Another Antebellum House has been lost.

Shelby County and Montevallo have lost another antebellum home, the residence of Dr. John Baker Wilson, son of Benjamin and Hannah ( Harless ) Wilson. An ancient oak tree fell, crushing the middle of the house. The owner felt the cost of repair would be too much. No one had lived in the house for years. The land was originally the site of Jesse Wilson's log home, on the bluff above the Big Spring near the house. The house was possibly built by Jesse's son William A. Wilson sometime in the 1820's. He moved to Coosa County about 1832. The family cemetery eventually became the Montevallo City Cemetery. Jane Wilson McQuirter ( Mrs. Francis McWhirter/ McQuirter) was buried there with a tombstone in 1820. Her tombstone is the oldest in the cemetery. Jesse Wilson wife Elizabeth also died in 1830 and is buried there along with another daughter. Jesse Wilson, credited as Montevallo's first settler and founder, died suddenly at his second farm near Selma and is buried there along with other daughters, the graves marked by a single obelisk. The Montevallo property passed eventually to Dr. John B. Wilson, William's first cousin. Dr. Wilson's granddaughters Mary and Ella Peters told me of their childhood days at their grandfather's home. Mary was born in 1888. Her sister Ella was born in 1891 or 92. I knew them and visited them often while a teen in the 1970's. Neither married. Mary was a Latin teacher and Ella was a secretary. Their father Judge Joseph Lawson Peters was a lawyer. Their mother Ella was daughter of Dr. John B. Wilson. I have the sole leather trunk Dr. Wilson purchased in the 1860's and was used by his daughter Ella to attend college. The family stored butter and milk in the Big Springs.