First I must thank Rick Warwick, Louise Lynch, Scott Smith, and Mel Thompson for helping me compile the information on this place.  

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The charming Federal-style townhouse at 125 3rd Ave. North which served as the law offices of C.D. Berry & James Oglesby for over forty years has been bought by a longtime Franklin Native. It has been mistakenly referred to as the Eaton House, though U.S. Senator John H. Eaton never lived on or owned this property. Deciphering if Elizabeth Eaton (John's mother) owned it is tough too.  

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In 1927, Franklin Mayor Park Marshall, a noted local historian and a stickler for correctness, did a thorough abstract of the deeds on Lot 101 of Abram Maury’s original 1799 plat of Franklin to prove that the house was built by Constantine Perkins in 1816 and the house eventually passed to T.K. Handy and his heirs, the Crutchers, until it was purchased in 1913 by Dr. H.P. Cochrane, who lived next door in Cherry Manor. As rental property for nearly fifty years, it was known as “Cochrane Flats” and, after Dr. Cochrane’s death in 1935, it was given to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. In 1968 the vestry of St. Paul’s sold the house to Judith Kinnard for $30,000, who in turn sold it to the law firm of C.D. Berry, Cletus McWilliams and James Oglesby in 1970 for $32,500. 

What piqued Mayor Marshall’s interest and ire was when the Tennessee Historical Commission placed a marker in front of the house referring to it as the Eaton House. Marshall stated, “The marker absurdly states that Eaton lived in this house 1817-1856! About November 1927, I caused this objectionable marker to be removed—with consent of the owner of the house, Dr. H.P Cochrane.”

Apparently after the death of Park Marshall in 1947, the old myth was reborn. Hopefully, with a new owner, the present historical house marker can be repainted to indicate that Constantine Perkins had the house built in 1816.