709 Walls St.

To the left is a picture of Grammy Kelley, Nelly Ethel Witherspoon taken in 1931. I believe this photo came originally from Aunt Fran (Francis Kelley Reeves).

I am still confused about the property at 709 Walls St., which appears below. According to the documents at the Clarendon Town Hall, the property the Tax Assessor directed us to, 709 Walls St. was owned by William Henry Witherspoon and Emily Catherine Broadwell Witherspoon until 1925. We weren't able to find any other property listed during the time we searched, from 1910-1927. This seemed to make sense, at least until I talked to the Smith's later that same day.

I was puzzled that the property was sold in 1925, two years prior to their death, and there was no listing for another property purchased. It seemed clear that this must have been the family homestead.

Upon arrival at 709 Walls St., the owner's dog (I was later advised, "He'll definitely bite if you get too close!"), alerted the whole block to our picture taking party. The daughter came to the porch as I was taking photos in the front of the house. "I should introduce myself, since I'm taking photo's of your house," I said stepping forward. "Why yes," she said, without expression, "I expect that would be the polite thing to do." After the introduction, Mrs. Smith explained, "My husband is changing into his britches before he comes to the door. He just come in from duck hunting and was in nothing but his long johns when you come up."

Mrs. Smith had an abstract of the property which indicated that this property (not the house which was built in the 1960's by Mr. Smith) that the property was purchased from the bank in 1919 by WH and EC Witherspoon, and sold to the next owner in 1921. Mr. Smith, who was born in 1935, reported that there were several pieces of property adjoining this that might well have belonged to the Witherspoons at one time.

We left certain that we were in the right neighborhood, but hoping we could have have identified the property and determined if the original house was still standing.