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| 1562 Richmond Avenue |
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| William E. Moling, circa 1915 |
This would be another of the earlier homes in Woodland Park, built in 1901.
William R. Ramsey bought lot 40 from the original sudivider, William Hayden in 1892.
On September 24, 1900 Lizzie L. Moling bought lot 40 from William R. and Mary Ramsey of Washington, DC for $1,000. On October 2, 1900 she bought lot 37 from Bernard Kopf (Annie L.) of Washington, DC for $1,000.
William Edward Moling was born April 1, 1865 in Ohio, son of James Edward and Anna Elizabeth Parish Moling. He married Mary K. Lechner on October 6, 1887 in Franklin County. Mary was born April 18, 1863 in Carroll County, Ohio, daughter of Francis M. and Eliza Jane Sweaney Lechner.
Lizzie Moling was probably William's mother. She died May 5, 1914 at her home at 261 North Garfield Avenue of the aftereffects of an accidental scalding from hot lye water.
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| 299 Taylor Avenue, March 2010 |
In 1930 their divorced daughter, Helen (Mrs. Basil Dennis) is living with them at 4687 Granville Road. The 1933 City Directory shows the Molings living at 51 Parkwood Avenue and William living there in 1935.
In 1940 William lived at 88-1/2 Governor's Place. At the time of William's death, he was living with his daughter Mabel (Mrs. Judson W. Lord) at 1605 Franklin Park South.
Mary died May 24, 1934 in Columbus of a diabetic coma after a fall in which she fractured her right hip. William died March 2, 1943 at the St. Clair Rest Home, 338 St. Clair Avenue. They are buried at Greenlawn Cemetery.
The Reeds bought the house from the Molings in October 1917.
Eugene A. Reed was born February 9, 1871 in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, son of Eugene A. and Julia Ann (Matthews) Reed. He married Addie May Ives about 1898. Addie was born April 1, 1869 in South Harwich, Massachusetts.
Eugene was an 1892 graduate of Harvard. He attended Harvard Law until 1894 when he went to work as chief operator of the long distance station of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company at Boston.
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| Eugene A. Reed circa 1914 |
He went on to serve as the President of the "newly formed consolidation" called Ohio Bell Telephone Company in 1921. On January 1, 1921, the Central Union and Cleveland telephone companies were merged into Ohio Bell, which the previous September had absorbed it's principal competitor, the Ohio State Telephone Company.
In 1910 the Reeds lived at 43 Parkwood Avenue (near East Broad Street, now site of East High School). Addie's mother, Mary T. Ives was living with them. Eugene was working a a superintendent of the telephone company.
In 1914, a bio of Eugene appeared in the Bell Telephone News. Reed was then general manager of the Central Union Telephone Company and it mentions that he had been in the "telephone service just twenty years this year." It also mentions that Eugene was a talented public speaker and served on the Boston City Council from 1893-95. He continued to climb the corporate ladder and in 1903 was "invited to come west and accept the position of division superintendent for Ohio for the Central Union Telephone Company. He accepted and established his headquarters at Columbus." He left Columbus briefly in 1911 to work in Chicago, but returned in 1912 as general manager of the Central Union Telephone Company in Ohio and The Cleveland Telephone Company. He resigned the latter connection March 1st of this year to dedicate his whole time to the Central Union Company."
"During his long residence in Columbus, Mr. Reed has become thoroughly identified with the civic movements in that city. He has twice been elected president of the Athletic Club, a leading athletic and social organization and is now serving his second term."
Reed is listed in the City Directories at 43 Parkwood Avenue until 1917. Starting in 1918 he Reeds address is 1562 Richmond Avenue.
In the 1920 Census, taken on January 7, 1920, the Reeds, including mother-in-law, are living at 1562, and Eugene is a manager at the telephone company.
On January 31, 1920, Alby P. Tallmadge purchased the house from the Reeds including a mortgage of $4,240. The Reeds apparently moved to Cleveland then, as Ohio Bell had just completed a new headquarters building there.
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| The (Massillon) Evening Independent November 21, 1923 |
Addie's mother, Mary T. Ives died at home, 48 Wilson Avenue (an amazing home, by the way), on November 19, 1931. At that time, her daughter was living at 28 Wilson Avenue.
Addie died on November 4, 1935, at home in Columbus at 28 Wilson Avenue. She was laid to rest in Greenlawn Abbey.
Alby (Plant) Tallmadge was born January 29, 1876 in St. Louis, Missouri, daughter of George H. and Alby (Easton) Plant. She was first married to Monroe Horton in Missouri on December 27, 1898 and they lived in St. Louis. She and Monroe had two children, Alton E. (1901) and George Plant (1905). She married Trafford Brasee Tallmadge before 1917. Trafford was born in Columbus on July 28, 1880, the son of Frank B. and May (Hedges) Tallmadge. Though he did claim to be born in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, his birth record is in Columbus. His mother was born in Upper Sandusky. Trafford was an insurance man.
Trafford worked in Cleveland and Indiana as well. He married his first wife, Ethel N. Thompson in Vigo County, Indiana on December 19, 1901. Ethel was born September 9, 1883. They had one son, Trafford Wood Tallmadge, born in Cleveland on June 19, 1903 (d. March 1972). In 1907, Trafford, Sr. was Secretary-Treasurer of the Central Agency, Inc. in Indianapolis. In 1909, Tallmadge lived at 1587 East Long Street. In the 1910 Census, the family is living at 1589 Richmond Avenue and had one servant, Martha V. Brown. Trafford and Ethel were divorced sometime about 1915. In the 1920 Census, Ethel and her son are living with her sister and mother in St. Louis. Ethel died in Missouri in January 1967.
A piece in The National Underwriter from July 19, 1917 states, "Tallmadge back in Columbus - Trafford B. Tallmadge, who has been in the casualty business at St. Louis, has returned to Columbus, Ohio, where he will be associated with his father in the Frank B. Tallmadge Company, general agent of the Employers Liability and the United States Fidelity and Guaranty."
Trafford's WWI Draft Registration confirms his occupation and gives his address as 1518 Hawthorne Avenue, which was located on the current site of the Isabelle Ridgway Home. In the 1920 Census, Traford B. Tallmadge was renting 1518. They had a servant, Kate Cooper, a 59 year-old widow born in Illinois.
Alby and Trafford divorced in 1927.
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| 54 Woodland Avenue |
On June 20, 1927, 1562 Richmond was titled in the name of Alby P. Horton of Webster Grove, Missouri. In 1930, Alby was living in Webster Grove, Missouri and doing quite well. She owns a home valued at $45,000. The "widow" Alby and her son George, have two servants, Kate Cooper, the housekeeper and a black maid, Eugenie Renfro. George attended Princeton in 1925 and became "the" Dr. George Plant Horton, a psychologist and co-author, with Edwin Ray Guthrie, of the well known "Cats in a Puzzle Box" experiments researching learning theories. Alby died in Webster Grove on March 24, 1949 of heart disease.
Trafford died in Columbus in mid-September 1969. He was a member and past Commodore (1926) of the Buckeye Lake Yacht Club, as well as a Son of the American Revolution, a descendant of Col. Thomas Cresap.
April 15, 1946, Alby sold the property to Jeanne Baird, wife of William H. Baird. The Bairds have been hard to track down. Jeanne may have been Flora Jeanne Baird. William H. Baird may have been born June 7, 1914 and they may have later lived in New Jersey.
The Bairds sold the house on February 15, 1950 to Herbert L. White of Okolona, Chickasaw County, Mississippi. The Bairds residence on the deed was listed as Wheeling, West Virginia, but their address was noted on the deed as 1562 Richmond.
Herbert L. "Herb" White was born December 1, 1900 in Hilliard, the son of Aaron and Inez (Merchant) White. He married Margaret E. about 1962.
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| Inez Merchant White Goble |
On a 1962 deed, Herbert is listed as married (Margaret E.) and his address is Wilberforce, Greene County. In 1965 they are in Plain City, Madison County.
Herbert also owned 240-242 Taylor Avenue (a duplex wedged in on the corner of the alley between Clifton and Richmond) from 1954 to 1968.
My guess is that Herbert moved to Mississippi to work at a historically black school, Okolona College also known as Okolona Industrial School (1902-1965) and then returned to Ohio to work for Central State College in Wilberforce, another historically black school.
Herbert died at Doctors West Hospital in Franklin County on December 15, 1987. His occupation on his death certificate is financial officer of a college/university. Margaret's address in 1993 was 125 Guy Street, Plain City.
On November 12, 1980, Paul L. and Viola Greene completed the purchase of 1562 from Herbert through a land contract.
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| "Paul + Viola 1979" written in the cement sidewalk at the rear of the house near the garage. |
The IRS placed a tax lien on the property in 1984 for taxes due in 1982. This was satisfied in 1988.
They signed a land contract in October 1982 for $15,000 for Lot 34 of Levi and Hugh 1576-1578 Richmond and that was foreclosed in January 1987.
Paul died September 15, 2004 in Columbus.
The Greenes allowed 1562 to go to foreclosure and on September 11, 1992, deed was transferred to the Secretary of the Veterans Administration.
On September 22, 1993, James W. and Eunice R. Foster purchased the house.
Hi-Tim Baird here. William H. (Jr.) and Flora Jeanne Baird are my parents. They are deceased. I lived in this house as a child. We first moved to Wheeling WVA where I did most of my school years. Then the family moved to NJ. They moved to IN for a few years in the 90's and then to Pittsburgh where they are buried.
ReplyDeleteYou never explained the strange renovations. When were they done and do we know why they look so odd?
ReplyDelete