The house at 297 Silvermine Avenue, in the Silvermine section of Norwalk, was built around 1724. The land for the house was deeded to Jacob St. John by his father Ebenezer St. John in 1722. Jacob St. John gave the property to his only son Abraham in 1765. The lean-to, which gives the house a saltbox form, was probably built when the house was originally constructed. The house also has an original fieldstone chimney.
The house at 186 Rowayton Avenue in Rowayton, Norwalk was built in 1842 by Nicholas Vincent, a New York ship builder, for his daughter, Catherine Raymond Vincent, who married John Thomes. The house is named for a later owner, Capt. William C. Sammis (1818-1891). A coastal shipping trader in oysters until the railroad drove him out of business, Capt. Sammis purchased the house in 1866 and became a farmer, sending his produce by train to market in New York City.
The house at 51 East Avenue in Norwalk was built circa 1789 for Hezekiah Jarvis (1746-1838). The son of Capt. Samuel Jarvis, Hezekiah Jarvis was the brother of the Episcopal Bishop Abraham Jarvis. According to The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. III (1893):
Hezekiah Jarvis lived to a patriarchal age and had the privilege of seeing his descendants to the fourth generation. He is described as a man of great mental gifts, possessing in particular a remarkable memory, fine discernment, a notable logical faculty, and great capacity for reasoning. He was a comprehensive and judicious reader and profound thinker. His disposition was pleasant and cheerful and even in extreme old age he was a delightful companion. Withal, he was a sincere and devout Christian, and the influence of his worthy and honorable life in the church is said to have been remarkable. He held office as warden in the church for a period of fifty-four years. He was well informed in ecclesiastical history and in church doctrines and usages, and brought up his family in accordance with his convictions. Hezekiah Jarvis was a man of inflexible integrity, who sustained throughout his life a reputation for an exalted appreciation of duty and a sense of his obligation to his Maker and his fellow-man.
The headquarters of the Westport Historical Society is the Bradley-Wheeler House, located at 25 Avery Place. The house was built by Ebenezer Coley, a merchant, for his son Michael Coley. Financial troubles forced Michael Coley to deed the house back to his father three years later. Ebenezer Coley then sold it in 1799. Ann Hazzard Avery Ripley (1764-1830) occupied the house, where she also had a millinary shop, in the early nineteenth century. From 1846 to 1857 the house was owned by Farmin Patchin, who had financial problems and deed the property to the Saugatuck Bank. The house is named for two of its later nineteenth-century owners: Morris Bradley and Charles B. Wheeler, both local businessmen. It is likely that Morris Bradley was the owner who dramatically altered the style of the house to its current Italianate appearance. Bradley acquired the house in 1865 and it was occupied by him until his death in 1886 and then by his widow until it passed to his daughter, Julia A. Bradley Wheeler. She was married to Charles Beach Wheeler, who ran a store with his brother-in-law Abraham Bradley (died 1886). The house was later home to Charles and Julia’s son, Lewis Wheeler, a doctor who died in 1958. Wheeler’s estate left the property to Charlotte P. Darby. After her death in 1979, the house was left to Christ and Holy Trinity Church, which sold it to the Historical Society in 1981.
At 156 South Main Street in Colchester is a Greek Revival house with Colonial Revival additions that include an elliptical attic light, long gabled wing on the right side and a one-story veranda. The house was built circa 1840 to 1850, being purchased in the latter year from David Carroll by Dr. Solomon Everest Swift (1819-1895), a dentist who practiced homeopathic medicine. After Dr. Swift‘s death, his widow Almira Lathrop Swift (1822-1904) (who had attended Bacon Academy) lived in the house until her own death. Their daughter, Caroline Swift Willard (1863-1950), probably made the Colonial Revival alterations/additions between 1896 and 1919, the year she eventually sold the house, having moved to Redlands, California. From the late 1990s until 2006, the house was used as a gift shop and is now lawyers’ offices.
In 1860 Dudley Stweart (1820-1886) built the Italianate house at 32 Main Street in North Stonington on the site of the former Stephen Avery house, which had been destroyed by fire. Dudley Wheeler Stewart ran the local general store. He married Eliza Fish Denison in 1856. On August 30, 1906, a celebration was held on the lawn of the house for the arrival of the first trolley car. (more…)
The house at 846 Southford Road in Southbury was built circa 1785. The house may have been inherited by Aaron Bronson from his father, Noah Bronson. A cordwainer (shoemaker) and button maker, Aaron Bronson (1768-1834) left the house to his son, Augustus, who sold it in 1847. With the exception of a later Greek Revival doorway, the house’s exterior is typical of a late eighteenth-century Cape. The interior is notable for its early Federal-style features. The house has a later kitchen ell, attached at the left rear around 1820. A modern wing was added to the rear of the ell in 1987.
You must be logged in to post a comment.