In 1886 Mrs. M.C. Wicks obtained the lease and for many years ran a boarding house for students and summer visitors. She had two sons and two daughters. One daughter, Miss Celeste, continued to live in the house, even during its time as the Mary Dabney School. Miss Celeste moved to small cottage nearby a few years before her death in 1947. Wick’s Hall was razed in 1945.
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Gailor, C. (1970). Old Sewanee Houses; The First Fifty-Years, 1860-1910. Unpublished manuscript, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee.
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“Old mothers, as they pass with slow-timed steps,
Their trembling hands cling gently to youth’s strength;
Sweet mothers; as they pass, one sees again,
Old garden walks, old roses, and old loves.” –Charles S. Ross.
(Quoted by the Board of Trustees in her remembrance)

This house was pulled down during WWII to make way for Army Barracks. Mr. Douglas Vaughan said his father got some of the lumber from it, unpainted, but solid stuff still. The building has since been turned into University owned apartments and are named Barnwell Apartments after this family.
]]> Gailor, C. (1970). Old Sewanee Houses; The First Fifty-Years, 1860-1910. Unpublished manuscript, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee.
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After Guerry’s death, the house was bought by Martin Johnson, nephew of Vice-Chancellor Benjamin Finney. Johnson first worked as an administrative assistant to his uncle during Finney’s vice-chancellorship (1922-1938). In the mid-1930s Johnson leased the university farm for approximately 10 years before handing it over to the University. During that time he leased the Guerry House (1941). The house was then leased by Solace Freeman, Bishop Juhan’s son-in-law and commissioner of buildings and lands under Vice-Chancellor Green. The current owners of the house are Dale and Leslie Richardson.
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After Guerry’s death, the house was bought by Martin Johnson, nephew of Vice-Chancellor Benjamin Finney. Johnson first worked as an administrative assistant to his uncle during Finney’s vice-chancellorship (1922-1938). In the mid-1930s Johnson leased the university farm for approximately ten years before handing it over to the University. During that time he leased the Guerry House (1941). The house was then leased by Solace Freeman, Bishop Juhan’s son-in-law and commissioner of buildings and lands under Vice-Chancellor Green. The current owners of the house are Dale and Leslie Richardson
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Mrs. Galleher was known for her beauty and personality; she was also known for her famous pet, Pierce Galleher. Pierce could predict precisely when the chapel bell going to ring, and five or ten seconds before it sounded, he left home and made a beeline for old St. Augustine’s, racing to get to his place on the chancel. After Bishop Galleher died in 1891, Mrs. Galleher ran the house as a boarding house for summer visitors until she was 85. The day before Thanksgiving 1924, the yardman was burning leaves, some were caught by the wind and set ablaze the leaves in the gutters of the house. The house was vacant because Mrs. Galleher was wintering in New Orleans. There was no effort made to save the house since the fire was too far advanced when discovered. The Kirby-Smith house next door was saved by the use of wet blankets placed on the roof where sparks landed. When told the news Mrs. Galleher calmly said, "I had the house when I needed it most and now it doesn't matter."
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Gailor, C. (1970). Old Sewanee Houses; The First Fifty-Years, 1860-1910. Unpublished manuscript, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee.]]>
In 1973 the house was bought by William R. Irwin and his wife Helen Louise Prince Irwin. Louise’s mother was a Hawkins, Irene Hawkins Prince. ]]>
J. Gipson, personal communication, July 11, 2017
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In 1973 the house was bought by William R. Irwin and his wife Helen Louise Prince Irwin. Louise’s mother was a Hawkins, Irene Hawkins Prince.
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J. Gipson, personal communication, July 11, 2017
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In 1973 the house was bought by William R. Irwin and his wife Helen Louise Prince Irwin. Louise’s mother was a Hawkins, Irene Hawkins Prince.
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J. Gipson, personal communication, July 11, 2017]]>
C. Houston and Jessie Beaumont were next to live there. Houston Beaumont was executive vice president of Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company and Jessie was a local artist. She made “Belleek” porcelain and would show her creations at the spring and fall arts and crafts fair in Sewanee. Her specialty was Nativity scenes. Jessie began making Belleek porcelain at the insistence of her late son, known as “Bink,” who studied art at Saint Andrew’s School. Using his molds, she started the hobby and has perfected her craft through trial and error. She built a garage adjacent to this house to have a kiln room. She also has a talent for poetry and her book of poems, “Reflections in Rhyme” has been printed by the University Press. Many of the poems relate to childhood memories, others to seasons, one is on being a grandmother. In the late 1970s the couple moved to Destin, Florida, selling the house to the University. In 1984 Evelyn and William Brown Patterson bought the house. A Rhodes Scholar and professor of history at Davidson, Mr. Patterson became a dean of the University in 1980. Dean Patterson has been honored by the National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship for younger scholars; a first-year graduating fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies; the visiting fellowship at St. Edmund’s House, University of Cambridge; the Folger Shakespeare Library’s short term fellowship; and a fellowship from the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for research in the Humanities. Evelyn Patterson was also a scholar, educated in classics at Smith College and Harvard University.

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Sewanee Office of Public Relations, personal communication, 1980.
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