Flimsies and Frippery: 05/28/22

Shortly after I posted about Izannah Walker's house on Illinois Street in Central Falls, Rhode Island, it became obvious that I would have to revise it. Another researcher told me that her research indicated that Izannah's house was at a different location on the block, and she was correct.

So what went wrong with my research?

After digging back through the City Directories, it became apparent that the houses on Illinois Street had been renumbered between the time that Izannah died in 1888 and the creation of the 1895 map that I was consulting.

At the time of her death, Izannah was living at 14 Illinois Street, where she had been living for over a decade. After her death, her friend Emeline B. Whipple continued to live in the house. Emmeline was there in 1888 when Izannah died.

However, the City Directory for 1889 shows Emeline at 24 Illinois Street:

Emeline Whipple did not move; the house numbers changed. Something similar can be seen with her neighbor Jabez W. Wilmarth, Jr. In 1888, he was at 12 Illinois Street:

In 1889, he was at 20 Illinois Street:

Wilmarth is more problematic, though. In 1892, he was at 22 Illinois Street:

Revisiting the 1895 map sheds a little light on the situation.

The house numbers beginning at the intersection of Central and Illinois on the west (left) side are 6, 10, 14, 18, skipped house, and 24. By 1895, 24 Illinois St was the former 14 Illinois Street and was the location of Izannah's house. Emeline was still in residence there in 1889. The house between 18 and 24 was skipped and is unnumbered. There is a numbering pattern going on from 6 to 18, with each number increasing by four. Then it goes haywire between 18 and 24. Logically, it seems like the unnumbered house would be 22, making Izannah's house 26. That sort of problem may be why the area was renumbered again in the 20th century.

The unnumbered house is probably the former 12 Illinois street, where Jabez W. Wilmarth Jr. lived, and logically, it should have become 22 Illinois Street.

The problem must have arisen in part because of Izannah Walker's sale of a lot on Illinois St. to Jabez W. Wilmarth in 1885:

Valued at only $100, there were probably no buildings on the lot. A description of that lot reveals that she basically sold her southern side yard. The first corner of the lot began 100 feet south of the intersection of Rand and Illinois on the west side of the street. It then ran 60 feet south to Mark Monkhouse's property, then 153 feet west to land bounded by Julia Oldham's heirs, then north 63 feet with John Crenshaw's heirs on the west, then back to Illinois Street with Izannah's land bounding the northern side.

Izannah had bought her property from John Crenshaw in 1871.

I have not found Jabez W. Wilmarth, Jr. listed as the property owner of the original 12 Illinois St., which later became 20 or maybe 22 Illinois St. I would think that the lot he purchased from Izannah would have become 22 Illinois once a house was built on it.

Emeline continued to live at 24 Illinois St until she moved to Providence in 1892:

In 1880, the census shows that Izannah had tenants, and my guess is that her house was set up as a two-family tenement like many of the other houses in her area. This would have provided her with an income stream separate from her doll business. After Izannah's death, the City Directory reveals that Emeline continued live with tenants and that Mrs. Eliza Whipple also resided with her.

It appears that after Emeline moved out in 1892, tenants continued to reside in the house. It is possible that Emeline moved out for purely economic reasons. She may have found it less expensive to rent a room and live off of the proceeds of the house. Since Izannah's will gave her estate on Illinois street to Emeline for her natural life, she would have been free to live in the house or rent it out. The will did not stipulate that she had to live in it continuously.

On 23 May 1903, Emeline Whipple turned the property at the corner of Rand and Illinois over to Izannah's nephew, David H. Walker, in a quitclaim deed for $1.

By 1903, Emeline was about 79 years old. Her reasons for signing over the property may have been purely practical. She had collected rents from the two-family structure for 15 years, which may have provided her with what she thought were enough savings to last the rest of her life. She may have also had some other income stream to utilize. She would have had no way of knowing that she would live for another eleven years. Additionally, she may have wanted to escape from the responsibility of maintaining the property, which would have been a challenge for an elderly woman.

Then about six months later, on 29 January 1904, David H. Walker mortgaged the property to the trustees of the New England Southern Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for $1,500, which he was able to repay by 14 or 15 June 1905.

David H. Walker had a son named David H. Walker, Jr., who was just starting school at Stanford in 1905, which may explain why he needed $1,500. However, Stanford may not have even been charging tuition at the time. Even if they had been, tuition would have been much less than this. I have seen statements that Harvard was charging $150 in the same time period.

Then on the same day, 15 June 1805, Walker sold the property to Goldsmith & Wood, real estate brokers who purchased and rented tenements.

It is odd is that Walker sold it for only $100. Surely a property worth mortgaging for $1,500 would be worth more than $100 on the same day the mortgage was paid off!

Even though the paper got the name wrong, the sale of Izannah's house to Goldsmith and Woods was listed in the newspaper. Note that it was listed as being a two-family house:

If you have noticed the three-day difference between the newspaper date on 12 June and the deed dates on 15 June, the explanation is that deeds often contain a filing date rather than a sale date. In many instances, deeds are filed decades after their sale date. Sometimes you can figure that out from the wording of the deed and sometimes you can't.

In 1908, Jabez W. Wilmarth purchased property on Illinois Street from Goldsmith. Since Wilmarth is found living at 24 Illinois St. on the 1910 census, my best guess is that the property he purchased was Izannah's house.

Once Wilmarth owned 24 Illinois St., he could squeeze in another house between it and the neighboring house to the south. Of course, he may have built on that lot prior to 1908. The result is the neighborhood as it looks today. Izannah's house is currently number 60 Illinois St., and 58 Illinois St. is located on what was once Izannah's southern side yard: