoff. Mr. Kingoff was born in Belarus, Russia on October 15, 1895 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1912. He served in the U.S. Military at the end of World War I and continued his service in the Army through June of 1919.

Mr. Kingoff was the owner and operator of a chain of jewelry stores, a career he chose at random and somewhat by accident. Upon arriving in the United States, he was asked his occupation. Afraid he would be deported if he had not some training by which to employ himself, he answered that he was a watchmaker. Having told the story, he thought it best he follow that line to it’s end.

Upon arriving in the U.S., he first went to Greenville, South Carolina, but by 1919 was in Danville.

When Mr. Kingoff died peacefully in his sleep on December 18, 1960, the home passed to his widow, Margaret Heiner, who continued to maintain it until 1970 when it was sold to Ronald Lee and Brenda Williams (another Lee of no apparent relation).

Among Kingoff’s tenants were Dr. and Mrs. Leroy Selig. Mr. Selig was a successful Danville optometrist who operated out of Kingoff’s downtown jewelry store.

Also living here was Rabbi Julius Kreitman of Aetz Chayim Synagogue of which religious organization Mr. Kingoff was also a part and in whose cemetery he was buried. In 1961, Julius and his wife welcomed their second child into the home.

The property changed hands several times between 1970 and 1979 when it was purchased by Carl E. and Christina Arpi Goforth.

Carl Goforth was born on the 22nd of April 1939 in Caswell County, North Carolina to Thomas and Ruby Scruggs Goforth. He arrived in Danville in the mid-1970s and was employed as an electrical engineer. He married Christina Arpi on the 26th of January 1976. The couple had five children.

Following Carl’s death in 2003, the property passed to his wife and then, in 2015, to his children who currently own and occupy the home.

 

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