Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-03-02
An Old Landmark.

Workmen have been busy removing tn
old Spots building, preparatory to the
the erection ofa fine store house for Messrs
Buston & Sons, and in removing the same
are destroying an ancient Landmark arounc
which are clustered many memories.
Beginning with its recent history, it is
the place where Mr.. and Mrs. V. l.. Sex.
ton first had the pleasure of sitting al
their own table, and feeling in truth and
in fact, that they were house-keepers, with
all the pleasure and enjoyment embodied
in that word.
Before them Mr.. and Mrs. ]. G. SPOTS
owned the property and lived there for a
quarter of century, and Mr.. SPOTS mer-
chandieed in the building before convert
ing it into dwelling.
About the year 1870 the Office part was
occupied by John G Watts, then Common
wealth's Attorney, and back of that, it was
occupied by the law firm of Dinwiddie &
Watts.
Before the civil war, John G. Hopkins,
father of Mrs. G. A. Worsham, Mrs.
John w. Crockett, Mrs. G. o. Thompson,
o. E. Hopkins and ]. T. Hopkins of this
county, and Frank and John G. Hopkins
of Kentucky, carried on mercantile bus
mess in this building and back in the
fifties, St, Clair e. Hopkins were merchants
doing business in the same building.
When We reach the forties, Alexander
St. Clair, father of our present Senatar,
Alexander ST. Clair and John. G. Stellar,
merchandised in this house, and laid the
foundation of a handsome estate.
Hon. John w. Johnston, United States
Senator for sixteen years from Virginia,
who built and lived in the handsome resi-
dence now owned by Col. May, built the
little office attached to the building now
being removed, and used it as his law
office for number of years, leaving Taze-
we'll for Abingdon in the year 1859.
The building is said to have been erected
by the parents of Col. John B. and Harvie
George, and in the twenties Col. George
carried on the mercantile business there
in. 1t is said that on buying and bringing
to his store two full bags of coffee people
far and near focked to the store, and the
remark was frequently made that he had
shown great nerve in making such an in
vestiment, and thar it would be long
time before he would be able to dispose
of it. At that time coffee was generally
served for breakfast on Sunday, and then
only by those who were regarded as the
weather. class. Old uncle Johnnie Whit
man, who died number of years ago at an
advanced age, is authority for the fact
that at the time of the erection of this
building, the native forest was still near
the main street of the town, for he told
citizen who is man at an advanced age
that the logs out of which this house was
erected were cut in the forest just back of
the residence of MIR. Smith Lockhart.
After it was occupied by Col. George,
John RAIDER, father of our present
William Z. RAIDER, and grandfather of
George W.. Gillespie, President of our
Bank, occupied the building. Enquiry
from an old citizen, who is in the eighties,
fails to elicit the information as to when
this building was erected, and we, there
fore, take it, that there is now being torn
down one of the oldest buildings in our
town, yea indeed landmark.