Nutwood: The 19th Amendment

3212 Freno Lane Donelson, TN

Circa 1880. 2-story Victorian style home

Built on crest of Todd's Knob.

James Todd (1749-1815) and (Sarah) Jane "Jennie" Buchanan Todd (1760-1802)(m.1777) moved to the area in 1779. Coming from Pennsylvania, they were part of the famed Watauga Settlement and then moved onto the French Lick settlement (soon to be Nashville). Jennie's parents were Maj. John and Jennie Buchanan, also early settlers and lived at Buchanan's Station in the same area. In 1784, Todd was granted 640 acres for his Revolutionary War service and settled on the rich land east of Nashville in what became Donelson. The area was between the Cumberland and Stones Rivers and included the high elevation now known as Todd's Knob. After Jennie died, Todd and his extended family left his land and journeyed to Ohio.

At some point, Alex Perry (?-1927) and Ann Perry purchased the land. They built Nutwood in 1880 on a large farm well east of Nashville by "Todd's Knob." The land was across the road from the McGavock's Two Rivers farm.

In 1927, former Gov. Albert Houston Roberts (1868-1946) purchased 150 acres from Perry heirs. He was a lawyer who served as a state court judge and then had been the 33rd governor of Tennessee (1919-1921). He called the legislative session where the 19th Amendment was passed. Roberts planned to retire to the land. Land was divided among eight other heirs. Roberts eventually amassed 600 acres which included Todd's Knob. Roberts' first wife, Nora Dean Bowden Roberts died in 1932. He then married Irone Arnstein Roberts in 1934. She owned a home on Lauderdale in Cherokee Park which she did not give up immediately. Sadly, she died in a freak accident at the West Nashville home in 1935. Roberts then wed Mary Edwards Roberts. They divorced in 1944.

After Roberts died, his children sold the home and property to the developers Criswell, Freeman and Nokes. They developed the Lincoya subdivision. See Buchanan's Station