ROBERT BELL COLLECTION

East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, TN 37614-0138

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Telephone: (423) 439-4338

INTRODUCTION

Title:	Robert Bell Collection
Collection Number:	Accession No. 71
Physical Description:	9 Photographs
Creator:	Robert Bell
Repository:	Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance: The photographs of Gray Mansion, Gray, Tennessee were donated to the Archives of Appalachia by Robert Bell, Route 16, Box 85, Gray, Tennessee 37615 on January 31, 1980.

Access: The collection is open for research.

PRocessing Information: Georgia Greer completed processing, and the collection was open for research in 1988.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Gray Mansion was built by David Kitzmiller with slave labor, using bricks made on the grounds. It was completed in 1828. It was located on the northwest side of Gray behind the fairgrounds. The Kitzmiller mansion was the center of a typical southern plantation complete with its own slave house, central kitchen, two ice-cold springs to furnish water, and a smokehouse. A stagecoach route from Knoxville, Tennessee to Abingdon, Virginia began at the mansion's side entrance.

The Kitzmiller house was decorated in bold colors. Pink went on the woodwork of the ballroom, chair railing, and shutters. The double mantels in the ballroom were black, and the room had an orchestra gallery. The library was done in shades of blue-green. One bedroom, marbled in Dutch blue to the molding, had bright blue woodwork. In the drawing room were 14 kt. gold flowers drawn on fabric-backed paper.

David Kitzmiller, age of 96, died a man of very modest means. He was living in a log cabin on Ford Creek. He was in poor circumstances because his cash had been of worthless Confederate currency, and he had been forced to sell his mansion and some of his property to pay his taxes in 1860. The house was purchased by the Roller family of Kingsport.

In 1894 James Gray, "Uncle Jimmy", bought the Roller House and 300 acres of land for $40,000. Late in life he married a widow, Mrs. Vertie Boreing Irvin Gray, who had one son and two daughters. Mrs. Gray's parents were Peter and Mary DeVault Boreing. Mary DeVault Boreing was a granddaughter of David Kitzmiller who built the mansion. Therefore, one relative lived and died in the old home place. After Vertie Gray's death, the mansion went to John T. Bickley and then to Carolyn Craven of Knoxville and Dr. Sam Bickley of North Carolina (children of John T. Bickley).

The old home was rented for years, and then it fell into a sad state and was torn down in the late 1960's. Mrs. Craven took the elegant doorway, some mantels, and hand-hewn trim to Knoxville for her home overlooking the Tennessee River.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

Organization: The prints have been placed in the photograph storage area according to accession number.

ROBERT BELL COLLECTION
ADDITION

Description: Nine negatives and contacts (with duplicates); 1 home remedy book; 2 newspaper clippings; and 5 photocopies of family history information from a family bible, 1832-34, 1857, 1880, 1898, 1910.

Provenance: The addition to the Robert Bell Collection was donated to the archives by Robert Bell on June 24, 1991. The negatives were made by archives staff from originals loaned to the archives by Bell.

Processing Information: Marie Tedesco completed processing on the addition, and it was opened for research in 1991.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The materials in the Bell addition cover a variety of topics. The negatives and contacts, for example, depict church life, recreation and industry in Limestone Cove and Johnson City, Tennessee. The remedy book contains home cures for various illnesses and injuries, whereas the clippings focus on genealogy and the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway.

Two of the photographs are dated 1898 and 1910, while the materials copied from the Bible are dated 1832-34, 1857 and 1880. Other materials are not dated.

Organization: The photographs have been placed with the original Bell accession, while the remaining materials have been placed in 2 folders and added to the small collections.