1737 Harbert St. Memphis, TN
Circa 1853. 2-story Victorian style home
Soloman Rozelle (1777-1856) was a pioneer and one of first white settlers in the Shelby Co. area in 1815. He was a French Huguenot and fled to America to escape persecution. His wife was Mary Davis Rozelle (1779-1864), and they married in 1800. Coming from Massachusetts, he purchased about 800 acres of land from the new town of Memphis in 1815 and increased his holdings from there. He settled a plantation of about 1,600 acres and owned much of modern-day Midtown Memphis as a very wealthy planter from today's fairgrounds area to Bellevue, north to Union and well below South Parkway.
Soloman's brother was Rev. Ashley B. Rozell who was married to Martha Ann Chambers Rozell. They owned Mountview/ Davis-Rozell in Williamson, Co. They had a great prosperity with about 1,650 acres in AR, 110 acres in Memphis and their Brentwood lands.
He was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Blackmon "Black" L. Rozelle (1818-1903) inherited a portion of the estate. He was married to Elizabeth C. “Lizzie” Lyon Rozell (1830-1887). He practiced medicine in Memphis and northern Mississippi and farmed his plantation.
The neighborhood of Central Gardens was part of the large Rozelle estate with the first homes built about 1853. Descendants of Rozelle built the Rozelle home on Harbert St. and its neighbor Clanlo Hall were the first homes. Their son Rev. Claibourne W. (C. W.) Rozell and Anne E. Fant Rozelle (1830-1920) had 30 acres. They wed in 1850.
Judge Roland purchased about 40 acres from B. L. Rozelle for his home Clanlo. Another neighborhood is now called Rozelle-Annesdale, and Rozelle built his home on the edge at Lamar Ave. and Southern ave. near the Southern Railroad. Lamar Ave. was called Pigeon Roost Rd. at that time. Rozelle is remembered with Rozelle St., Rozelle-Annesdale neighborhood, and Rozelle Elementary School. See Mountview/ Davis-Rozell
Sources:
Elmwood 2002: IN the Shadows of the Elms, Perre Magness, p. 55
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