While the Beers’ map of 1877 shows four lots making up the block on the northwest side of Green street between what would become Sutherlin Avenue and Chestnut Street, those divisions have changed significantly over time, and it is therefore difficult to say which houses are represented on that early map of Danville. While it was conjectured in our last post that it was 906 Green Street that was indicated on the Beers’ map on the lot labeled C.W. Womack, further investigation suggests that might not have been the case, after all. The two houses are more likely the Ley House (or the first iterations thereof) at 918 Green Street and The Womack-Herndon House at 912. Though the Swain-Davey house is more ornate in style, suggesting an earlier build date, the Ley and Womack-Herndon houses are more similar in construction, suggesting they were built by the same person. Also, a later division of property in 1880, which included 52 feet fronting Green street and consisting of three boundary lines forming a triangular lot, is more consistent with the description of the property at 906 and with the timing of high-Victorian Queen Anne architecture in Virginia.
In 1876, Swain sold this then undeveloped lot to Womack and Heidelberg “Lumber dealers in the city of Danville” for the sum of $900, likely as a means of commissioning the construction of a home on the property.
The Beers’ Map indicates that, in 1877, this was the home of C.W. Womack, and, indeed census and directory records place the family here through the 1880s. Charles William Womack was born in November 1843 in Halifax, Virginia. He married Mariah E. 
Dickerson of Charlotte, Virginia in 1865. After the lumber mill of Womack & Heidelberg burned in 1878, Mr. Womack eventually refashioned himself as a dealer in furniture under the name High Point Furniture Co. By 1899, it became expedient for the Womacks to liquidate some of their holdings, and so the property at 912 Green Street was sold at auction.
For $1,800, Robert Henry Herndon became the new owner. Mr. Herndon, 46 when he took ownership, occupied the home with his wife, Emma Burwell Robertson Herndon, and their eight children. The Census of 1900 also indicates that a portion of the home was let out, and the family of Robert S. Mills, a 23 year old, black day laborer, occupied an apartment in the rear of the property along with his wife, Roberta (19), their daughter and Roberta’s sister Nanie Johnson. The Herndons also maintained a servant.
The son of a Pittsylvania county physician, Robert Herndon was born in 1852. His mother, Mary A. Keen was second cousin (once removed) Nancy Langhorne Astor. Emma, also a native of Pittsylvania County, a widow, and nine years her husband’s junior, married Robert in 1887. Mr. Herndon had been married before. His first wife, also named Emma, died shortly after the birth of their only child, John Mangus Herndon. It was said that John developed a strong bond with his stepmother, “between whom and himself the tenderest of relations had always existed.”
Mr. Herndon was employed as the City Tax Collector and held that position for a number of years. An article in the World News (Roanoke) of April 4, 1914 honored Mr. Herndon upon his eighth consecutive election to the position, a position in which he was said to have handled about $250,000 a day, a sum equal to nearly eight million dollars by today’s rates of inflation. The couple outlived at least one of their children. John M. Herndon, who at one time had been a member of Governor Claud A. Swanson’s cabinet, died in 1913 after having contracted tuberculosis in 1911. He fought the disease hard, spending time in two different, highly rated North Carolina sanitoriums.
The Herndons were not only related to the Keens of Danville, but there were other family members nearby as well. Joseph Rueben Herndon, brother of Robert, lived across the street at 919-921 Green Street. Having occupied the home since the late 1880s, Joseph died of heat stroke in July of 1912. Though Joseph’s wife would remain in their home for another five years, Robert was ready to move on. A little over a month after his brother’s death, Mr. Robert sold his home to brothers John Willard and William Ottie Jamerson.
The Jamerson brothers were the two oldest sons of Samuel Wyatt Jamerson and Sarah Frances Turner Jamerson of Henry County, Virginia. About eighteen months apart, the brothers were apparently close. John, born 13 May 1877, and Ottie, born 14 October 1978, came to Danville around 1900 when the family moved to a house on Wilson street. Prior to their relocation to Danville, the men in the family were farm laborers, but upon arriving here, Samuel went into the grocery business. His Two eldest sons, both in their early thirties, followed him.
By 1920, the family, still living together as a unit, had moved out onto Mt Cross Road near Tunstall, where Ottie began a specialty dairy business, while Sam and John continued on in the grocery business. Also by this time (1919) the Jamersons sold the Green Street home. Their sojourn on Green Street was short (it is doubtful they every lived there) but their history is nevertheless interesting. Though John married Nora Richardson of Martinsville in June of 1921, Ottie remained a bachelor. He did, however, maintain the Mount Cross Road farm. Census records up until 1940 (the last available for the family) indicate that the farm belonged to him and he lived there as head of the family, two of his sisters and a younger brother living there as well under his care.
In February of 1968, Ottie died suddenly of a cerebral thrombosis, complicated by general arteriosclerosis. It’s odd that, even though his sister remained a resident in the home, that the death notice would erroneously list his birthday, attributing him to an age 15 years younger than he truly was. Odder still that, six months later, his brother John should die suddenly from the exact same ailment.
In 1919, the home at 912 Green Street was purchased by Albert R. Blackwell for $6,000, $2,000 more than the Jamersons had paid for it just seven years prior.
Albert Richard Blackwell was born 23 July 1865 in Rockingham, North Carolina. He married Margaret “Maggie” Melissa Turner Blackwell of Caswell county, North Carolina in September of 1895. Following the couple’s marriage, they resided in the township of Locust Hill in Caswell County, a locality that developed around the plantation of Locust Hill (now Rose Hill) near Reidsville. Though the family did indeed live in the house at least for a time around 1920 (they appear there in the Census of that year), Mr. Blackwell’s death notice in The Bee of March 3rd, 1954 attributes him as a lifelong resident of Caswell County. In 1927, the city directory lists the house as vacant, and the 1920 Census records show Mr. Blackwell as having returned to live at Locust Hill, though he maintained ownership of the Green Street house until 1947, eight years after the death of his wife. It’s unclear how long the family lived in the house or what brought him here. Perhaps it was his business interests as a shopkeeper (as indicated in the 1920 Census). Another reason might have something to do with a desire to be near his aunt, Elizabeth Blackwell Howard of 140 Chestnut Street.
By 1935, the house had inhabitants once more. The city directory of this year shows that the Glidewell family had moved in, and the Census of 1940 indicates that they lived there as renters, though the house, listed as 10 rooms, 2 baths, also housed at least five others in four separate apartments. Still, it’s clear that the Glidewell family inhabited the larger portion of the main house, as there were four in the family, plus a servant.
Edmond Thomas Glidewell was born 26 August 1885 in Caswell County, the son of Archie Price Glidewell and Sarah Jones Glidewell. Mr. Glidwell arrived in Danville about 1901 and was employed as the foreman of the city Water, Gas, and Electric Department, where he worked for 38 years before retiring in 1944. He married Arline Ardell Burton in 1911. The couple had three children together, two of whom shared the Green Street home. As mentioned above, Mr. Blackwell sold the home in 1947, and the Glidewells went elsewhere.
The house was purchased by C. Brooke Temple, but five weeks later, it was sold again. This time the owner was Sydney O. Newman who occupied the home with his wife, Marjorie, for a short time before the house sold again in 1953, initiating a long period of short term rentals. The Newmans would be the last owner occupants until the present owners, Mitchell an Debra Stewart would by the house in 2015.
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
