Stories
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Amazing Paxtons in China – Part 4
Over the Hump – Crossing the Himalayas See also Part 1 — Paxton Origins, Part 2 — The Young Hall Paxton, or Part 3 – Vincoe Charity Mushrush Paxton After his marriage and a brief assignment to Tehran, Iran (1943), Hall Paxton returned to China as a Cultural Attaché (1944-1946) and later became the American Consul to Sinkiang, China’s northwest province (1946-1949) with a consulate in the city of Tihwa. His bride Vincoe completed her military service and joined him at that time. From their frontier post he reported back to the State Department about the efforts of various Communist factions – Chinese and Russian – to win military and…
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Amazing Paxtons in China – Part 3
Vincoe Charity Mushrush Paxton Click here for Part 1 — Paxton Origins, or Part 2 — The Young Hall Paxton. Part 2 ended with the marriage of Hall Paxton and Vincoe Mushrush. This flashback talks about Vincoe. Vincoe Charity Mushrush was born March 18, 1906, in Lawrence, Illinois. She was the daughter of Oscar and Clara Allen Mushrush, the youngest of four daughters. Her parents divorced in the 19-teens – unusual at the time. Vincoe and her sister Birdie remained on the farm with her father. Described as a slight person, Vincoe graduated from Bridgeport High School and continued her education at Wyoming University in Laramie and at Washington University…
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Amazing Paxtons in China – Part 2
The Young J. Hall Paxton If you missed Part 1, click here to read the beginning of this story. Hall Paxton spent the first twenty-three years of his life living alternately in the United States and China. He returned to America in 1912 to attend Pittsburgh’s Brookline Public School. One year later he returned to China, entered the Shanghai American School, and graduated with a high school diploma in 1917. Hall came back to the United States once more in 1917 to the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and then attended Yale College. He graduated from Yale with a B.A. in 1922. In the fall of 1922 Hall matriculated at…
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The Hamlin House, 138 Sutherlin Avenue
The house at 138 Sutherlin Avenue was one of three built by real estate developer and recently appointed president of Anderson Lumber Company, Powhattan Fitzhugh Conway. The enterprise Conway oversaw was a product of the consolidation of Bass, Brown & Lee Manufacturing and F.L. Walker. A year after Conway built his own home at 134 Sutherlin Avenue, he oversaw the construction of 138 on behalf of his wife’s sister and her husband, J. Turner Hamlin. The two sisters married their husbands on the same day – Valentine’s Day 1894. Hamlin married Mary Newell Brown, one of thirteen children born in 1870 to John Thompson Brown and Elizabeth Harrison of Richmond.…
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Amazing Paxtons in China – Part 1
Paxton Origins In his excellent book, If Streets Could Talk (available on Amazon), Dr. R. Lee Wayland tells much about the Paxton family. John W. Paxton was born in Rockbridge County in 1786. As a young man, he learned the jewelry art and trade in Lexington, Virginia. He arrived here in the area then known as Wynn’s Falls in 1812. John W. Paxton opened a silversmith shop on the north side of Main Street just above Market Street. He also was an owner of the Red Castle Tavern located at the corner of Main and Union Streets. In 1815, he married Sarah Coleman Price and with her had four sons and…
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The P. F. Conway House, 134 Sutherlin Avenue
In 1896 the undeveloped property at 134 Sutherlin Avenue was purchased by Alfred Anderson. A few months later, Anderson sold it to Robert Brydon, and in October of that same year it was sold to Powhatan Fitzhugh Conway who purchased the lot for $1,000. Mr. P. F. Conway was born 1867 near Danville. According to his published biography, he spent much of his youth in poor health and consequently was forced to quit school at a young age. He took his first job at seventeen for Messrs Bass, Brown & Lee who, at that time, operated the largest coal, wood, and manufacturing business in Danville. Four years later, in 1890,…
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The W. P. Boatwright House, 142 Sutherlin Avenue
The home at 142 Sutherlin Avenue was built contemporarily with its neighbors at 138 and 134 Sutherlin Avenue and were among the first homes built on property that was once a portion of the rear yard of Sutherlin Mansion. Development of Sutherlin Avenue began in 1890 when William T. Sutherlin (at left) offered up for sale a sizeable portion of his land. It was necessary he raise $30,000 in order to pay a debt to Thomas Fauntleroy of Campbell County. The land up for sale was that which was situated on Sutherlin Avenue and bordered by Chestnut and Green streets. A group of interested parties came together to purchase the…
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Popular Toys – 1921, 1946, 1971, 1996
Lincoln Logs were first patented in 1920 and were the Christmas toy of choice in 1921. Invented by John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the first sets were used to build cabins. Later, sets were available to build larger structures. In 1946, 75 years ago, metal was available to toy manufacturers for the first time since the beginning of the war. The big winner that year was Lionel Trains with their ability to go fast or slow, forward or back. Fifty years ago, Weebles were the toy of choice. Kids were hypnotized by their erratic movements. Somehow, the advertising that said, “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall…
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Christmas in a Textile Town
Despite our best intentions, Christmas traditions change. Children grow and start families of their own, economic prosperity wanes and grows, wars are waged and won (or lost), and pandemics descend and retreat. Here’s a glimpse into the changing atmosphere surrounding the celebration of Christmas for Danville in years past with the intention of offering some perspective on these trying times. (Above image from unknown Danville performance of 1920, Danville & Pittsylvania County Memories, Danville Register & Bee) On September 29, 1930, the mills of Danville which famously hummed day and night, came to a sudden and ominous stop when textile workers went on strike. The silence lasted through Christmas and into…
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The Crumpton Curse
William Crumpton was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1811 and arrived in Danville in 1868. Having acquired a lot on the old Salisbury Road, he hired William E. Boisseau and James E. Perkins to build a house there. In the contract, Mr. Crumpton specified that the house should be brick, “on land newly purchased by Crumpton between the property of John F. Ficklen and John W. McKinley.” The structure was to be fifty feet wide in front with one and a half foot thick walls and four chimneys. It was described by Danvillians as being out in the woods, on the unpaved country road (now 344 West Main Street). More…
