Veasey-Roberts House

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.)

One of three very similar large, two-story brick Foursquares constructed in a row in late 1920s by contractor T.H. Lawrence with salvaged materials from Julian S. Carr's razed mansion, Somerset Villa. All feature exterior end chimney with corbelled stack and full-facade hip-roofed porch, granite sills, floor plan with wide center hall; all interior fixtures and trim from Carr's house. They are distinguished by their rooflines and porch supports. This house has a pedimented gable end roof, two gabled attic dormers, and porch supports of box posts on brick plinths.

(The information below in italics is from the Historic Preservation Society of Durham Plaque Application for the Veasey-Roberts House)

The Exum A. Rogers House is significant for its connection to three prominent Durham families: the Markhams, the Mangums, and the Carrs. It is named, however, for longtime resident Exum A. Rogers, whose family lived in the house from 1949 to 1992. The Markhams were merchants with Matthew Markham operating a clothing store in Downtown Durham and his brother, John M. Markham, listed as a real estate agent in the 1930 federal census. J. M. Markham owned land throughout Trinity Park and in 1914 he purchased land on the north side of the 1000 block of Green Street from W.P. and Myrtle Clements. In the late-1920s, he had three brick homes erected on the site; the houses are rumored to have been constructed with materials, including interior woodwork, salvaged from Somerset Villa. While it is difficult to confirm this claim, the time of their construction certainly lends credibility to the assertion. 

Somerset Villa was constructed for Julian Shakespeare Carr in 1887-1888 and stood on the north side of Peabody, occupying the entire block between Dillard Street and Reams Avenue. The house was impressive in scale and detail with seventeen rooms, ten bathrooms, and the finest finishes and furnishings imported from all up and down the eastern seaboard. Carr, made wealthy by the success of the textile industry in North Carolina and instrumental in Durham's early political scene, died in April of 1924 and his grand home was opened to the public for his funeral. After his death, Somerset Villa, too large to serve as a private residence and considered old-fashioned in the roaring 1920s, was dismantled and the land divided into fifty building lots and sold at auction in 1925. Construction began on three houses on Green Street soon after. The houses were built for John M. Markham by contractor T. H. Lawrence and were completed by 1927 when the three homes are listed as "vacant" in the City Directory. Lawrence was prominent contractor in Durham and is credited with constructing a number of buildings throughout Trinity Park including the Powe Apartments at 603 Watts, the Carr Junior High School (now Durham School of the Arts), and the Steele House at 116 N. Buchanan. He is listed as a contractor/general builder in the 1924 "Who's Who in Durham, North Carolina," a business directory produced by the Chamber of Commerce. 

Markham appears to have operated the three houses on Green Street as rental properties into the 1940s. Complete in 1927, the earliest known resident of 1008 Markham is Wade Walters, a machine operator listed at the house in 1930. The house is listed as vacant in 1935 and in 1940, Alex M. Worth, a life insurance agent with Northwestern Mutual Life, occupied the house with his wife, Martha, and their two children, Alex and Martha. It is assumed that the residents changed frequently during the home's time as a rental property. In April of 1942, Markham had the land subdivided into three lots, selling each lot soon after. 

In September of 1942, the house at 1008 Green Street was purchased by Luther Alfred Veasey and his wife, Ethel Mangum Veasey. Luther was raised a farmer and Ethel was the daughter of Maynard and Julia Mangum, a well-known Durham family, for which Mangum Street is named. Maynard Mangum was prominent in the tobacco industry (city directories lists him alternately as a farmer and tobaccoist) working with Umstead, Mangum, & Co. and Star Warehouse in the nineteen-teens and -twenties. He was also a real estate investor and builder constructing a number of homes north of Downtown Durham. His personal home still stands at 1111 N. Mangum and the 1930 federal census lists L. Alfred and Ethel Veasey as co-residents of the grand house with Maynard, Julia, two other Mangum daughters and a roomer. Veasey was himself active in the Durham tobacco industry, listed in the census as a buyer for Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company and it is probable that tobacco was his connection to the Mangum family. Luther A. and Ethel M. Veasey were in their fifties and fourties respectively when they purchased the house on Green Street in 1942. They lived there only a few years; Luther died in May of 1948 at the age of 63 and Ethel died seven months later at age 56. Her heirs sold the property in 1949. 

The house was then purchased by Exum Allen Rogers and his wife, Genevieve. Exum was the eldest son of John and Estelle Rogers. In the 1920 census, the Rogers family was listed at 206 Liberty Street in Durham. John Rogers operated a wholesale store and may have been related to the owners of the Roger's Drug Store. By 1930, John Rogers had died and Exum had married Genevieve Myers. The couple rented space at 204 Liberty, next door to the Rogers family home, and lived there with the owners Augustus M. and Mattie J. Maring. In 1930, Exum is listed as the manager of a farmer's supply store. Exum and Genevieve Rogers purchased the house at 1008 Green Street in 1949, after the birth of their children Anne Marie Rogers (Shawcroft) in 1938 and Allen Rogers (birth date unknown). By 1950, Exums was listed in city directories as an examiner for the U. S. Office of Housing Expeditor. His obituary indicates that he went on to be a real estate agent in Durham for many years. Little else is known of the Rogers family, but they occupied the home at 1008 Green Street for over forty years. Exum A. Rogers died in 1979, and Genevieve continued to own and occupy the house until 1992. 

The house changed ownership several times around the turn of the twenty-first century and was purchased by the current owner in 2005. At that time the house was fully renovated and a two-story addition was erected on the rear of the house.