|
"Tanglewood"
its History
Where Rob Moore professes his love to the
Little Colonel
a Lloydsboro (Pewee) Valley Landmark
Go to Tanglewood
in the Little Colonel Stories
Tanglewood’s exterior as
it appears today.
According to the Statement of Significance submitted by Historic
Pewee Valley to the National Register of Historic Places:
Tanglewood is a rare example of a
nineteenth century house whose building date and specification are
well documented in a newspaper advertisement for the sale of the
house. On July 30, 1869, in Louisville’s “Courier-Journal,” appears
the following ad:
For Sale – in Pewee
Valley – “Hillside Cottage” and 10 acres ground – lies immediately
on the Railroad adjoining St. James Episcopal Church and
within a 5 minutes walk of the
depot. The house is being built and will be ready for
occupancy August 10, is Swiss in
style and contains 10 rooms, has all requisite closets
with storerooms and cellar. Must be
seen to be appreciated. Will take good low-priced
unimproved city property in part
payment. Apply on the premises to John F. Dickson,
Trustee.
The ad …establishes that the house was
built on speculation. A deed search indicates that the property was
purchased in February, 1869 by Louisa Dickson, wife of John F.
Dickson, and in April was sold to Jonas H. Rhorer and Charles B.
Cotton, two Pewee Valley residents who were involved in a great number
of local land transactions during the late 1860s and 1870s. The
property, still identified as Rhorer’s on Beers and Lanagan’s
1879 map of Pewee Valley, was exchanged
back and forth between Rhorer, Cotton and several other business
partners during the 1870s before being sold as a result of Rhorer’s
extreme financial difficulties. Nothing is known of J. H. Turner, the
1884 purchaser of the property. Turner and his family owned the house
until 1911, making them the longest owners until the present resident,
who has owned the property since 1951.
The name “Tanglewood” has been
associated with the house at least since the turn-of-the-century, when
Annie Fellows Johnston used it to name this property, which figures
prominently in several of her Little Colonel books… on the 1879 Beers
map, the name “Tanglewood” appears on the
property immediately north of the present day Tanglewood, suggesting
that the name had an earlier origin.
Research conducted in 2003 by University of Kentucky archeologist Jay
Stottman traces the estate’s name to the early 1820s when the land was
owned by the Souther family, who came to Kentucky from Culpepper,
Virginia. The following genealogical information on the Southers was
supplied by Richard Dennis Souther of the Souther Family Association in
Honolulu, Hawaii:
- Henry Souther (October 1, 1775- Nov 15 1843) married Anna Wilhoit
Souther (1776-January 25, 1861) on February 26, 1801 in Madison
County, Virginia. The couple owned 10 slaves and had eight children:
- Amelia Souther (February 28, 1802-April 24, 1862) buried in
Floydsburg Cemetery in Crestwood.
- Elizabeth Souther (December 28, 1804.- December 17,1877) who
married to Thomas Oglesby. She is buried in Floydsburg Cemetery.
- Michael Souther (February 26, 1806 – December 29, 1859) who
married Catherine Clore (March 11, 1812-February 15, 1872), daughter
of Solomon and Roseanna Clore, on September 21,1830 in Oldham County.
Both are buried in Floydsburg Cemetery.
- Louesa Souther (September 4, 1808 – January 12, 1874) who married
Charles Calloway Isaacs (October 12, 1808 – January 12, 1874) on
January 29, 1835 in Oldham County. They are buried in Floydsburg
Cemetery.
- Henry Isaacs Souther III (April 1, 1810 – April 13, 1842)in Oldham
County, KY. He married Nancy Tandy on November 7, 1837 in Carroll
County, KY. He is buried in Floydsburg Cemetery.
- Julia Ann Souther (November 4, 1814 –February 22, 1900) who
married Zachariah Gibbs Head on September 16, 1834 in Oldham County.
She is buried in Floydsburg Cemetery.
- Catherine Souther (May 17, 1819 - ?), who married William Henry
Fields on November 27, 1839 in Oldham County, KY.
- William Souther (March 28, 1822- ?) who married Elizabeth M.
Walton on October 19, 1852 in Boone County, KY.
Henry and Anna Souther’s oldest son, Michael, also settled in Pewee
Valley and was the first owner of Beechmore,
which served as the model for the home of Great Aunt Sally Tyler in the
“Little Colonel” stories. The couple lost four children while living
there and buried them somewhere on the property in a small family
cemetery. Though Stottman’s extensive excavations never determined where
the cemetery was originally located, the headstones that once marked
their graves have survived and are pictured below.
The headstones of Michael and Catherine Souther’s first four children.
The names and dates on the markers are:
William H. Souther (September 2, 1848 – September 9, 1849)
George Anna Souther (July 18, 1840-August 8, 1849)
Roberts M. Souther (February 13, 1835- December 18, 1838)
Guy Souther (June 26, 1837- August 21, 1849)
Stottman believes the headstones were moved at some
point after Catherine Souther sold the family farm and moved to
Brownsboro, where she was residing at the time of the 1870 census.
Before Michael died in 1859, the couple had two more children: Ida
Michael (February 5, 1853 - ? ) and Mary C. (August 21, 1855 – October
21, 1860). Mary is buried with her parents in Floydsburg Cemetery. Only
Ida survived to adulthood. She married Marcus Edmund Speer on April 22,
1869 in Oldham County and eventually settled in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Ida Michael Souther Speer at about age 40,
(left).
With her husband, Marcus Edward Speer
on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1919, (right)
No trace is left of Henry and Anna Souther’s home on
Tanglewood’s property. When the current owners rerouted the driveway,
they uncovered many shards of white china decorated with tiny blue
flowers. The shards were located near the site of a small cabin that had
belonged to an African American family (Robert and Arlene Carr were
living there in the late 1940s, according to Louise Herdt Marker) and
was still standing when the Gleasons bought Tanglewood in 1951. Whether
the china and cabin were remnants from the Souther era is unknown.
**********************
Central Park
For a time, the residents of Pewee Valley used the front portion of
the 16 acres now associated with Tanglewood as a public park, marked as
Central Park on the 1879 Beers & Lanagan map.
This park may have been Annie Fellows Johnston’s model for “Taylor’s
grove” mentioned in
Chapter VII of “The Little
Colonel’s House Party,” when the girls were each given horses and
ponies to ride during their stay in Lloydsboro Valley:
They were all ready to start, so we
went galloping down to Judge Moore’s after Rob, and the five of us
raced all over the valley till nearly lunch-time. It was grand. The
dust flew, and people ran to the windows when we went by, as if we had
been a circus.
We did have a sort of circus when we
passed by Taylor’s grove. A Butchers’ Union had come out from
town for a big picnic, and they had a brass band with them. It struck
up a waltz just as we reached the grove, and Joyce’s pony, Calico,
began turning around and around as if he had lost his senses. Joyce
screamed and threw her arms around his neck, frightened almost to
death until Rob called out that Calico was dancing, and for her to
hang on and see what he would do. What he did was to stand on his hind
legs and dump Joyce off into the middle of the road.
This old pump on Tanglewood’s present
grounds once served as the City Drinking Well,
according to research done by the Gleasons.
**********************
The Proverbial “Handwriting on the Wall”
During a recent renovation, clues to the people who once dwelled in
the 1869 villa were uncovered beneath layers of wallpaper on the plaster
walls. Jonas, Sam and McKee Barclay signed a wall on May 18, 1879. They
were the grandchildren of Jonas H. Rhorer – the land speculator shown as
Tanglewood’s owner on the 1879 Beers & Lanagan
map.
According to “The Biographical Encyclopedia of Kentucky,” J.M.
Armstrong & Co., 1878, Cincinnati, Ohio, Bowling Green native Thomas P.
Barclay married Jonas Rhorer’s daughter, Louisa, on April 28, 1864 two
years after moving to Louisville. He spent his first year in Louisville
working as a cashier at the Savings-Bank of Louisville and probably met
his future father-in-law there. Louisville’s 1859 City Directory lists
Jonas H. Rhorer as treasurer of the Louisville Savings Institution
between Main and Market on Fifth Street. A year later, Barclay
established a manufacturing company which later became known as the
Kentucky Bell Factory at 310 E. Main Street in Louisville. The company
manufactured plows and stock bells.
The Thomas Barclay family is listed in both the 1870 and 1880
censuses as living in the Rollington area, presumably in Tanglewood.
Thomas and Louisa had six children in 1880: Jonas, 15; Samuel, 13;
McKee, 10; C. Julia, 7; Thomas, 5; and Louise, 2.
By the 1900 census, the family was living in Baltimore Ward 17,
Baltimore City, Maryland and Thomas Barclay, now 60, had the title
“Reverend.” His wife, Louisa, was still living and there were several
children in the household: Thomas P, 25; Louisa, 22; and Melvin, 18. The
family may have been forced to vacate their home in Pewee Valley – and
flee the Louisville area entirely, for that matter -- in the wake of a
huge financial scandal involving Jonas Rhorer and the Louisville Savings
Bank. The scandal is mentioned briefly on page 8 of the document,
“Suburban Development in Pewee Valley, 1851-1935,” submitted to the
National Register of Historic Places in the early 1990s, which notes
that Rhorer was forced to surrender all his property to the Savings Bank
of Louisville in 1879 and that the bank itself failed the same year.
Rhorer’s name was attached to seven Pewee Valley houses between the
1860s and 1870s and he was also partial owner of other properties
through a “Building Association,” which was constructing houses – such
as Tanglewood – on speculation. “Clearly,” states the National Register
for Historic Places submission document, “a lot of the bank’s money must
have been tied up in Pewee Valley real estate.”
The Turners purchased Tanglewood in 1884 and owned it until 1911,
during Pewee Valley’s “Little Colonel” era. Signatures of A.M. Turner
and Henry M. Turner were also found on Tanglewood’s walls during recent
renovations, as well as the signatures of several Butlers. According to
the 1910 census, Harry Turner and his wife Clara were living in the
house with their 13-year-old daughter Mary. Little else is known about
the Turner family. As far as we can ascertain, Annie Fellows Johnston
didn’t use the Turners as models for characters in her “Little Colonel”
tales.
**********************
Recent History & Lore
After the Turners sold Tanglewood, the house changed hands many times.
Research done by the Gleasons shows past owners included the Rubels, Dr.
Allen, the Christmans, the Youngs, Dr. John Casper, the Swinneys and the
Tinsleys. The Gleasons purchased it from the Tinsleys in July 1951.
Like nearly every historic home in Pewee Valley, there is a suicide
associated with Tanglewood. On June 4, 1947, Stuart Marshall Swinney took
his own life there. He was 50 years old and suffered debilitating health
problems. For several years after his death, his wife, Nell Hudson
(Wilson) Swinney, took in boarders before selling the property to the
Tinsleys. Among those who rented apartments from her were Dot Stackhouse
Douglas (now Matthews) and her first husband, Les; and Louise “Sis” Herdt
Marker and her husband, Louis “Bud.”
One of the stories that has circulated about Tanglewood for years is
that during Prohibition, gin was concocted in the second floor bath tub in
the base of the tower. Barrels of the libation were supposedly rolled down
its wooden staircase, wreaking havoc on the spindles.
Above, Tanglewood’s stone entrance gate and sign. Did it once have
a "Great Gate" like the one Annie Fellows Johnston described the
entrance to Green Acres?
Below, the barn built by the Gleason family, which has owned the estate
since July, 1951.
For many years, the donkeys and miniature horses they raised were a
familiar sight
to Pewee Valley residents.
Return to
Tanglewood in the Little Colonel Stories
Page by Donna Russell
This Site:
Home Page
What's New? Biography of Annie Fellows
Johnston,
Books on Line (Complete
Original Little Colonel Book Series)
The Little Colonel (link to U. Penn))
The
Giant Scissors
Two Little
Knights of Kentucky
The Little Colonel's
House Party
The Little Colonel's
Holidays
The Little Colonel's Hero
The Little Colonel
at Boarding-School
The Little Colonel in
Arizona
The Little
Colonel's Christmas Vacation
The Little Colonel, Maid of
Honor
The Little Colonel's
Knight Comes Riding
Mary Ware, The Little Colonel's
Chum
Mary Ware in Texas
Mary Ware's Promised Land
Check our home page for more titles by AFJ on other sites
The People & Characters:
The Little Colonel, Papa
Jack and Mrs. Sherman, The
Old Colonel, Two Little
Knights of Kentucky,
Two Little Knights of Kentucky(2),
Uncle Sidney & Aunt
Elise, parents of the Two Little Knights of Kentucky,
Grandmother McIntyre,
Aunt Allison, The
Waltons, Rob and Anna
Moore, Betty,
Joyce Ware,
Jack Ware, Mom Beck,
Walker, Katherine Marks,
Gay Melville,
The Lees of Arizona,
Small Parts
Their Final Resting Places
The Places: in Pewee (Lloydsboro) Valley:
Map,
Map 2,
Where it all began, The Locust,
The Beeches
Edgewood,
The Little Colonel's Cottage,
The Railroad Station,
"Lloydsboro Seminary",
Clovercroft, The
Post Office, Churches,
The Haunted House at Hartwell Hollow,
Confederate Home
Rollington,
Minor Places In Old Louisville:
The Culbertson
Mansion, "Home of a Hero" Elsewhere:
The Cuckoo's Nest (Indiana),
Lee's Ranch,
Camelback Mountain &
Hole-in-Rock (Arizona),
San Antonio and
The Little Town of Bauer (Boerne),
Texas,
The Gate of the Giant Scissors (France)
Letters from Annie
Fellows Johnston and "Mrs Walton"
Scrapbook
Links
Cooking with The Little Colonel
Guest Book
Email us about this site
We always appreciate your suggestions and insights, and will do our
best to answer your questions.. Much of the material included on
this site comes from devoted Little Colonel Fans like you.
Subscribe to our mailing list
Visit historic Old Louisville
on the web at the:
Old Louisville Guide
(Old Louisville and
Literature)
The Samuel Culbertson Mansion
Historic Inn
in Historic Old Louisville
(your host for this web site)
Home Page
Rooms Page
Annie Fellows Johnston
Room The East
Room The
President's Room
The Little Colonel Suite
The Knights of Kentucky
Suite
The General Lawton
Suite
History
Samuel Culbertson & the
Kentucky Derby
General Henry W.
Lawton
The Samuel
Culbertson Mansion
"Home of the Two Little Knights of Kentucky"
1432 S. Third Street
Louisville, KY 40208
(502) 634-3100
inn@culbertsonmansion.com
original material & research ©
1998-2007 LittleColonel.com
|
This web site is devoted to
