Page 127 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams

Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

The Queen Anne House

April 5,1994

The Queen Anne-style house located at 207 South Marion Street (across St. Johns Street and

south of Earl Giebeig’s Amoco station) attracts a lot of attention because of its decorative, frilled
architecture. A longtime local resident, Jimmilu Wellons Chappel, once lived there, so I asked her
to tell me what she knew about the home. Here is her story:

“My grandfather, Albert Sidney Wellons, moved to Lake City from Tifton, Georgia in 1932.
This was during the depression, and it was difficult to find a house big enough to hold our large

family. Finally my grandfather found this house and bought it from Mr. Fred Young, who was in
the hardware business, on October 1, 1932. Two weeks after we moved in, my son Dick Chapple,

was bom in the downstairs bedroom, delivered by Dr. James Bishop.
“My grandfather had many of our relatives living with us at that time: his wife, Alice

Wellons; his sister-in-law, Jimmie Lee Barfield; my husband, Richard Chapple; our baby, Dick
Chapple and me. Times were very hard due to the Great Depression and we needed more money so

my grandfather had four bedrooms and two bathrooms built onto the back of the house to make
money taking in tourists. The house was used as a tourist home for many years. Then when the

house was no longer used as a tourist home, the four rooms were removed.
“J. M. Barfield died in 1936 and Alice Wellons died in 1939 but my grandfather lived until
1955. Jimmie Lee Barfield, who never married, died a few years later and the house was left to my

brother and me. We later sold it to Dr. Marcello and that ended our relationship to the house.”
My sincere thanks go to Jimmilu Chapple for sharing this interesting chapter in the life of

this showcase home which has now been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the
United States Department of the Interior.

A SUPERHUMAN FEAT - You have all heard stories of people who performed
extraordinary feats in an emergency. Here is one such story about a Lake City man who lived here

in the early 1950s. Monroe “Bo” Cannon, five feet-eight inches tall and 140 pounds, was attending
summer National Guard camp when a serious accident occurred. The heavy metal turret from an

army tank fell on the legs of Bo’s friend, fellow Lake Citian George Catledge. Quick as a cat, Bo
rushed to George, and, unassisted, lifted the turret off his legs.

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