223 East Lytle St. Murfreesboro, TN
Circa 1848.
In 1848, Adaline “Amanda” Bowman Elliott (1803-1886) built this home on East Lytle St., the intersection of Lytle and Academy. Wed in 1820, her husband James Elliiott (1795-1836) had died over a decade earlier. She remained there until 1865.
Next, John Basey Kimbro (1831-1872) and Amanda Malvina Frazier Kimbro (1832-1906) purchased it. He was an Alderman and a president of the First National Bank of Murfreesboro.
Five years later, they sold the home in 1870 to Capt. Wiliam Northcraft Doughty (1820-1889) and Sarah Jane Abernathy Doughty (1828-1907). Doughty has served in the Indiana infantry in the war, and afterward came with his family to settle in Murfreesboro. Doughty started a dry goods store, Freedman’s Store, on the public square. In 1869, he helped found the First National Bank of Murfreesboro. In the 1872, he had prospered enough to become founder and president of Stones River National Bank. In the 1880s, he founded E.L. Doughty & Co. (farm and carpentry equipment) and started the lumber company Doughty Manufacturing Co.
The year after Sarah died, in 1908, the home was sold to George Washington Howse, Jr. (1860-1928) and Sarah “Lovie” Eakin Howse (1864-1921). One daughter, Elisabeth Howse Ridley, wrote a book, “Falling Leaves,” about her childhood in the Doughty House.
In 1920, William Archibald Miles (1870-1956) and (Mary) Wylene Myrick Miles (1876-1954) bought the home. Miles was one of the first automobile dealers in Murfreesboro. In 1928, a boiler blew in the house and a good portion of the home was very damaged. Miles closed off the damaged portion and continued living there until 1956.
Since then, the E-K-D-H-M house has been converted into 4 apartments with families residing there.
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