Herbert L. Hoxie House (1898)

The house at 25 Moss Street in Pawcatuck (in Stonington) was built in 1898 for Herbert Leon Hoxie (1857-1934), who moved from nearby Westerly, Rhode Island. As described in Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island, Vol. III (1908):

Herbert L. Hoxie, born Aug. 26, 1857, in Charlestown, spent his boyhood days in his native town and in Richmond, and until 1880 engaged in farming. He worked for Welcome C. Tucker, of Carolina, at blacksmithing for three months, and then came to Westerly, and began to learn the machinist’s trade with Cottrell & Babcock, with whom he has ever since remained.

Mr. Hoxie was married in Charlestown, R. I., to Annie Frances, daughter of Benjamin Tucker and Frances Taylor, and they have had one child, Carroll Walter, born June 24, 1897. He is a member of Pawcatuck Lodge, No. 90, A. F. & A. M.

Mary B. Clark House (1896)

The house at 74 Windham Street in Willimantic was built for Mary B. Clark in 1896, four years after the town selectmen voted to extend Windham Street north from Valley Street, opening lots near the new Willimantic Normal School. Born in 1844 in Coventry, Mary Bidwell Winchester was the niece of the founder of the Smith and Winchester Company, paper manufacturers in South Windham. She married and later divorced Daniel S. Clark Jr., a machinist who was five years her junior. After the divorce, Mary Clark became wealthy investing in real estate, however in late 1905 her behavior was becoming erratic. She became terrified her house would be burgled while she slept. She kept the lights on all night and fired her revolver at sheets on the close-line outside that she believed might be potential burglars. When the police arrived to investigate, they were threatened with a “dose of lead.” Mrs. Clark was arrested for discharging firearms in the city limits. She was eventually taken to the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, where she remained until her death in 1929 at the age of 84.

There is an interesting article detailing the history of the house: Part One|Part Two|Part Three.

See also, “Her Mind Shies at Burglars. Conservator Appointed for Willimantic Woman. Is Sane Except at Mention of Thieves,” (Hartford Courant, December 7, 1905).

Oxfordshire (1925)

Stephen Betts Church (1866-1951) was a businessman and land-owner in Oxford who founded the Stephen B. Church Company, which specializes in drilling high capacity artesian wells. In 1925, he expanded his original family homestead at 53 Great Hill Road. The old house, built in 1736, was split in half and the two parts were moved to be on either side of a new section in the center. Church named his thirty-room mansion Oxfordshire. A highlight of the house is the music room, which features an Aeolian Pipe Organ. (more…)

John Twitchell House (1741)

John Twitchell, who in 1714 built what would become the Washband Tavern in Oxford, later erected another house in town, at what is now 7 Academy Road, in 1741. That same year, residents of Oxford petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly to form their own Ecclesiastical Society and the new congregation met at the Twitchell House before their new meeting house was erected next door in 1743. By 1804 a store had been added to the west side of the house. A Masonic Lodge was also organized in the house, which was the site of Oxford’s first post office when Walker Wilmot was appointed postmaster in 1807. Enos Candee bought the house in 1845 and extensively remodeled it. For several years, starting in 1903, the house was used by St. Peter’s Episcopal Church as a rectory.