Complex sentence: He asked a local resident if she would allow him to preach in her home and was refused, and she also refused him the use of a nearby empty house her husband also owned, so Lee preached under an apple tree.
Split into simpler sentences: He asked a local resident if she would allow him to preach in her home and was refused. She also refused him the use of a nearby empty house her husband owned, so Lee preached under an apple tree.