Dr. Peyton Henderson Robertson (1787-1840) married Ellen Mordant Davis (1804-1874) in 1820.
He had studied medicine at the University of Maryland and at Transylvania. The Robertsons bought their home and land in 1835 from George A. and Sarah Glover. It was a 2 story Italianate home with 139.5 acres. It was located at 4200 Delaware about a mile west of Barrow’s Hill. Peyton was a son of Nashville founding family, James and Charlotte Robertson and was an important physician. Ellen was the daughter of John Davis of Devon Farm. Dr. Robertson only lived there 5 years before his death. Ellen remained at her home about 20 more years.
She sold the house to another West Nashville native Judge Abram L. DeMoss in 1859. DeMoss was related to the DeMoss family of Belle Vue. DeMoss owned Bellfield for nearly 30 years. In the 1870s he was a Criminal Court judge and in 1873 was a trustee for the University of Nashville.
He sold Bellfield to the Nashville Land Improvement Co. before 1887. In 1887, two investors, J.L. Valentino and L. Roseheim, purchased the land and planned to convert the house into The West Nashville Hotel. They opened as The Hotel Delaware and operated until 1891.
Then Mrs. Georgia Eastman, who had organized a committee to provide a Christian home for orphan children, purchased the property in 1891. The Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home operated there for 20 years until 1911 when the organization moved to property on Franklin Rd. Bellfield was razed later in the 20th century. See Belle Vue, Devon Farm, Richland
Sources
Nashville Pikes Vo. 4 Charlotte, Clifton and Hydes Ferry Pikes
West Nashville it’s peoples and environs
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