Ada Johnson (Tolson) Ralls (abt. 1856 - abt. 1955)

Born about Aug 1856 in Meridian, Lauderdale Co, Mississippi

Ancestors

Wife of John Perkins Ralls Jr — married 23 Dec 1884 in Gadsden, Etowah County, Alabama, United States

Descendants

Died about 1955 at about age 98 in Manville, Putnam Co, Florida

Biography

Born August 1856, Lauderdale, Mississippi, USA, ^[1][2]Her first known record is her enumeration in the 1860 census in Center Beat, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, age 4^[3] Died 1955 Putnam, Florida^[4] Married John P. Ralls, Jr., 23 Dec 1884, at the Gadsden Methodist Church, Gadsden, Etowah, Alabama, by Rev. Dr. John P. Ralls, M.D.^[5] The two apparently divorced about 1911; they're enumerated together at 33 Irwin St., Atlanta in 1910^[6] and are shown together at that address in the 1910 Atlanta City Directory ^[7] but in the 1911 edition Ada is shown there alone.^[8] Ada converted the house to a sort of group home for unmarried working women called Belmont-Addams House in 1913.^[9].

Gadsden Times of Gadsden, AL date unknown

By Will I Martin

"Mayor J. Herbert Meighan, on behalf of the city of Gadsden, has accepted the gift of two fine paintinings of Nuccalula Falls that were executed by Mrs. Ada Tolson Ralls, member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of this section of Alabama, when she was a young girl and a student of art here. The paintings are now hanging in the public library. At the artist's request there is a marker between them acknowleding her debt to her mother, Mrs. Claudia Meredith Tolson, and Dr. A.E. Ewing, [a] Gadsden boy who became the most noted physician of St. Louis, Mo. for the encouragement they gave her and for their helpfull interest that was unfailing. She was the first art teacher in the Gadsden schools and her work was always regarded as excellent. Her youth and early married life were spent here and she writes that "Gadsden is the city I have always loved most; it has given me most in happiness." Her two sons were born here.

"Mrs. Ralls, who is now residing at "Rallsmere" in Mannville, Fla., is the widow of the late Jon [sic] P. Ralls Jr., who was a successful businessman here for many years. She is the daughter of the late James D. Tolson, who was a prominent businessman of this city, and Mrs Claudia Merideth Tolson who was the daughter of Thomas Meredith, founder of Meredith College at Raleigh, N.C., a standard college for women and one of our finest schools in the country. He wrote the constitution of the North Carolina Baptist Convention when it was organized in 1830. He was a member and the committee trusted him with the organization of Wake Forest Institute. He was founder and editor of the "Biblical Recorder" which celebrated its 100th birthday in 1935, but his first venture as a publisher was as founder and editor of the "Baptist Interpreter" at Edenton, N.C., while he was pastor of the First Baptist Church there. He served a short time as pastor in Savannah, Ga. He was rated as North Carolina's "greatest Baptist", but his most lasting monument is Meredith College which has one of the finest plants in the country and is among the best schools for women in the nation.

" The Tolsons came here from Misissippi and were prominent there and in this state. Their children were Mrs. Ada Ralls and Mrs. Bettie T. Fitzgerald, the only survivors; James C. Tolson, J. B. Tolson, and J. D. Tolson. James C. and J. B. were leading merchants in Gadsden for a number of years. J. D. was a Baptist preacher in Missisippi. The Tolson home was on the southwest corner of Chestnut and Ninth streets and it was one of the most beautiful in the city. A few years ago it was torn down to give place to the brick colonial home of the late C. E. Snead. About the only magnificent magnolia tree that was planted by Mrs. Tolson. There is also a magnolia on the family lot in Forrest Cemetery and in the yard of Mrs. Ralls home on Chestnut Street, opposite the Nowlin Apartments, which she also planted.

"The Merediths were originally from Wales. Thomas was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from the Penn University which he entered in 1812. He could speak several languages, was proficient in music and skilled in writing verse. His portrait which hangs on the walls of the college named for him was painted by Mrs. Ralls."

"WOMAN COMMANDED THE SITUATION
Man Tried to Move His Stuff Out of the House He Had Rented and the Owner Got a Gun and Stopped Him

"Atlanta, Feb. 17--Mrs. Ada T. Ralls, of 33 Irwin street, believes in woman's suffrage and woman's right to protect herself, and she doesn't need to call in a man to fight her battles for her.

"She rented a house to Roscoe Carden, who runs a garage, and claimed that Carden owed her rent. So when Carden and a negro drayman went to the house to take away some things, he had stored there, Mrs. Ralls appeared at the window of her own house, next door, with a 38-caliber revolver. Carden didn't stop loading things into the dray, so Mrs. Ralls fired.

"Carden claims she fired at him, but Mrs. Ralls said she shot into the air to scare the drayman. When the police, summoned by Carden, arrived they found Mrs. Ralls in command of the Situation.

"Recorder Johnson will hear the details this afternoon."^[10]

"Ralls-Waldrip
A marriage of interest to Atlantans which occurred in San Francisco, Cal. the past week was that of Mrs. Ada T. Ralls, of Atlanta, Ga. to Hon. Elmer Waldrip, now of Seattle, formerly an Editor and State Senator of Idaho, and prominently connected with business interests of the northwest."^[11]

She was in 1920 census at 242 Courtland St., Atlanta, Fulton Co, GA with son St. John, his wife Pearl, and two sons John W. and Claude A., giving her age as 50 (she was really 74)^[12] Interestingly there is an Elmer Waldrip, 49, b. Washington, living with his wife Ethel, 40, b. Tennessee, along with his brother-in-law Robert H. Hood Jr., 22, b. Tennessee, and sister-in-law Pearl, 23, b. Tennessee, in an apartment at 21 East Eighth St.^[13] (intersection with Peachtree). That's about a mile from the house on Courtland St.

By 1930 she lived alone in Rumley Rd., Keuka, Putnam County Florida, giving her age as 70.^[14]

1. ↑ 1900 U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule, Georgia, Fulton, Atlanta, Ward 4, SD 35, ED 63, P29A; Roll 199; Ancestry Page 29A, Ancestry Image 57; Household 650
2. ↑ 1860 U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule, Mississippi, Lauderdale Co. Page 38, Household 252, Dwelling 244
3. ↑ Eighth Census of the United States, Mississippi, Lauderdale, Center Beat, p38, household 244, 3 July 1860
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. Florida Death Index, 1877-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004, citing State of Florida. Florida Death Index, 1877-1998. Florida: Florida Department of Health, Office of Vital Records, 1998.
5. ↑ The Gadsden Times 1867-1885, William Thomas Martin III & Patricia Thomas Martin, Self Published, Miami, 1994. 4 Vol. 976.167 B38m, V4 p541
6. ↑ Twelfth Census of the United States, Georgia, Fulton, Atlanta, Ward 4, E.D. 63, p729, household 650.
7. ↑ Atlanta, Georgia, 1910, p1346, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
8. ↑ Atlanta, Georgia, 1911, p188, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
9. ↑ The Georgia Patriot, Vol 1 No. 2, April 26, 1913, p1
10. ↑ Thomasville [Georgia] Daily Times-Enterprise, Wednesday Afternoon, February 17, 1915, p2.
11. ↑ Atlanta Constitution, 4 September 1915, p4
12. ↑ Fourteenth Census of the United States, Georgia, Fulton, Atlanta, Ward 6, ED 111, p8A, family 108
13. ↑ Fourteenth Census of the United States, Georgia, Fulton, Atlanta, Ward 8 ED 133, p90B, Family 233
14. ↑ Fifteenth Census of the United States, Florida, Putnam, Keuka, E.D. 54-24 p4B, household 78

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Gordon Ralls for creating WikiTree profile Tolson-219 through the import of Ralls043013.GED on Jun 20, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Gordon and others.