Located at the corner of Deason and Anderson Streets in Ellisville, MS., the Deason Home is believed to have been completed about 1845. Construction was begun by Ed Chapman, who sadly died prior to the completion of the home being built. Boyles McManus is said to have taken over the task of constructing the home.
Amos and Eleanor Deason were the first family to live in the home, which also contained a 700-acre homestead.
The exterior of the home appeared to have been made of stone but was made of wood. The front entrance to the home has a uniquely shaped hexagonal shaped vestibule with French doors opening onto the porch and was built from virgin pines from the property.
All of the rooms of the home were connected to the outside by a partial wrap-around porch. There were no interior doors or doorways. To go from room to room, one had to go outside on the porch and then enter the door to the room they wanted to enter.
The Deason Home has had only four owners:
Amos and Eleanor Baskin Deason
Issac Anderson, Jr., and his wife, Sarah Rebecca Pool
Welton and Frances Anderson Smith (she is a granddaughter of Issac Anderson Jr.)
Tallahala Chapter NSDAR, Ellisville, MS
In 1991, Mrs. Frances Anderson Smith donated the home to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Tallahala Chapter, with the stipulation that the home be preserved as a historical entity for all of the people of Jones County, both present and future generations.
Now, is the Deason Home haunted or what?
The most famous story of the Deason Home is the assassination of CSA Soldier Major Amos McLemore. The story goes it was on one dark and stormy night in 1863 that Major McLemore stared into the fire in the bedroom he was staying in. He laid his sidearm on the table and wrenched off his mud-caked boots. Unknown to Major McLemore, Newt Knight was on his way to the Deason Home with some of his followers. Newt had proclaimed himself the leader of the bank of Leaf River Rowdies. Supposedly Newt stormed into the bedroom, shot Major McLemore, and vanished into the night. McLemore died in front of the fireplace. The town grieved and swore to avenge McLemore’s death, and Eleanor Deason openly wept as she cleaned the blood from the floor and fireplace. McLemore was taken back to his homeplace and buried.
Imagine Eleanor’s surprise when passing by the room; she saw the bloodstain had reappeared. It is said her arms broke out in goosebumps, and she scrubbed the spot again. Once she was satisfied that the stain was once again cleaned up, she said a little prayer for her fallen friend, but every time it rained and the wind howled, just as it had that fateful night, the bloodstain came back. A second floor has been laid, covering the stain. Or does it? Ask anyone who has stayed in the Deason Home after dark and see what they say.
From oral history, it is indicated that a secret passage in the parlor of the Deason Home. Stories that have been told say that Mrs. Deason stored her gold in this passage for safekeeping, and then there is the story that Mrs. Deason hid a wounded Confederate soldier in the passage when she heard the Yankees were coming.
This home stands to the day in a beautiful setting, much the same as it was in the 1890s, and is owned and operated by the Tallahala Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A book titled The Secrets of Historic Deason Home, as well as other publications, may be purchased by logging on to https://deasonhomepublications.org/, and you can see more information about the Deason home at https://www.facebook.com/DeasonHome/.
The Deason Home is currently closed for maintenance for the summer. Tours will be scheduled for the coming fall season. If you have not yet visited this magnificent home, I strongly suggest you contact the Tallahala Chapter to book a tour. Contact information can be found on https://deasonhomepublications.org/