In June 1903, Fred G. Talen had a small store on South Street, to the west of the Birchett House, and a large antebellum house on the northeast corner of Walnut and South streets, demolished in order to build three houses. The two houses that faced South (803 and 807) were two-story Queen Anne cottages and the house on the corner was a much larger and elaborate Queen Anne. They were built by Dixon and Boult Contactors. When 807 was completed in November 1903 and was leased to Dan A. James, he had recently been “thrown from his buggy” and was recuperating before moving in. The house at 803 was finished shortly thereafter and was rented by E. L. Betts, an electrician with the Cumberland Telegraph Company. By 1906, 807 was rented by Jonathan and Cora Porterfield. He served as superintendent with the Y and MV railroad. Fred Talen moved into 803.

According to Talen’s obituary on February 14, 1923, he was “born on the ocean at the time that his father and mother were coming from Sweden to make their home in this country. As a boy, Prof. Talen showed the talent that afterwards made him a notable figure in Vicksburg musical circles and when he was but 17 years old, a subscription concert was given in this city to send him to Leipsie (sic) to study.” After graduation, Talen returned to Vicksburg and taught music. He was also an organist for many years at First Baptist Church and for 25 years at the Jewish Temple. He was the director of the Elks Band and directed the Southron’s band for summer concerts. According to The Vicksburg Post, “His musical career in this city was connected with all of the prominent musical events up to within the past few years, when failing health compelled a cessation of active participation. As a teacher, he was painstaking and thorough and numbers of our best pianists and organists throughout this section received their early training at his hands.”

Talen and his wife Ernestine traveled to Germany in 1907 for a three-month vacation to visit relatives and had trouble buying accommodations on a returning steamer. Talen was eventually able to return on a ship sailing from Hamburg, but had to leave his wife because she couldn’t get a ticket.  A year later, he announced that he was returning to Germany to live and that he was keeping his real estate in Vicksburg, which would be handled by Hennessey and Brothers. He returned to the United States in September 1914, in an effort to escape the war in Germany.  The travel was so difficult that he again left his wife because she was ailing and was not up to the trip.  He traveled with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ernst, also Vicksburgers. Talen told The Post the trip from Leipzig to Rotterdam usually took 12 hours, but it took them five days. He said that troop and provision trains had the right of way over passenger trains and that they would travel for a short distance and then have to stop to let an army train pass. Once on the steamer Rotterdam, it took 10 days to sail to New York as they were held up by British warships. Sadly, Ernestine never returned to Vicksburg, dying in Germany in December 1918. Talen returned to teaching music in February 1919 and by 1922 was in ill health, living with Mrs. Lillie Brown in his house that faced Walnut Street. On January 14, 1923, Talen married Lillie in the home. He died of pneumonia on February 14, 1923.

The properties on South Street, which had been rental houses since they were built, were sold and then torn down in the 1940s for the commercial building that remains today. The photograph of the two South Street houses is taken from the inside of the Rose-O’Neill Ford Motor Company across the street, the lot now occupied by Cadence Bank.

– Nancy Bell, Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.