Jared W. Lincoln House (1830)

The Federal-style house at 35 Chaplin Street in Chaplin was built c. 1825-1830. Interestingly, there is another almost identical house located at 47 Chaplin Street, on the other side of the Chaplin Congregational Church. In 1871, 35 Chaplin Street became the home of Jared W. Lincoln (1823-1915), a shop owner and notable citizen of Chaplin. He had sold his previous house, at 50 Chaplin Street, to his son Edgar.

As described in Vol. I of A Modern History of Windham County, Connecticut (1920), edited by Jared‘s nephew, Allen B. Lincoln:

A celebration of very unusual character was the wedding anniversary, April 21, 1914, of Mr. and Mrs. Jared W. Lincoln, on completion of seventy years of happy married life. There was a large gathering of relatives and friends at their Chaplin home on that memorable day.

Both were natives of the Town of Windham; be born at North Windham (then New Boston), September 8, 1823, son of Captain Dan and Mehitabel Flint Lincoln; she was born at North Windham, September 28, 1824, as Johanna Spatford, daughter of Darius and Lora Lincoln Spatford. He was therefore in his ninety-first year, and she in her ninetieth, at the time of this seventieth anniversary.

After attending district school, Jared Lincoln farmed it summers and taught school winters, continuing this practice for several years after his marriage. In 1856 he moved to Chaplin and entered the store of his brother, Allen Lincoln, as clerk; but bought the store soon after wihen (sic) the brother removed to Willimantic. About twenty years later he sold the store to his son, Edgar S. Lincoln, and resumed farming.

Meanwhile he was chosen town clerk and treasurer and so continued for over forty years; also clerk and treasurer of the Congregational Church and Society. He represented Chaplin in the Legislature in 1862. He was local postmaster during republican administrations. Mr. Lincoln died May 21, 1915, at the age of ninety-two and his wife died July 25, 1915, at the age of ninety-one.

At the time of the seventieth anniversary, the Hartford Courant said: “Jared W. Lincoln is a fine type of the old-time New Englander, a man of clean life, rugged honesty, and loyal service in family, church and community, of quiet and unassuming activities, yet often sought as a common-sense adviser and valued as a solid, substantial citizen. It is fitting to add that his wife has been a worthy helpmate in all these relations.”