PEDRICK-LAWSON HOUSE HISTORY
515 Ransom Street
Marcellus Pedrick (b.1828; m.1858; d.1899) came to Ripon in 1849 from New York State and built this house for himself and his bride, Mary, in c.1858. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Marcellus Pedrick House in October 1976.
The first section of this house consisted of two parlors (now one) and the two bedrooms upstairs. The exterior walls were and are made of grout blocks. Marcellus Pedrick held the local franchise for grout making, grout being a manufactured material which could be formed in blocks or poured for a solid wall. Other houses of grout blocks in Ripon include 522 Ransom Street across the street and 119 Tygert Street. The Steinbring’s Octagon House at 610 Liberty Street is also a poured-grout house.
It is possible that the wooden two story addition, which includes the dining room, kitchen and two step-down back bedrooms upstairs, was added at the time the house was built or shortly thereafter.
The one story wooden wraparound (summer kitchen, the “Store” with closet beyond it, the bathroom, sewing room, closet and bedroom) was added later.
The deed to the house lists many owners about whose occupancy we know very little until Hollis N.(b.1865; m.1896; retired from business 1937;d.1952.) He is referred to as “Atkins” or “Atkings” in the 1919 deed. He lived here with his family from c.1903 to 1918. He ran a funeral home and a furniture business elsewhere in Ripon. His daughter Marion (b. c.1900; m.1920; d. …), who married Louden Webster (the step-son of Scott Horner) recalls details of the house in a letter to Lillian Zobel in 1975. She says her father added the electricity, water system, hot air furnace, the hardwood floors, the red brick fireplace and made the two front rooms into one parlor. He also added the front porch and its “storm house” (not used now) to protect the front door in the winter. We do not know why there are two front doors. Mrs. Webster recalled that her father kept his hearse in the north end of the barn and horses, including her pony, were in stalls at the south end of the barn.
Louisa La Belle (always called “Belle”) Lawson (b. c.1875; d.1973), who never married, moved here with her mother in 1919 when she retired from teaching in Rosendale. She lived here until she died, leaving the house to the Society in her will. Most of the contents of the house were not left to the Society. Her button collection was an exception and some other personal items have been returned to the Society.
Miss Lawson was known for her lovely gardens including her Christmas roses (helleborus niger) which she grew and sold. In Ripon, they bloomed late in the Fall and she always gave a bowl of them, when in bloom, to the First Congregational Church in Ripon where she was a member.
FRONT PARLOR:
Miss Lawson lived in this house from 1919 to her death on September 26, 1973. The Ripon Historical Society inherited the house from Miss Lawson. This parlor was divided into two rooms. She used the south half as her sitting room. A thin partition enclosed the north half which appeared to be used for storage. There is evidence of a door to the cellar in the north corner of the east wall. It is also evident in the present top landing of the dining room cellar entrance.
We do not know how this room looked when Marcellus Pedrick built the house in about 1858.
The first description of this room is from the Akins family who lived in the house from 1903 to 1918. They made what were two rooms into one room, added hardwood floors and the brick fireplace in the east wall of the south half of the room, which is how the Society has restored the parlor.
The room’s furnishings reflect the 1870’s and have come from local and area families. The only items that were Miss Lawson’s are the doll buggy and doll from her childhood; the wicker rocker, which was her father’s; and items on the mantle piece. The clock was going when Miss Lawson was born and on the day she died. The box contains pictures of her Ripon High School graduating class. The porcelain match holder was hers.
The mannequin is clothed in an 1870’s reproduction dress made by Margaret Gibson, long-time Society member and worker, using a pattern available from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The keyboard instrument is a melodeon (a small reed organ). It probably dates to about 1850-1860.
The portrait over the melodeon is of Nellie (Manville) Peck. The Manville family lived in Ripon from 1858-1892 when Nellie’s mother died. Nellie married and was only 26 when she died in Hannibal, Missouri. The portrait was returned to the Society by her relative, Mrs. Thomas Repp.
The umbrella stand includes one Lawson cane #68 and one Pedrick cane #86.
The doll’s bed belonged to Helen Wahoske. The Warren Smith family gave the weaving accessories along the south wall. They include a niddy noddy, skein winder or “weasel”, carders, shuttles, and a large spinning wheel.
We do not know the history of the large woven rag rugs made on 36 to 45-inch width floor looms and sewn together to make room-sized rugs. It could have been made in Ripon, even in this room.
Note the painted doors to upstairs, the dining room, and the bedroom. Painted graining on plain-grained wood trim and door suggests less available or costly wood, a technique that was common in this period.