New additions to the chronology are highlighted in blue.
As I research George Russell Tolman, a Richmond architect transplanted from New England and once parter of Richmond’s “dean of architecture” Marion J. Dommon, I am developing a chronology of his life events. Here is what I have so far:
1848, Dec 5 George Russell Tolman born to Joseph & Elizabeth Tolman in Boston, Mass
1860 Living in Boston with parents (Boston Ward II, Suffolk, MA), age 11
1870 Living in Boston with sister’s family, brother & father; employed as a draftsman
1870s Partners with George F. Moffette to form Boston firm, Moffette and Tolman
1876 Moffette and Tolman design Charlestown Savings Bank
1880, Jun 9 Living in Boston w/ sister’s family (Ulmans’), brother & father. Brother Albert & George listed as architects
1882 Illustrates “12 sketches of old Boston buildings”
1888, Oct Married to Eva Frances Tolman in Boston, Mass
1887 Illustrates for Porter’s Rambles in Old Boston, New England
1888, Oct Married to Eva Frances Tolman in Boston, MA
1889, Jun Leaves Boston, MA (and wife), possibly for Kittery, ME
1889 Works for Treasury Department as a draftsman at Kittery, ME Navy Yard
1889 Designed the Marine Barracks for the Norfolk, VA Navy Yard
1890 Living in Washington, DC
1891, Jan 2 Tolman succeeds Albert Bibb as architect for the U.S. Life Saving Service
1892 Designed a Life-Saving Station for Quonochontaug at Charlestown, RI
1892, May 2 Eva F. Tolman files suit for alimony against George
1892, Jul 26 Passport issued, resides in Washington DC
1893, May A modified plan of the Quonochontaug station was included in the Government exhibit at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893
1893 2nd “Duluth” Life-Saving Station prototype designed
1893, Nov Living in Washington, DC, sued for alimony from Eva Frances Tolman; George denies paternity of their deceased child (see image below)
(1894) 1895 Tolman works on Concord, Mass’s …Births, marriages, and deaths, 1635-1850 record book
1895, Apr-May Trial forcing Tolman to pay alimony, he does not, and is ordered into custody of the warden
1896, Jul 16 Tolman leaves U.S. Life Saving Service re: personal matter for taking a sudden and unapproved leave of absence to escape a warrant for his recommitment to jail
1900 Jun 12 (via Census) lives in Wayne, Indiana with Sam Stuckay (a salesman)
1902 Westover additions w/ Marion J. Dimmock as Dimmock & Tolman arch firm
1903-1906 Listed in Richmond Directory as an architect in Marion J. Dimmock’s office, living at 3 E Main Street
1903 Virginia Capitol expansion submission w/ Marion J. Dimmock as Dimmock & Tolman arch firm
1904, Jan Survey of Clifton published in “Construction of an Old Virginia House.” American Architect and Building News, no. 1464
1906-1907 Leaves Richmond, VA, possibly to return to Massachusetts
1930 Age 82, living with neices & nephews of the same Ulman family in Plymouth, Mass.
renaissancerva.co 
I’ve researched U.S. Life-Saving Service architects, including George Toleman, and co-authored “The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard.” If you’d like more information contact me.
Wick,
Wonderful!! Thank you so much for the tip!
I’ll be sending you an email shortly…
-Jessica
A George Tolman, listed as Boston, MA, submitted a design for the Grant Memorial to the American Architect and Building News periodical in 1885, elevations published on Sept 26 that year. The source is available on HathiTrust. I was trying to make sense out of the style for his design for a section of my dissertation. I’m not an architectural historian, but have to discuss a bit of it in this chapter.
I have reference to him in Bunnell Florida in 1913 buying farm land.
Dred32080@yahoo.com