Pridemore House – Deed Research on our House – Middlesborough, Kentucky

Isaac Kremer/ July 12, 2014/ preservation/ 0 comments

Deed research provides one of the most valuable insights in to the history of a house. Understanding that, we undertook this research shortly after buying the house. Once the names of the previous owners of the house are known, it is possible to conduct additional research. Knowing the owners and the approximate time the property was transferred also provides insight in to when changes were made over time.

First we’ll share the chain of title we found, then we’ll begin to tell the story of the house we began putting together.

 

 

Date	Liber/Page	Grantor	Grantee
4/29/2013	359/345	Michael Blackard & Lisa M. Noftsger	Isaac & Chrissy Kremer
3/24/1971	203/171	Edwin D. & Jane C. Woodson	Jack & Opal   Blackard
5/29/1946	136/632	Oppie B. Johnson, widow	Ellen G. Woodson
9/15/1936	117/318	G.W. & Ida M. Pridemore	Oppie B. & Edward Johnson
7/10/1923	87/47	J.T. & Maggie Smith	G.W. & Ida M. Pridemore
2/2/1906	55/64	Kentucky Investment Company	J.T. Smith
6/20/1905	49/345	Middlesboro Town & Land Company	Kentucky Investment Company
11/23/1893	29/244	Middlesboro Town Lands Company	Middlesboro Town & Land Co

George Washington and Ida Mae Pridemore were the first to acquire and build the home. They owned the home for about a decade before transferring title to Oppie B. and Edward Johnson on September 15, 1936. Ten days later the Middlesboro Daily News noted how “Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Johnson are having the G.W. Pridemore home on North Twenty-fifth street, which they recently purchased, remodeled.”[1]


Edward Lee Johnson died May 14, 1944, and was buried at the Middlesboro Cemetery.[2]Following Johnson’s death, his daughter Francis J. Johnson received an undivided half interest in the property.[3]She promptly transferred her interest in the property to her mother Oppie B. Johnson for $1 on June 5, 1944. Oppie B. Johnson sold the property to Ellen G. Woodson and Dr. E.D. Woodson on May 29, 1946 for $12,500. Oppie Johnson died on May 4, 1966 in Knoxville. 

Edwin Woodson was an Optometrist in Middlesboro since 1933. His office was at 1924 Cumberland Ave just off of Fountain Square where Mikel’s Pharmacy is located today. Ellen Woodson was a devout member of First Presbyterian Church where she was a Sunday School teacher.  She was active in the Women of the Church organization.[4] The Middlesboro Daily News shed light on an important event that occurred at the house on October 20, 1950. That evening at 8pm, Ellen Farra Woodson married Thomas Edward Shipley. A portrait of Woodson in her bridal dress and a full description of the ceremony ran in The Middlesboro Daily News  several months later on December 16, 1950.