The land on which this house is located was patented by the U. S. government to schools along with all of the 16th sections in the State. On January 4, 1840, this property was conveyed to Robert Collins Hearin, Sr and his wife, Nancy Mayfield Hearin, who were pioneers from South Carolina that had settled in Clarke County in 1817. Their son, William Jefferson (W. J.) Hearin, inherited the property and took possession of it after his mother’s death in 1849. W. J. Hearin and his wife, Susannah, built the Hearin-Bush-Matthews House in the early 1850s. According to family tradition, the materials in the house were brought by ferry across the Alabama River from nearby Claiborne and were from the old Claiborne Female Academy.
This house is located on the north side of US 84 approximately 4.2 miles west of the Alabama River bridge (GPS coordinates 31.580065, -87.571489).
This is a private residence – drive by only.
Source: Clarke County Historical Society Quarterly, volume 16, no. 2, fall 1991 (Copies of the Clarke County Historical Society Quarterly at available at the Clarke County Historical Museum at Grove Hill, AL or online at ClarkeMuseum.com.)