Location: On north side of old Highway leading from Banner to Coeburn, about one mile east of the town of Coeburn.

Date: House built in 1844 or 1845.

Owners: The land this house stands upon was patented by the State of Virginia to George Gose and John Banner, June 24, 1836. Gose and Banner sold to Morgan T. Lipps in 1844 or 1845. Lipps sold to Hiram H. Kilgore, May 22, 1882. Hiram H. Kilgore sold to John W. Kilgore, February 10, 1896. John W. Kilgore sold
to Emory R. Kilgore, December 20, 1933.

Description: Morgan T. Lipps in 1844-45 built a one room hewn log house here with a lean-to kitchen made of round unhewn logs or poles. The house had a stone chimney and a puncheon floor, covered with clap boards
and had only wooden shutters for windows. It had a porch across the front. 
     He later started a larger and better house here, but was elected Clerk of the County of Wise and moved to Wise before he finished it. However his son Jacob W. finished the house after he had moved to the County seat. This second house was a two story, two room log house. The chimney was built up past the arch with stone and from there on to the top was made of stick and clay. The rooms of this house were about sixteen by eighteen feet, covered with clap boards, floored with dressed yellow poplar planks. The ground room was not
ceiled over head but the joists were dressed and the flooring of the second story room made the ceiling for the first floor room. The ceiling of the second story room was simply the rafters and the clapboards of the gabled type roof. There was no stairway but the second story was reached by a ladder. This house had real glass windows.
     Morgan Lipps lived at this place from 1844-45 until 1856 when he moved to Gladeville. He resided at Gladeville until the fall of 1866 and returned to the home place again and lived there one or two years and then bought a Hotel and moved back to Gladeville to run the same, but after a short time he sold the Hotel to Charles Kilgore and again moved back to the home place and resided there until January 1873 when he moved to the Powell Valley section.
     About 1845, Morgan T. Lipps built a grist mill near the home place on Little Toms Creek. This mill was built of hewn logs, about eighteen feet square, covered with clap boards. It had an undershot water wheel
(called a Tub wheel). The burrs of the mill were of native sandstone cut out from the stone around that place. In the Mill Pond just above the mill was a fish trap built in the dam, which trap furnished fish for the family table. This mill ran till some time during the Civil War, when due to the neglect of war days it went down and was never again started up.
     Upon the arrival of Morgan T. Lipps and his father Jacob to this county in the spring of 1838 they settled on Big Toms Creek and lived there till 1844-45. They also ran a grist mill at this place.
     Morgan T. Lipps was born in Johnson Co., TN, at a place called Shady Valley, November 4, 1815, died September 22, 1894. He was married at Bakersville, NC , November 29, 1835 to Elizabeth Davenport. He joined the Toms Creek Primitive Baptist Church in 1844 and was ordained a minister in 1846 and spent
the balance of his life teaching the mercy and grace of God. He was the most noted pioneer preacher of Wise County. He was elected Clerk of the County and Circuit Court of Wise County at the formation of the County, July 28, 1856. This job he held for eleven years. He was taken a prisoner during the Civil War at Gladeville and carried to a Union Prison in Kentucky where he remained a short time and after preaching a sermon that touched the Captain of the Guards was soon liberated and told to return to Virginia. Captain Jonas A. Lipps,
son of Morgan, was a Confederate Captain, fought in all the major battles of the war and died at Ft. Delaware Prison, April 5, 1865, of congestive fever and was laid to rest in Finn's National Cemetery, in New Jersey.
Morgan T. Lipps was elected to the House of Delegates of Virginia in 1873 and served two terms. His son J. E. Lipps of Wise was Clerk of Wise County from June 1887 until June 1893. Elizabeth, wife of Morgan T. Lipps died in Boyle Co., KY, July 2, 1895 and both were laid to rest in Grainger Co., TN.
     Hiram H. Kilgore, was born in Scott Co., May 23, 1823, died in Wise Co., December 21, 1905. He was married to Annie E. Bond, who was born February 4, 1820, died June 20, 1864. He later married a Miss Jessee. Hiram H. Kilgore was another pioneer Primitive Baptist preacher. The family of Hiram H. Kilgore has
been one of great official importance to Wise County. His son William Jefferson was born at Nickeslville, Scott Co., VA, January 1,1849, died April 16, 1932. He was married to Nancy Elizabeth, a daughter of James F. Wells, October 1, 1874. He is the author of the indexing system of Deeds and other Court Orders for Wise County. Served as Clerk of the County from June 1881 until June 1887. During his life he wrote a collection of some three hundred poems and songs dealing in Christianity and patriotism.
     George W. Kilgore, son of Hiram was born in Scott Co., June 24, 1844. He married Ann Elizabeth, a daughter of Preacher Levi Hoback in 1863. He was appointed a Commissioner for the State to resell the Mortgaged DeTebeuf land in 1874. Served as Judge of Wise and Buchanan Counties from 1870 until 1880.
     Charles F. Kilgore, son of Hiram, was born in 1855, married Eva Counts in 1876. Charles Kilgore was an able lawyer.
     Elbert H. Kilgore, son of Hiram, born in 1860, married Ellen Branham, in 1882. Elbert Kilgore was a Missionary Baptist Preacher.
     The old Kilgore home place on Little Toms Creek is still in the possession of the descendants of Hiram H. Kilgore. The Kilgore family of Southwest Virginia have the honor of saying that their ancestors have fought in every war America has been engaged in. They trace their lineage back to four brothers who came over from Scotland (being of the Douglas family of Scotland), and the same four brothers fought under Campbell at the Battle of King's Mountain, during the Revolution.
     
Source of Information: Information collected from Court Records and from J. E. Lipps of Wise, J. E. Kilgore of Wise and Rebecca Kilgore of Esserville, VA.