01/15/2023
The Swetland House
Lot 32 Swetland
Parcel 31-02422.000 .507acer land
Jefferson street
London O
Presently 147 E. high street
The chain of ownership was surprisingly difficult to track on this house. As a matter of fact, it was pretty hard to find ANYTHING about this house other than address, it’s importance (has its own Wikipedia page), it’s original owner, and a few photos of it abandoned and falling apart.
In June of 2019 it briefly went on the market, never had a sign, just word of mouth thing, I suspect the Kessel Equity Group and USA Investment may have already made the deal before it officially hit the market, that this is pure speculation on my behalf. An online Facebook I follow (old house dreams maybe?) mentioned it, and had a link to a previous sale add with older photos. I do believe the present owner, Mr C. may have commented towards the end saying he was now the Stewart.
The Madison county auditor’s website is very tight lipped on sales history, or much of any information really. I don’t know if that’s to hide previous owners names… or to reduce the amount of online storage, or just sloppy digital book keeping, but it is what it is.
However, the county recorder… they have records. They have records on line going back to 1926-ish. It’s very tricky to navigate and time consuming… but the ladies at the historical society showed me how to do it.
The part that I don’t like, is the end of my digital paper trail only goes to 1975… The family that sold it in 1975 may well have owned it before the 1926 cut off date, or there were some records missing… or I screwed up. I’ll try looking it up again.
Either way, I will list all the owners, and what I was able to find about them on line below the timeline, and I will start with the recent sale and head back in time.
~Mr & Mrs C (again, privacy)
Purchased on 6/9/21
~USA Investment Group
Purchased on 6/25/19
~Kassel Equity Group LLC
Acquired on 1/29/18
~Kassel Property Management LLC
Purchased on 3/21/13
~Federal National Mortgage Assoc
Purchased on 2/14/13
*note of interest… purchased with sheriff’s deed probably brought at bank auction
~Mary Kathryn Throwbridge
Purchased on 7/6/93
~Terry & Retta Russell
Purchased on 5/22/85 Land Contract
~John & Ruth Sawyer
Purchased on 5/24/75
~George Sr & Gladys Wickline
No purchase date found.
Information I found online of the owners, starting from recent and working back, and skipping Mr & Mrs C as I didn’t look for anything on them. Also, rather surprisingly, it’s much easier to find information on people who have passed verses the living, at least, on Google without spending money.
Dr Marry Throwbridge
B 1957
D no death date or certificate found online
Possibly related to Ola Grubb B 1959, also no date of death.
Lived at 147 from 7/93 to 2/13
Ran her private practice from the house I am told, also found record of her Dr’s office at 67 West High st. Which today is the Sunny Side Vet, next to the Subway.
Other than some medical licensing numbers all that came up was that she graduated from OSU of Osteo Medicine in 1988. Her name also came up listed at 214 Elm St London, which is a Madison health medical center building.
Being that the home was sold with a Sheriff’s deed, the propert was likely sold at sheriff’s auction due to bank foreclosure, or she passed and had no one to will it to… if the latter was the case, she was pretty young and may not have felt a will was needed yet. She would have been 57 when the house was sold.
Terry and Retta Russell
Lived at 147 from 5/85 to 7/93 Purchased under land contract
Terry
B 1947
D ?
Retta
B 1/5/48
D ?
This was all I found on them
John & Ruth Sawyer
Lived at 147 from 5/75 to 5/85
Married 1953
John
B 3/11/25
D 7/9/15
B17 pilot in WW2
J Sawyer Co agricultural and real estate firm
Pioneer in Ariel application of crop pesticides (created crop dusting)
Inducted into the Ohio agricultural hall of fame
A founder of the Cincinnati, Bengals
Cincinnati, Bengals team president, 1968 to 1993
Cincinnati Bengals vice president 1993 to2015
Former part owner, Cincinnati reds
1996 started Sawyer Products Co to market products to raise money to help try and cure Cystic Fibrosis
Ruth Sawyer
B 2/24/32
D 5/30/13
Avid gardener
Talented artist
Had London Arts move into the back half of the house. Mrs Ellie Grubb was the teacher. I can only assume they stayed there until the home was sold at sheriff auction.
George & Gladys Wickline
Lived at 147 from ?? To 5/75
George
B 1906
D ??
Ad found in Madison County Directory;
Mound & Olive St George Wickline dealer and manufacturer of hardwood products
Gladys
B 1915
D ??
No information found.
Either there’s some information missing, or some bad info… I have a hard dime believing Mr Wickline owned this home from 1926 to 1975. If he was born in 1906, he would have been 20 years old in 1926, and since Mrs Wickline was 9 years his junior, I doubt it was bought on her credentials. That would have put them here until they were 69 and 60 years old respectively. I’m going to attempt looking this up again… I don’t trust this data.
Information that predates 1926 is still on file. I don’t know who you would have to speak to, nor do I have any clue how it would work thumbing through all this pages. I am told that records go back to the beginning. Not sure if that would be the beginning of London in 1811 or of Madison county… but I’ve seen a property here in town that was researched clear back to the beginning-ish of London.
