Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-06-21
THE HTLL1IAN PROPERTY
4 Romance in Real Estate.

full residence in GAINESVILLE cam
under the auctioneer's hammer
This property was forty years ag
presented by a Mr.. Frazier to hi
niece, Mrs. G. x. Henry, nee No
CIure. The young lawyer, sine
known as the Eagle Orator of Ten
nessee, was then beginning to tast
the prosperity which awaited hi
transcendent talents as an advocate
and the darling Object of his effort
was to convert the home thus &C
/ quired into a paradise for the lady
through whom he had come int
possession of it. Groves were plant
ed, gardens were skilfully planned
the house was altered and enlarged
and furnished with taste and ele
gance, and soon with its flower
and fruits and the cool shadows o.
its lawns it became the most at
tractive home in GAINESVILLE, and
the genial hospitality of its prOprie.
tor, graced by the winning urbanity
of its lady mistress, rendered it a
centre of attraction for all who could
appreciate the union of high breed
ing with kindliness of heart.
But reverses came, and with an
aching heart our friends were COM
PEELED to relinquish the home which
had become, as it were, incorpo-
rated with their life, the home in
which their children had been
born and in 1858, just twenty
years after it had become their
property, the Henry homestead was
sold to George Hillman, Esq. Mr..
Hillman had been engaged in the
fatal iron business, an occupation
which has made every man in
Tennessee who had touched it sud-
denly rich and then suddenly poor.
He came into the property mil
Honaire, and while he continued so
his munificence and charities were
those of a millionaire; suffering and
sorrow and restitution had only to
become known to him to enlist the
succor of full purse and an open
hand. The Christian Church in
GAINESVILLE, Of which he is a consist
ent member, is the offspring of his
liberality, and charity was daily
work with him. He raised two
families in the old mansion in
which he hoped to die amid his
children and his children's children;
but the inevitable revulsions of the
iron trade came upon him, and
after several manful efforts to re-
trieve his broken fortunes, after re-
tanning the property for the same
term, twenty years, as that during
which Major Henry held it, the
estate was again offered for sale last
fall. Circumstances have changed
with our people, and few of them
care to undertake housekeeping on
as large a scale as was customary
before the war; there were no pur-
chasers. Finally it was announced
that the estate would be divided
and sold in lots, and last Saturday
was set for the auction.
To those who had become at
tached to the old place the idea of
seeing it cut up into building lots
was painful. Hope, however, of
preserving it was encouraged by the
terms of sale, which provided that !
after the lots had been separately |
of the whole was to be put |
up at the price which the aggregate
of the separate lots amounted to,
when, if an advance on that aggre-
gate was bid, it would pass undi- !
vided to the highest bidder. The |
house lot was the first put up, with |
276 feet frontage on Second street,
and after a rather slow competition |
was knocked down to Mr.. Patrick |
Henry for $1,000. Mr.. Henry also
in getting the next lot
south of this, of 80 feet frontage, for
81 OPS. 1t became evident that Mr..
P. H. intended if possible to repur-
chase his fathers old home at which
he was born. For the next two lots
$50 feet front in alD a spirited COM
petition took place. Mr.. A. r.
Hall, represented by A. G. Good
lett, Esq, had set his mind upon
the beautiful grove as a pleasant
site for building a residence. After
4 brisk contest between him and
Mr.. Patrick Henry the two were
down to Mr.. Hall for ST.
300. The garden lots north of the
house lots were now disposed of to
Messrs. J. J. Crusman and R. D.
for $500 and 81 Jos respect
lively, and the aggregate of the sale
in lots amounted to Sl0,835.
Now came the offer of them in
the aggregate, and those who SYM
pathized with Mr.. Henry's lauda-
BILE wish breathed quick $1,000
was bid by him-a long pause-nO
one seemed disposed to bid against
him, and the old estate was again
in the family. The young man had
grown and prospered, and stood the
owner of the ancestral estate. Dur
ing the life of Major Henry we I'M
lerstand that Mr.. Patrick Henry
will occupy the house in which his
father at present liveSRyielding the
family mansion to Major Henry
during his life, so that the grand old
statesman will pass his declining
years under the shadow of the trees
which he planted in his early man.
hood, and there leave them to be
occupied by his children and his
children after him. But,
if this last consummation is to be
Pat. has still something
left to do.
ToRACCO LEAF: I saw in the CHRONICLE
Of last week, in its notice of the exhibition
Of the colored school, that a boy and girl