Later the Don V. Drye Funeral Home
—Latest use Marion County Board of Education Office —
The old C.C. Cambron house, later known as the Don V. Drye Funeral Home, with a frontage of over 250 feet on North Spalding Avenue, is another of Lebanon's fine old houses which have been converted to new uses. It's lines reflect the spacious comfort of a day that is gone.
Square, high-ceilinged rooms on both sides of a wide hall, a feature of the original plan and unaffected by later remodeling, are the nucleus of the modern establishment that has occupied them for nearly a quarter of a century.
While records do not show who built the house or when, there is reason to believe that its first owner was Dr. B. Spalding, by whose executors it was deeded to John P. Davis in the 1860's. The latter lived in it for a time before February 27, 1869, when it was sold to Uriah Gartin for $2720.50.
Gartin also owned another Marion County farm. His daughter, Mary Jane, and her husband, Gideon Bosley, who were married in 1853, moved into the town house from Washington County in about 1878 and were occupying it at the time of her father's death in 1882. In December of that year the place was offered up for sale and was purchased by Mr. Christopher Columbus Cambron and his wife, Mary C. Cambron whose home it was for nearly 40 years.>p>
The Bosleys moved farther out on the same street to the house now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Tyra Gibson, where they spent the rest of their days. Bosley was a merchant. He also was for 53 years an elder in the Presbyterian Church, first at Springfield, where he was ordained in 1860, then at the old Second Presbyterian Church here until his death in 1913. He was the father of the late C. U. Bosley, founder of the firm of Bosley & Son, and of the late J. Logan Bosley, Miss Sallie Bosley and Mrs. Ben S. McElroy.
Mr. and Mrs. Cambron had no children but were never happier than when their house was filled with young people. he was a retired farmer and stock trader. They lived well, maintained a staff of servants and were known for their hospitality. They reared an orphan girl, Debbie Sullivan, and frequently had with them a favorite niece or other relative or friend.
Young Mary Mattingly (now Mrs. Frank R. Abell), daughter of the Tom B. Mattinglys who were former neighbors of the Cambrons at Springfield, came here at the age of six to stay with the Cambrons and attend school until her own family moved to Lebanon. Her brother, C. C. Mattingly of La., is named for Cambron.
A great-niece, Miss Mary E. McGill of Springfield, now of Indianapolis, spent much of her time in her uncle's home, and the Cambron place became a center for young people of the community. The veritable couple were "Uncle Lum" and "Aunt Mollie" to most of them, regardless of whether they actually were related.
After the death of Miss McGill's mother, she and her father, Charles C. McGill, whose mother was a sister of Mr. Cambron, came to Lebanon and built a home on Spalding Avenue — the residence which for many years has been the home of Mrs. Will H. Purdy.
Mr. Cambron died in 1911. His wife stayed on at the old home until her death in 1921.
Afterward, when the place was offered for sale to settle the estate it was purchased by the late Hans Mueller. He and his family never occupied it, however. Mueller died in 1923. His widow, Mrs. Louise K. Mueller (later Steenman), held it as a rental investment until 1935 when she sold it to the Don V. Drye Company, Inc.
To adapt it to their use, the new owners made several changes at the start. A basement was dug to permit installation of a central heating plant; a latticed porch at the rear was enclosed and a room was added. The cistern, a relic of a pre-water works ere, was filled in, as was one of the two wells in the backyard. The other remains.
The place took on it's present proportions after further remodeling about five years ago. two of the three first-floor rooms on the north side of the house were united to provide a larger chapel. The long porch and portecochere were built on the side to afford another entrance, and two rooms were added above them. A new front porch with colonial columns also was built, and the whole was topped with an ornamental balustrade to strike an architectural balance.
Building was raised in 2002 to make way for the new Marion County Government Center.
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