Here is an old picture of the Colonel Redfield home, on the corner of S. High and Cherry, according to Washington County Historian Jeremy Elliott. The picture is from the early 1900’s.
Colonel James Henry Redfield and his wife, Sarah Wilson Redfield completed the construction of what was then called “the nicest house in town”, in 1882.
Redfield was promoted to the rank of colonel from the 16th Indiana Regiment, where he was said to be very brave and zealous in battle and very kind in camp.
His obituary states that he contracted germs during the war that eventually led to his untimely demise at 49 years of age.
Court in Indy in 1914 and relocated there.
He passed away in the residence on November 13th, 1883, supposedly from Bright’s Disease.
It seems he came from a pretty wealthy family and made the bulk of his own money by inventing and manufacturing mill machinery, some of which were said to have been indispensable to the production of good flour, said Elliott.
The couple had 2 children, a boy & a girl, who both died at 1 year of age –also presumably in the home.
Mrs. Redfield died 20 years after her husband, in July of 1903, while gardening in the yard with her female companion, Miss Eva Cauble.
Her obituary makes it sound like she had a heart attack while collecting cucumbers. Her funeral was held at the home.
After Mrs. Redfield passed the home was purchased by Judge Milton Hottel, he and his family lived in the home until he was elected to a second term over the State Appellate
Not long after the house was purchased by Lee and Lucille (Hottel) Persise, who were married there in March of 1911, and they owned the home for nearly 40 years. Lucille passed away unexpectedly in 1931 due to complications from surgery, her funeral was held at the home.
When Judge Hottel passed away in June of 1936, his body was brought from Indy to the home of his son-in-law, Mr. Persise, for funeral services.
“Mr. Persise seems to have sold the home around 1940, but who the owners were from then till Donovan & Jean Wilson purchased the place in 1980, I have been unable to ascertain,” Elliott said. ” Sometime in this timeframe, someone had the terrible idea of removing the cupola.”
