2720 East Broad Street

A Story of a House with Many Mysteries — and the Vanished House Next Door

December 28, 2024

The house at 2720 East Broad. Photo by Kathi Clark Wong.

The story of the house at 2720 East Broad is also the story of a manor next door that is part of Richmond’s vanished landscape. It starts in the earliest days of our country’s history, first following the lives of wealthy families and then later those of more modest means. It is the story of both strident slaveholders as well as abolitionists, and of a precocious young man who became a medical doctor at age 17 who enters the stage in the early 1900s and stays as a popular practitioner until his death in the 1950s. We learn about early toll roads, a luxury food seller in the 1800s, early horse racing, the challenges of re-building Richmond after the Civil War, and the existence of an incredible collection of 12,000 phonographic records. As a bonus, for the first time, the production period of the incredibly detailed map that appeared of Richmond after the Civil War, called here the Michie Map, is clarified, a help for dating the buildings that appear on it.

                

For the complete story of the home, click here for the PDF:

A Social History of the House at 2720 East Broad

(PDF last revised January 2, 2025)

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Following (for internet search purposes) are names of persons who appear in the narrative accessible by downloading the PDF. The maiden names of married women, when known, are in bold in this list. Following the names list is a list of general tag terms from the PDF narrative.

  • Walter Dotts
  • Jennie Dotts
  • Walter Parks Shelton (b. 1777, Hanover County; early 1800s in Richmond; d. 1852, Memphis, Tennessee)
  • John Shelton (1700s, Hanover County)
  • John Shelton II (1700s, Hanover County)
  • Patrick Henry (b. 1736, Studley, Virginia; d. 1799, Red Hill, Virginia)
  • Sarah Shelton Henry (late 1700s, Hanover County)
  • Anne “Nancy” Price Shelton (early 1800s, Richmond)
  • William Clayton Williams (early 1800s, Richmond)
  • Thomas Maule (early 1800s in Richmond)
  • William H. Shelton (b. early 1800s, Richmond; d. 1850s?, Memphis, Tennessee)
  • Robert W. Shelton (b. early 1800s, Richmond)
  • Mary Shelton Ruffin(b. circa 1805, Richmond; d. 1853, Memphis, Tennessee))
  • enslaved persons of Walter Shelton: Tom Jefferson, Tom Sharp, Ben, Esther ( 1821, in Richmond)
  • Eleanor Shelton (b. circa 1806, Richmond)
  • Walter Marrin Shelton (b. 1812, Richmond)
  • Susannah Grumarian Lewis (lived circa 1812 in Richmond/Henrico County)
  • John Price (d. 1815 or 1816, Henrico County)
  • John Coles (mid 1700s, Henrico County)
  • Mr. Guilford (mid 1700s, Henrico County)
  • William Byrd (1700s, Richmond and Henrico County
  • Col. Richard Adams (late 1700s, Richmond and Henrico County
  • Charles Wills (early 1800s, Richmond and Henrico County)
  • Phillip Turner (b. 1799, Hanover or Henrico counties)
  • Samuel Myers (circa early 1800s in Richmond)
  • William Clayton Williams (circa 1800s in Richmond)
  • 11 enslaved people of John Price and later Walter Shelton: Daniel, Charlotte, Hannah, Washington, John, George, Polly, Tab, Lucinda, Davie, and Robert (early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • enslaved persons of John Price (d. 1815) and their new enslavers: Isaac, Patrick, and Maria, who went to Marrin Price; Tom, Nelson, Morris, Fanny, Patsy, John, and Milley, who went to John Price, Jr.; Patton, Grace, Judy, Miles, Philona, Davie, and Stephen, who went to Rancis R. Price; Randolf, Amy, Patsy, Major, little Sylvia, Moses, Isaac, Ned, and Jacob, who went to Wilson Price; Biddy, Tiller, Agnes, Tom [son of Biddy] and Emmanuel, who went to Susan Carter; Delphia, who went to Mary Price.
  • John Adams (early 1800s, Richmond Hill Turnpike Company)
  • Samuel G. Adams (early 1800s, assoc. with Richmond Hill Turnpike Company)
  • George W. Smith (early 1800s, assoc. with Richmond Hill Turnpike Company)
  • John Enders (early 1800s, assoc. with Richmond Hill Turnpike Company)
  • William Selden (early 1800s, assoc. with Richmond Hill Turnpike Company)
  • Philip Duval (1819, near Richmond)
  • W. B. Chamberlayne (1819, Richmond)
  • G. H. Bacchus (1819, Richmond)
  • Alexander B. Shelton (late 1700s, Hanover County)
  • Mary R. Lewis Price (late 1700s and early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Gilley Lewis (early 1800s, Richmond)
  • John Van Lew (1800s, Richmond)
  • Elizabeth Van Lew (1800s, Richmond)
  • Eliza Van Lew (1800s, Richmond)
  • Susan Price Carter (1800s, Richmond)
  • Richard Carter (1800s, Richmond)
  • Elvira Carter (1800s, Richmond)
  • Francis R. Price (1800s, Richmond)
  • John P. Price (1800s, Richmond)
  • William Depriest (1800s, Richmond)
  • Samuel Garthright Jr. (alternate spellings: Gathright, Garthwright)(b. 1781, likely just east of Henrico County; d. 1831)
  • William Garthright (d. 1783, Henrico County)
  • Seven enslaved people of William Garthright: Guy, Sutte(?), Inch(?), Harry, Famer(?), and Major (late 1700s, early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Elizabeth M. Frayser Garthright (early 1800s, Richmond)
  • Andrew Frayser (d. 1804, Henrico County)
  • Joseph Garthright (d. 1795)
  • Phoebe Hattock Garthright (d. 1810)
  • John Goode (early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Enslaved teenager of Samuel Garthright, Walker (late 1700s, early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Dabney Garthright (b. 1789, likely just east of Henrico County, in Richmond in the early 1800s; d. 1839, Richmond)
  • 14 enslaved people of Samuel Garthright: Isaac, Giles, Henry, Harry, York, Henry Jr., Charles, Abraham, Pleasant, Amey, Siley and child, and Nelly and child (late 1700s, early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Nancy Garthright Mettert (late 1700s, early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • George W. Goode(late 1700s, early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Martha Goode Steane(late 1700s, early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Sallie Garthright (b. 1834, d. 1854, Richmond)
  • Mary (aka Molly) (b. 1836, Richmond)
  • Free Black John Bee (b. 1815, Richmond)
  • Free Black Israel Bee (late 1700s, early 1800s, Richmond)
  • Jane Poitiaux Lucke Garthright, later Stegal (variant: Stegall) (b. 1815, Richmond; mid 1800s in Richmond; d. 1884, Boydton, Virginia)
  • Gustavus Lucke (b. circa 1793, Germany; d. 1834, Richmond)
  • Sarah Hunter Lucke (early 1800s in Richmond)
  • William H. Fitzwhyllson (early 1800s in Richmond)
  • Christian Bohn (early 1800s in Richmond)
  • Christian Lucke (early 1800s in Richmond)
  • John B. Pitkin (early 1800s in Richmond)
  • Enslaved woman of Dabney Garthright, Henrietta (early 1800s, Richmond)
  • Enslaved man married to Henrietta, Frank (early 1800s, Richmond)
  • Charles A. Farley (mid 1800s, Richmond)
  • John Goode, Jr. (mid 1800s, Chesterfield County)
  • Twelve enslaved people of Dabney Garthright: Sam White, Moses, Joshua, Lawrence, Abram, Patrick, Ned, Beverly, Oney and her child Jane; Henrietta and her child, John (1839 in Richmond)
  • Giles W. B. Hale (mid 1800s, Richmond)
  • Hiram Harris (mid 1800s, Richmond)
  • Elizabeth Harris (mid 1800s, Richmond)
  • Sixteen enslaved people of Jane Garthright: Oney and her two children, Lelly and Milly; Henrietta and her four children, Robert, Elizabeth, Marietta, and Milly Ann; and Sam, Ned, Noses, Beverly, Joshua, Lawrence, Abraham, and Patrick (1830s in Richmond)
  • Joseph Stegal (b. 1813, probably Pittsylvania; mid 1800s Richmond; d. 1880, Boydton, Virginia)
  • Eliza Ann Stimpson Stegal (early 1800s, Pittsylvania)
  • James Stegal (b. 1836, probably Pittsylvania; d. 1859, Galveston, Texas)
  • Luther Libby (mid 1800s, in Richmond)
  • James G. Blakey, Jr. (mid 1800s, in Richmond)
  • Lydia Hale Stegal (b. September 30, 1850, Richmond)
  • Mr. Pacio(?) (mid 1800s, in Richmond)
  • Martin Taylor (mid 1800s, in Richmond)
  • Christian Lucke Stegal (b. January 1854, in Richmond)
  • T. Nailor (mid 1800s, in Richmond)
  • E. R. McNaught (mid 1800s, in Richmond)
  • Enslaved person of James Stegal: James Robinson
  • Enslaved person, Jane Conway
  • Henry Stegal (b. 1856, Richmond; d. 1856, Richmond)
  • Hunter Garthright Stegal (b. 1856, Richmond)
  • Thomas Nowlan (mid 1850s, in Petersburg and Richmond
  • James Peay (b. circa 1809, New Kent County; mid 1800s in Richmond
  • Susan Ann Richardson Peay (mid 1800s in Richmond)
  • Margaret A. Peay (b. 1837, Richmond)
  • Benjamin C. Peay (b. 1841, Richmond)
  • Sarah T. Peay (b. 1843, Richmond)
  • Leonadus (Rosser) R. Peay (b. 1845, Richmond)
  • Arabella Peay (b. 1847, Richmond)
  • Enslaved person of James Peay: Lucy (b. 1839, Richmond)
  • Ada L. Peay (b. 1860, Richmond)
  • John T. Pollock (b. 1838, probably Richmond)
  • Addie Pollock (b. 1844, probably Richmond)
  • Ann Eliza Peay (b. 1854, Richmond; d. 1856, Richmond)
  • John Richard Peay (b. 1856, Richmond; d. 1856, Richmond)
  • Richard Duesberry (mid 1800s in Richmond)
  • George F. Sinton (mid 1800s in Richmond)
  • Dr. Robert B. Lyne (b. 1804 in King and Queen County; mid 1800s in Richmond)
  • Enslaved person of Dr. Robert B. Lyne: William Foster
  • E. A. J. Clopton (mid 1800s in Richmond)
  • Judge John C. Clopton (early 1800s, Henrico County)
  • Mary A. Lyne (b. 1801, likely King and Queen County)
  • Bettie C. Lyne (b. 1838, Richmond)
  • Mary (Mollie) C. Lyne (b. 1842, Richmond; d. 1860, Richmond)
  • William Lyne (b. 1843, Richmond)
  • Robert B. Lyne, Jr. (b. 1848, Richmond)
  • Wickliffe C. Lyne (b. 1851, Richmond)
  • Ella Lyne Samuel (b. 1831, probably Richmond)
  • Arthur L. Samuel (mid 1800s in Richmond)
  • Joseph Allard III (b. January 7, 1830, Baltimore, Maryland; in Richmond by 1865; died January 6, 1891 in Richmond)
  • Joseph Allard II (b. January 15, 1805, Shrewsbury, England; in Baltimore by 1818; died December 19, 1880 in Baltimore)
  • Amelia Wilhelmina Lawrence Allard (b. about 1810 in Maryland)
  • Thomas B. Allard (b. 1812, Shrewsbury, England; in Baltimore by 1818)
  • Joseph Allard I (b. 1771, Shrewsbury, England; in Baltimore by 1818; d. April 12, 1859, in Baltimore)
  • Brayn Maria Cureton Allard (b. 1775 Shrewsbury, England; in Baltimore by 1818, d. August 9, 1837, in Baltimore)
  • Susan Baseman (variant: Beasman) Allard (b. May 1834, Maryland; in Richmond by 1866; d. February 11, 1909, Richmond)
  • William Beasman (variant: Baseman) (b. June 4, 1748, Baltimore County, Maryland; d. October 11, 1827, Baltimore County, Maryland)
  • Joseph Allard IV (b. November 28, 1855, Baltimore; in Richmond by 1866; D. November 17, 1917, Henrico County)
  • S. H. Howell (mid 1850s in Washington, D.C., doing business in Richmond in 1865)
  • C. B. Church (mid 1850s in Washington, D.C., doing business in Richmond in 1865)
  • James Hickman (1860s in Richmond)
  • “Mr. Seaton” (1860s in Alexandria, Virginia)
  • Peter Smith Michie (b. 1839, Brechin, Scotland; by circa 1849, in Cincinnati, Ohio; in Richmond 1865-approx. 1867: d. 1901, West Point, New York)
  • Loyd Hamilton (b. 1849, probably Baltimore; in Richmond by 1870)
  • Albert L. West (mid to late 1800s, Richmond)
  • Blanche Randall (b. June 3, 1859, Freeport, Maine; in Richmond by 1877; d. December 6, 1919, Richmond)
  • George Wiltshire Randall (b. August 13, 1827, Freeport, Maine; in Richmond by 1877; d. May 20, 1897)
  • Martha Leigh Armstrong Randall (b. October 12, 1828; in Richmond by 1877; d. August 9, 1892, Freeport, Maine)
  • Elizabeth Burnham Baseman (variant Beasman) (b. about 1807, Maryland; d. December 9, 1891, Richmond)
  • Bettie Cox (born into slavery in 1862, likely Warsaw, Richmond County, area; in 1880, was in Richmond)
  • Adam Cox (b. 1829), Maria Cox (b. 1841), Lucy Cox (b. 1851), Rose Cox (b. 1858), Evelena Cox (b. 1850), Mary A. Cox (b. 1862 (all likely from the Warsaw, Richmond County, area)
  • Mike Kelly (1880s in Richmond)
  • Dorcas Bell, freewoman (circa 1760 – circa 1850 in Richmond)
  • James Bell, former enslaved person (mid to late 1800s in Richmond)
  • Samuel A. Goodwin, John M. Keegan, John R. Charlton, Walter L. Gordon, John W. Williams, Nicholas W. Davis, Henrietta Stoeks, Sallie B Talman, Carter Talman, George W. Hopwood, Walter McFadyen, Mrs. S. J. Owne, Joseph H. Sewell (a younger and older) (all in Richmond in the late 1800s and early 1900s)
  • Dr. George Washington Gay (b. August 1881, Scotland Neck, Halifax County, North Carolina; d. 1950, Richmond)
  • Dempsey Gay (b. 1815, Edgecomb County, North Carolina; bef. 1880, North Carolina)
  • Mary Ward Gay (b. 1810, Edgecomb County, North Carolina; d. 1898, Edgecomb County, North Carolina)
  • William Dempsey Gay (b. 1879, Scotland Neck, Halifax County, North Carolina; d. 1908, Richmond, Virginia)
  • George Wesley Gay (b. 1849, North Carolina; d. 1930, Richmond)
  • Laura Elizabeth Carlisle Gay (b. 1852, North Carolina; d. 1928, Richmond)
  • John Wilson (early 1900s in Richmond)
  • Dr. R. L. Kern (b. circa 1871; early to mid 1900s in Richmond)
  • Julia Clare Bickers Gay (b. 1877, probably Virginia; early to mid 1900s in Richmond; d. 1965, Norfolk, Virginia)
  • Ernest L. Bolling (in Richmond in 1905)
  • Beulah Burch (in Richmond in 1905)
  • M. L Compton (in Louisa County and Richmond in 1916)
  • Frank Jones (in Louisa County in 1916)
  • Henry G. Blanche (in Richmond in 1929)
  • George W. Gay (b. 1905, Richmond; d. 1972, Norfolk)
  • Genevieve Nance Bootright (mid 1900s in Richmond)
  • Violet Parker Cousins (mid 1900s in Richmond)
  • Robert Henry Bowen (in Richmond in 1925)
  • Ernest L. Faison (in Richmond in the 1960s)
  • Beatrice W. Faison (in Richmond in the 1960s)
  • John Edmon Doughty (b. 1903; d. 1999, Norfolk, Virginia)

Other search terms: vanished house, Richmond Hill, Church Hill, Totopotomoy Creek, Rural Plains, St. Martin’s Parish, Mutual Assurance Society, Works Progress Administration (WPA), tobacco, turnpikes, turnpike charter, Brook (variant: Brooke) Turnpike, Freeman’s Tavern, Richmond Hill Turnpike Company, Eagle Tavern, Chickahominy Turnpike, Yellow Tavern, Dabney’s Tavern, Panic of 1819, mahogany, Cold Harbor, Quakers, tobacco factory, Henry “Box” Brown, inheritance law, apprentice, horse racing, Monsieur Tonson, thoroughbred, Second United States Bank, states’ rights, guardian, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Unitarian Universalist Society, First Independent Christian Church, Timoleon, Sir Charles, colt, Tree Hill, Whitby, Sally Walker, Sir Archy, Second Baptist Church, premarital agreement, John Enders, St Charles House, luxury groceries, luxury food, Huguenot Springs resort, omnibus, winter of 1856, Hygeia Hotel, Greenbrier resort, Civil War, economy, medical care of slaves, 23rd Virginia Cavalry, Camp Mortion (Indiana), Confederate Navy, slave hiring, E. A. J. Clopton, Confederate Army substitutes, civil defense, assessment of slaves to perform labor for the Confederacy, slave jail debt, religious zeal, Baltimore, Shrewsbury (England), Charles Darwin, St. Mary’s Church (Shrewsbury), St. Chad’s (Shrewsbury), Wales, carpenter, Baltimore civilian militia, Exchange Building (Baltimore), Mechanics’ Bank (Baltimore), first Civil War bloodshed, Baltimore Light Infantry, 2nd Maryland Volunteer Infantry, Army of the Potomac, Tennessee campaign, Kentucky campaign, Post of Frankfort, Kentucky, Army of the Ohio, social justice, Methodism, Westminster (Maryland), Washington Bureau of Freedmen and Government Farms, Reconstruction, Freedmen’s Bureau, carpetbagger, lumber, Doc Street, schooner, lime, bricks, orphanage, soup house, Howard’s Grove Hospital, Ebenezer Church, coffin, Chimborazo, school house, Alexandria, West Point, Civil War Map of Richmond, cartographer, engineer, Army of the James, XXV Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, field survey, post-war economy, pardon of landowners, rail delivery of lumber, Baltimore Brick Company, Moore Planing Mill, Konservative Kampaign Klub, Ku Klux Klan, Deutsche Shutzen Gesellschaft, St. Patrick’s Catholic, Leisure after the war, Long Depression, Albert L. West, Freeport (Maine), Maine 25th Infantry, State, War, and Navy Building, Old Executive Office Building, Chesterfield County granite quarry, market farmer, Warsaw (Richmond County), junkyard, rights of the enslaved to inherit property, Scotland Neck, Halifax County, North Carolina, Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, Scotland Neck Military Academy, Wake Forest College law school, Vine Hill Academy, Richmond College, University College of Medicine (UCM), Medical College of Virginia (MCV), Virginia Home for the Incurables, Richmond Academy of Medicine and Surgery, Maxwell 30, Methodist Women’s Mission Conference, Methodist orphanage, motor vehicle registration, Methodist Institute, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Auburn coupe, Henrico Union Lodge 130, A.F. & A.M. (Freemasonry), Woodmen of the World, 2800 Park Avenue, The Web (University of Richmond yearbook), Baptist Young People’s Union, John M. Burton Pharmacy, Medical Arts Building, Physicians Apothecary, First and Merchants National Bank of Richmond, gun collection, saloon pistol, pepper box revolver, Wells Fargo colt, Pennsylvania King of Prussia marble, fall of Richmond, Burnt District, shackles, Exchange Hotel (Boydton), Buffalo Lithia Springs resort, St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery, superintendent of schools, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Richmond), Eastville Baptist Church (Norfolk), natural and experimental philosophy, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and its architecture.