Page 9 - Demo

Plat of land sold by Eliza Payne to James Holmes in 1902.
Image from Bedford County, VA Deed Book 83 page 45.
Approximate overlay of James Holmes’s tract on modern GIS map of Lynchburg.
Image courtesy of Marjorie Huiner.
Above: Plat of land showing lots sold to J. H. Hancock in 1909.
Image courtesy of Marjorie K. Huiner
Right: Remaining land owned by R. M. Thurmond after 1917 sale to James
Gorman.
Image courtesy of Marjorie Huiner
FALL/WINTER 2011 29
The Land: 1817–1917
In 1906, Russell M. Thurmond purchased two tracts of land totaling 38 acres. By 1917, only 20 acres remained in his name.
The smaller tract, about 9 1⁄2 acres, was the residue of a larger tract that had been purchased by Burton Shepherd in 1891 from E. H. Acree. Thurmond owned the land for five years, until 1911, when he sold it to Emanuel Goodman.
The larger tract, about 28 1⁄2 acres, had a history of being owned by Thomas Whittington (before 1817), James Whittington (1834), Thomas Wilkins (1843), Charles Ryan (1846), Judge William Daniel Jr. (1854), Dr. Robert S. Payne (1862), Frank G. Scott (1872), back to Payne (1875), Payne’s son Alexander Spotswood Payne (1876), and Alex- ander Payne’s sister Eliza R. Payne (1886) before being sold to James Holmes in 1902. In 1906, Holmes sold the land to Russell Thurmond. This tract was one of three tracts that were at one time included in
a 136+ acre farm, located on both sides of Lexington Turnpike and farmed by tenants.
In 1909, Thurmond sold about 81⁄2 acres of the primary parcel to James H. Hancock, the owner of Hancock Buggy Company on Church Street in Lynchburg. In January 1917, James Gorman bought 1 1⁄2 acres from the rear portion of the Thurmond land on Trents Ferry Road, in exchange for six shares of Smith-Pocahontas Coal Company stock, leaving almost 20 acres, part of which was later developed into Greenway Court.