Preston St. Jackson, TN
Circa 1848
Bellwood has ties to the Pinckney, Middleton, Donelson, McLemore, Jackson families.
The home is located to the north of the business district on current Preston St. and a gate with a long driveway opened on current N. Hays Ave. Built on Hays Hill where Hays’ mother Jane Hays had lived in a double log home until her death in 1833.
After the Mexican-American War, Gen. Samuel Jackson Hays (1804-1866) and Frances Pinckney Middleton Hays (1813-1865) built their large mansion. It was supposedly the grandest home in Jackson. They were one of the largest landowners in the South. Hays was born and raised in Haysboro, a settlement just north of Nashville. His parents were Col. Robert and Jane Donelson Hays and was the nephew of Andrew and Rachel Jackson. Frances was the daughter of Gov. John Middleton of South Carolina and niece of Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Hays went to Washington, DC to act as a secretary for his uncle Pres. Andrew Jackson.
For years, the Hays couple had lived in a home on Miller Hill which they purchased from Col. Robert I. Chester, Hays’ brother-in-law. [The home had been built by George Miller, president of the Bank of Madison in the 1850s - thus Miller Hill.] The Memphis and Ohio (M & O) Railroad went through part of the property in a cornfield. A son, Andrew Jackson Hays, married Elizabeth Walker Hays, a granddaughter of John C. McLemore, another Memphis family. They moved to Memphis.
Another son Capt. (John) Middleton "Mid" Hays (1843-1926) married Sallie Parker Caruthers Hays (1848-1890) in 1868, and they resided at Bellwood. Salllie was the sister of Stoddert Caruthers of S. Caruthers Home. After Capt. Hays death, the home was sold out of the family.
After 1926, the house was purchased by Billy Kirby. He added a 2nd story to the home.
In the 1970s, (Robert) Kent Gardner (1924-2007) restored it. Gardner had a column in the Jackson Sun and a tavern. There have been several owners since. See Stoddert Caruthers Home
Sources:
Jackson & Madison Co. A Pictorial History, E.I. Williams, M Smothers, M. Carter, 1988, p.37
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