690 Adams Ave. Memphis, TN
Circa 1848. Originally 2-story farm house
The J. Lee, Jr. House was built by William Clay Harsson (1804-1867) and Eliza Schwatka Harsson (1804-1853). They wed in 1830 and had a large family of seven children. Harsson was a lumberman.
In 1849, Charles Wesley Goyer (1824-1881) married Laura Agnes Harsson Goyer (1831-1867) and moved into the home. Goyer had been a grocer but changed into banking and became wealthy. Three years later, in 1852, the Goyers purchased the home from her parents. After Laura and her father died of yellow fever, Goyer remarried to her sister, Charlotte W. Harsson Goyer (1842-1905) in 1868. Goyer, Charlotte and 10 children lived at the mansion. The various relatives remained there until 1890. Between 1853-1873, they expanded the home - making a Victorian-Italianate style and adding a 3rd floor and a tower.
Evidently multiple relatives added their touches to the house so it showed an eclectic style.
Eighteen-ninety saw the home sold to James Lee, Jr. (1832-1905) and Rowena Bayliss Lee (1840-1919). They married in 1858. Lee Jr. was a law partner in Vollentine & Lee and practiced maritime law. In 1877, he joined the family enterprise and became a riverboat captain and superintendent of the Lee Line Co. Lee was also on company boards: Memphis Mercantile Exchange, Board of Public Works, First National Bank and Board of Fire and Police Commission, among others.
They gave the home to his daughter, Rosa Lee (1859-1936). She donated the place to the City of Memphis to use as the James Lee Memorial Art Academy - later becoming Memphis Art Academy, among other names. They had several children. Sarah Lee (1861-1948) married and divorced Sam Phillips. Their daughter Lady Lee Phillips wed Walter Edge in 1905. Walter was a governor of New Jersey and an ambassador to France. Robert E. Lee (1863-1942) wed Elizabeth Morrow in 1908. Robert was head of the Lee Line family business from 1895-1913. Rowena Lee (1882-1968) married Walter Teagle in 1907. Teagle became head of Standard Oil of New York (now Exxon Corp.). James Lee III (1967-1919) wed Bodien Warriner,a daughter of his father’s law partner. He was involved with both family businesses and his own. Bayliss G. Lee (1870-1926) wed Minnie Wright in 1917 but later divorced. He was involved with the steamboat company and with Bohlen Huse Coal and Ice. G. Peters Lee (1872-1933) wed Edna Hill Lee in 1910. He worked with the family business and continued a separate one after the Lee Line dissolvement in 1926.
In 1959, the property became vacant because the arts college moved to Overton Park. Rosa Lee had also purchased the neighboring Woodruff-Fontaine and the City of Memphis appropriated money to keep up that property - not touching the locked and shuttered Lee home. The property remained vacant for about 50 years.
In 2013, Jose and Jennifer Velasquez purchased the Lee Jr. House to use as a Bed and Breakfast. They were partners with J. W. Gibson and Kathy Buckman Gibson. In 2014, the place opened as a luxury B&B, The James Lee House Bed and Breakfast, in the Victorian Village District.
Sources:
Own site
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