Cedar Hill/ Old Wiley Place
- Jay Brothers
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
College Hill Rd. Oxford, MS
Circa 1852. 2-story frame home
North of Oxford, just above Ole Miss Golf Course
Yancy Wiley (1806-1886) and Anna Elizabeth Thompson Wiley(1812-1850) (1831) built the Old Wiley Place. They were with a group of Presbyterians from North Carolina moving into the newly opened upper Mississippi lands. His family was from the Leasburg and Yanceyville area of NC. Anna was the sister of Jacob Thompson and died prior to house completion. Wiley married two more times: Anness Lea Wiley (1815-1862)(1855) and Mary M. Wiley (1827-1901)(1867).
After the initial settlement, Wiley amassed about 2,600 acres of land by 1846 and was a prominent planter in the area. He built a new home for his family and named it Cedar Hill for the row of cedar trees lining the driveway from the main road. A daughter, Elizabeth Catherine “Katie” Wiley (1846-1919), married George Miller (1840-1897), and they inherited the property. A relative by marriage, Stark Young, who would become a noted writer, would regularly visit.
It was in poor shape from the turn of the century well past the 1920s.
In 1956, Lt. James Murry “Jimmy” Faulkner (1923-2001) and Nancy “Nan” Watson Faulkner (1925-1984) bought the property. He was the son of Dolly and John (JWT) Falkner of Brand/ Memory House. He was a retired engineer and contractor with Faulkner Construction. Jimmy wrote two books about his family: Across the Creek: Faulkner Family Stories (1986) and Brother Will’s Passing (1992). They restored Cedar Hill properly. Jack Mayfield noted a story that Wiley had buried family silver about the place to keep it from the Yankees. When Jimmy F. was digging post holes, he found a coin and silver spoon with a “W.” See Brand Memory House
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