October 8th, 1862
The road in front of the house was the road to Mackville years ago. It later was replaced by the current Battlefield Road. "Most of the Confederate Army in that area passed on that road" said Kurt Holeman, superintendant of Perryville Battlefield State Park.
John Dye, (1817-1878) apparently lived in the house during the battle, according to old maps. Census records show Dye was 43 years old in 1860, and his wife, Elizabeth, was 32. Their children were Lucretia, 18; Martha, 15, Ruth 13, and James, 8. Dye also had six slaves. He owned 120 acres of Farmland and tax records show he owned 6 horses, seven cows, 4 hogs and 50 pounds of hemp.
Two years before Dye died, he and his wife sold the farm to Silas Tevis in 1876. Tevis sold the place to James T. and Ella J. Moss.
In 1884, J.T. and Mollie Walston purchased the land from the Mosses. The farm stayed in the Walston family for four generations before it sold.
As of the date this page was created, The current owners are Robert and Sue Webb of Perryville. The large two story log house had a cellar and a pantry large enough for a table. All exterier walls, ceiling and floor joist are made of hand hewn logs. The ceiling rafters are made of sassafras wood.
Betsy Leonard Russell of Perryville was born in the house and lived there until she was 22 years old. After her marriage to J.M. Russell, they returned to her homeplace to live until about 15 yrs ago when they moved into Perryville. He and Mrs. Russell sold the house to Jim Crouch. Webb bought it from Crouch.
When Mrs. Russell's father, Jack Leonard, owned the house, it had a little over 100 acres of farmland attached. Webb, who purchased 50 acres and the house, has remodeled the house and put vinyl siding on the exterior. He currently leases the house. "We haven't changed the house much" said Webb. "We've done a little bit of remodeling. The second story front porch was removed and the lower porch replaced years ago and a side porch was also added. The two upstairs doors to the porch were closed."
The house has five rooms and a bath downstairs besides a cellar off the kitchen. There are two bedrooms upstairs. Two exterier doors at the front entrance downstairs leads to a bedroom and a parlor. There were four fireplaces downstairs, but two were closed, according to Mrs. Russell. The floors are made of wide boards and the ceilings are tall. The pantry on the back of the kitchen housed three pie safes at one time. In the summer, the Jack and Bessie Walston Leonard family ate at a large table in the pantry, Mrs. Russell said. The pantry is now used as a utility room.
"It's the coldest house in the winter and the hottest in the summer in Boyle County," said Mrs. Russell. When it was zero weather, Mrs. Russell's mother heated bricks to place at the foot of the bed at night to keep her warm. "I've seen it so cold that a hand lotion bottle on the dresser would freeze and burst," Mrs. Russell said.
When the house was purchased by John T. Walston, and his wife, Mollie K. Walston, his parents, Peter and Elizabeth Wade Walston, probably lived there. The house passed to the Jack and Bessie Walston Leonard family. Their daughter, Betsy Leonard Russell, and her husband J.M. Leonard, were the last of the Walston family to live in the house.
At the time Mrs. Russell was born, four generations of the Walstons lived in the house.
The Leonards were married in the house on Nov 25, 1909. Mrs Russell has a wedding invitation given to her by Mrs. Jack White. She also has some of the wedding gifts her parents recieved, and a graduation announcement of her mother's when she was at Beaumont College.
A barn in the back of the house, (now gone) had an old hay fork on a track to pull hay into the barn. Mrs. Russell said horses would pull the fork down from the barn to the hay, then pull the hay up in to the barn. After it got to the barn door, people on the other side of the barn would pull the hay along the barn loft floor. It was real unusual say Mrs. Russell. "I'd never seen one before. Grandfather had it put in."
Her grandfather, John T. Walston (1860-1917), raised show horses. He probably had the hay fork put in because he used lots of hay to feed the horses that he showed at the county fairs. After he died, his wife, Mollie Walston (1857-1929), stayed with the Leonards, who were occupying the house at the time. She was know as "Miss Mollie" to her grandchildren, according to Mrs. Russell.
Mrs Russell's mother, Bessie Walston Leonard (1888-1976), graduated from Beaumont College in 1909. Her husband, Jack Leonard (1883-1958), graduated from Eastern Ky College, Richmond, and taught at several one room schools for many years. He later became a banker and businessman.
Please feel free to email me if you have any futher questions or would like more information on our little town called Perryville. We have the Battle reenactment in October at the Perryville Battlefield State Park.
Email me here
dsbambie