Aunt Nan's Hotel

Papa’s sister, Aunt Nan (Nancy) and her husband also lived in Murchison and owned and operated a hotel there with about ten or fifteen rooms. There was a porch all around on the ground floor and on the second floor. I used to sit and play jacks on the second floor porch.

Aunt Nan was Papa's half sister, in fact. Both of them were Cornelius’ children—Papa was from Cornelius’s first marriage (to Emmaline) and Nancy from his second (to Sophiria).

Aunt Nan was kind to every one, and I adored her. She continued to run her hotel—The Murchison Hotel—for many years after her husband died. Her daughter and her family moved in with her and they continued to accept guests.

When Aunt Nan's 80-year-old daughter could no longer look after her in that large home/hotel, they both moved into a nursing home in Athens.

Aunt Nan was just as sharp mentally until she died at 103 years. They brought her home to the hotel for each of her birthdays after she was 100. They had a party, and everybody in Henderson county came.