James Johnston, Jr. had a long career at the Aetna Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, starting in 1902. Listed as a stenographer in 1909, by the mid-1930s he was agency supervisor of the company’s the southern department. Johnston’s 1907 house, an example of the American Foursquare house form, is at 15 Elm Street in East Hartford. Johnston held a number of public offices in East Hartford, including city clerk, fire commissioner, and serving on the board of education. According to an article that appeared in the Hartford Courant, July 18, 1940, James Johnston of 15 Elm Street protested that he and several others had been ignored by the 1940 Census. An checkup reveled that the East Hartford division might have missed as many as 300 persons.
The house at 1970 Main Street in East Hartford was built c. 1818. It is not known why the house was built with its front facade facing away from the road. Ownership of the house has been traced back to Elizur Anderson, a farmer.
The house at 360 Maple Street/1331 Forbes Street in East Hartford was built c. 1800. It was erected by Benjamin Roberts, Sr., possibly as a speculation, on land which, until 1818, was owned by the Congreational church. From the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries the house was owned by the Winslow family.
Ira Anderson, a prosperous farmer, built the house at 224 Naubuc Avenue on his land in Hockanum in East Hartford c. 1840 for Sally Keeney. In 1873 she sold it to Edmund A. Fox. The house has been much altered.
The house at 32 Broad Street in East Hartford was built sometime between c. 1800 and the early 1820s, possibly by John Porter II. The house has a later, elaborately carved, Victorian-era porch. In 1855 the house was owned by Charles C. Ashley, a silversmith.
The house at 1820 Main Street in East Hartford was built c. 1750. It was the home of Levi Goodwin (1757-1836), a tobacco farmer, who kept a tavern behind his home that faced the King’s Highway (now Ellington Road). Hearing news of the Lexington alarm, he left to serve in the Revolutionary War. Upon his return from the War he held a celebration at his tavern at his own expense that lasted for three days. As described inThe Goodwins of Hartford, Connecticut, Descendants of William and Ozias Goodwin (1891), complied by James Junius Goodwin
He marched for Boston, April 17, 1775, on the Lexington alarm, and was paid for ten days’ service. He enlisted as a private in the Company of Capt. Jonathan Hale, in the Regiment commanded by Col. Erastus Wolcott, which was called out January, 1776, for six weeks, service, to aid the army under General Washington in the vicinity of Boston. He was also in the Company of Capt. Abraham Sedgwick, in the Battalion commanded by Col. John Chester, raised in June, 1776, to reinforce the army under General Washington at New York. These troops were in the battles of Long Island, August 27, and of White Plains, October 28, their term of service expiring on the 25th of December of the same year. For his services in this war he received a pension from the United States Government. His residence was in East Hartford, and he represented that town in the Legislature of October, 1818. He married Jerusha Drake, daughter of Jonathan Drake of East Windsor. Levi Goodwin died April 24, 1836, aged 78. Jerusha (Drake) Goodwin died March 26, 1832, aged 76.
Emil Schultz was a builder in East Hartford who lived in a house he built for himself at 140 Naubuc Avenue. His wife’s grandmother quit-claimed the property at 75 Broad Street to him in 1929 and he soon built there a Tudor Revival house to sell.
