Josiah Stockton Murray and his wife Cornelia likely constructed the series of small houses along Seeman Street at the rear of their property to serve as rental housing, potentially for workers in the sewing machine, piano, and other family businesses. While the exact date of the houses cannot be determined, they appear on the 1913 Sanborn maps and may have been constructed as early as 1902 when the Murray family first moved to the site.After Cornelia’s death in 1921, her son J. S. parceled the land into eight pieces and sold it to the Farm and City Land Company for resale. Lot #4, site of the house at 1309 Shawnee was purchased by D. W. and Effie J. Horton in December of 1921. The Hortons rented the house on Shawnee until 1925. In 1925 the couple and their 14-year old son, L. W. Wyche, moved to Shawnee Street where they lived until 1941, when D. W. and Effie divorced. Effie, her son L. W. Wyche and his wife Mary S. remained in the house until 1943-44 when it became a rental property once again. Effie died in 1967, leaving the house to her son. After his death in 1988, the house was sold as part of his estate.
