UPDATE: This home was demolished in late 2020.
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This was the home of Syd and Aletha Etheridge. When Syd and Aletha married in 1901, they started with a small, two-room, dogtrot log cabin. Three of their children were born while they lived in this small cabin. Around 1906, they disassembled and moved the log cabin approximately 1 1/2 miles to the main road that ran through the community of Beaver Creek. When the cabin was reassembled, two rooms were added on the backside resulting in a 4-room dogtrot and the log walls of the original cabin were covered with boards. A full-width porch was also added across the front of the dogtrot and a separate kitchen was built just behind the house. The kitchen was framed using skinned, pine poles. The roof of the house was covered with wood shingles.
Electricity was run through the community of Beaver Creek in the late 1940s. Soon afterward, Syd purchased an electric stove and refrigerator and one of the back rooms was converted into a kitchen. The dogtrot was also closed in during this time. In 1949 or 1950, the wood shingles on the house were replaced with tin roofing.
Syd and Aletha raised their 8 children in this house. Aletha died in 1969 and Syd in 1975. The house has been vacant since the death of Syd but it is still in relatively good condition. The separate room that served as the original kitchen is still standing. This house is located on CR 7 in the community of Beaver Creek in south Marengo County.
Provided are pictures of the house. Also provided is a b&w photograph taken around 1903 that shows Syd, Aletha and their first child, Ellis, who died at the age of two. Syd and Aletha are standing at the end of the dogtrot log cabin before it was moved.
This is a private residence – drive by only.
Source: Details and the b&w photograph were provided by Marvin Etheridge (grandson of Syd and Aletha).