Maud Butler Falkner House
- Jay Brothers
- May 2
- 1 min read
510 S. Lamar Blvd. Oxford, MS
Circa 1931.
The home was built on a portion of the city block owned by William Faulkner’s grandfather, J.W.T. Falkner “Young Colonel.” J.W.T. sold a parcel of the block to Standard Oil Company (which now had a Chevron gas station on it).
This Falkner home was built by Murry Cuthbert Falkner (1870-1932) and Maud Butler Falkner (1871-1960). It is the only remaining portion of the estate of Col. J. W. T. Falkner. Murray worked as a young man at the railroad his family owned. When the railroad was sold, the M.C. Falkner family moved to Oxford and this new home. They had four sons: William Faulkner, Murray Charles Falkner, John Wesley Thompson Faulkner, and Dean Swift Falkner. After her husband died in 1932, Maud remained until her death in 1960. Maud became a painter late in life and gained regional renown.
Their son, Dean Swift Falkner (1907-1935) and Frances Louise Hale Meadow Falkner (1913-1994) were the next owners. Falkner was an aspiring writer like his older brother.
At some point, Maud’s granddaughter, Dean Faulkner Wells (1936-2011) and Larry Wells inherited the home. They own the Yoknapatawpha Press in Oxford. Larry is an author and historian. After her father Dean was killed in a plane crash, daughter Dean was adopted by her uncle William Faulkner and raised at Rowan Oak. In 1973, Dean was a French and English teacher at Oxford High School as well as a writer. She wrote the Ghost of Rowan Oak and an autobiography Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi.
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