1550 Hawthorne Avenue
Walton House

Lot 10 L.B. Tussing Trustee Subdivision

Sidney Myers Walton purchased this lot from L.B. Tussing Trustee on October 10, 1902 for $800, with a stipulation in the deed that any building on the lot had to be 25 feet from the front lot line and no dwelling house could be constructed costing less than $2,000. This house was completed in about 1904 for the Waltons.

Randolph Wilson Walton was born October 15, 1870, in Woodsfield, Ohio, son of William and Virginia Fitz-Randolph Walton. He married Sidney Morse Myers in Jefferson county, Ohio on June 20, 1901. Sidney was born January 29, 1870 in Steubenville, Ohio, daughter of William C. and Sidney Kerlin Shearer Myers. They had no children.

In 1900, Randolph lived with his widowed mother and brother at 115 Grant Avenue, and worked as a stenographer.

The Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County (1902) features this biographical sketch of Walton: "The subject of this sketch, Randolph Wilson Walton, correspondence clerk in the office of Governor Nash, is equally known as a writer and as an orator, and is one of the most prominent of the younger generation of politicians and journalists at Columbus, Ohio. He was born at Woodsfield, Monroe county, Ohio, in a house which stood on the present site of the Lude home, October 15, 1870, a son of Dr. William Walton. ... Mr. Walton's brother, William W. Walton, is also interested in politics, and has become well known as a member of a popular Republican glee club. His brother, Thomas E. Walton, is a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is the head of his household in Columbus.

Randolph Wilson Walton passed his childhood at Woodsfield and lived at Clarington from 1877 to 1893, when he and his mother and two brothers removed to Columbus. His education was obtained in the public schools at Clarington and at a business college in Columbus. He learned much in the office of the Clarington Independent, and more by reading, to which he devoted all his spare time. He began the study of medicine with his father, but the death of the latter two years later rendered it impossible for him to continue. At Columbus he acquired a knowledge of stenography, and while working in a drug store devoted himself to the study of law and hopes soon to be admitted to the bar.

Politics has always had a fascination for him, and though most of his relatives and some of his warmest friends were Democrats, he has always been a thorough and consistent Republican and has battled manfully for the principles of that party. He has contributed many able political articles to the Monroe Gazette, the New York Tribune, Ohio State Journal, Wheeling Intelligencer, American Economist and other well known journals. He made stump speeches before he was old enough to vote, and the first ticket he voted, in 1891, had his name on it as a candidate for town clerk. In 1892 he made a hopeless race for the office of recorder of Monroe county on the Republican ticket. In 1893 he was one of the three delegates from Monroe county to the state convention that nominated William McKinley for his second term as governor of Ohio. He has worked in every campaign since he has lived in Columbus, and in the fall of 1898, when Mr. Huggins was a candidate for congress, he made a favorable impression as a speaker. In the campaign of Mr. Swartz for the mayoralty he made about twenty speeches at times two or three in an evening. He was one of Judge Nash's original supporters for governor before the convention, and was one of the organizers of the Young Men's Nash Club, and at its organization sounded the keynotes to the Judge's canvass, and during the campaign that followed had numerous assignments as a speaker, which he filled in a manner that pleased his audiences and the state and county committees of his party; for his speeches were not confined to Columbus and Franklin county, but were made in other parts of the state upon assignments by the Republican state committee. The Ohio State Journal and other papers complimented him on his success as an orator. He was active in the presidential campaign of 1900 and his services were up demand in Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia. He was appointed correspondence clerk in the office of Governor Nash January 1, 1900."

Walton practiced law, and from 1911 through the 1940s had an office on the fifth floor of the Chamber of Commerce building at 30 East Broad Street.

Sidney died August 7, 1935. Randolph died March 13, 1948 of a traumatic subcranioid hemorrhage after an accidental fall. The Waltons are buried at Union Cemetery in Steubenville, Ohio. 

The executor of the estate, Jacob H. Wirrick, sold the house to the Cundiffs on October 7, 1948. 

John Alexander Cundiff was born September 8, 1913 in Wilkes County, North Carolina, son of James Montgomery and Ella Wade Cundiff. He married Coziean Sadie Long in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on February 22, 1934. Sadie was born March 21, 1915, daughter of Earnest and Elvirie Watkins Long. They had two children: Harold Alexander (October 6, 1935) and Eleanor (1936). 

In 1940 the Cundiffs lived in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. John was a checker at a laundry. The Cundiffs were living in Columbus by 1945. In 1951 and at least through 1960, John owned Cundiff Dry Cleaners at 115 Taylor Avenue.

John died in Lancaster, Ohio on September 9, 1974. 
Sadie died June 11, 1999 in Columbus. 

The Cundiffs moved to 145 Nelson Road and sold the house on February 23, 1955 to the Lewises.

Harry M. Lewis was a real estate dealer. The house was a rental for about ten years before Lewis sold the house on May 3, 1966 to Joseph L. Allen.

Joseph Lee Allen was born February 10, 1906 in New Market, Virginia, son of Lee and Rebecca Williams Allen. He married Marie Jackson in Franklin County on November 29, 1942. Marie was born September 16, 1904 in Madison County,Ohio, daughter of Granville and Hariette Jackson. Marie was divorced from her first husband, Pritchard Farrar. From about 1930 to 1939 Farrars lived at 449 Taylor Avenue.

The Allens had lived at 226 and 224 North 17th Street. Joseph had been a hat cleaner (University Shoe Repair & Hat Shop), hatter, porter and window cleaner.

Marie died December 10, 1958. She is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery.

La Reene Carson was added to Joseph's deed on May 12, 1966 and the property was transferred solely to La Renee in May 1973. 

LaReene Ruby Carlton was born June 7, 1922, daughter of William R. and Jessie Daniel(s) Carlton. She married Harold Carson in Franklin County on December 23, 1939. Harold Vernon Carson was born January 13, 1919 in Springfield, Ohio, son of Kit and Olive Crawford Carson. They had a son, Tyronne Vernon (March 12, 1940). 

In 1940, the Carsons lived with Jessie Carlton (then the widow of Haney Banks) at 1249 East Long Street. 

Harold died August 5, 1974 in Monterey, California. 

La Renee transferred the house to her son Tyronne (Tryonne) on December 19, 2005, shortly before her death on January 24, 2006. The house passed through several owners before being purchased by Brandon J. Boyd in November 2009.

1550 Hawthorne Avenue, March 2010

Randolph W. Walton, circa 1903