Prindle-Goldstein House (1796)

The house at 76 Jewett Street in Ansonia has been called the Prindle-Goldstein House by John Poole of the website/blog, A Preservationist’s Technical Notebook. The house was built c. 1795-1796 on land purchased in 1795 by brothers Joseph and Mordecai Prindle, the latter residing in the house. The brothers were sea captains and partners in a ship chandlery in Stratford. According to A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Part I (1886) by Samuel Orcutt:

In the year 1805, Josiah, Mordecai and Joseph H. Prindle, brothers, came from Derby and established in this store the West India business. They had three vessels employed in carrying out corn meal, horses and cattle, and bringing back rum, sugar and molasses. They lost two schooners in the fall of 1808, in a hurricane, with full cargoes of stock and corn meal, and all persons on board perished. As the result of these losses they failed, and gave up the business

Capt. Mordecai Prindle and a crew of seven were on one of those vessels caught in a September gale off Cape Hatteras. As related in The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880 (1880), by Samuel Orcutt and Ambrose Beardsley,

it is mentioned that a kildeer out of season perched upon the window sill of Mrs. Prindle’s house, which stood near Dr. Mansfield’s, and was heard to sing distinctly several times, in plaintive notes, and then disappear. [This was taken as a sign portending death.] Mrs. Prindle was deeply affected, and declared that her husband was that moment sinking beneath the merciless waves. From that day to this Captain Prindle, his seven men and vessel have not been heard from.

The house was next owned by William Mansfield, a son of Rev. Richard Mansfield. It then passed to Rev. Stephen Jewett (1783-1861), who assisted the ailing Rev. Mansfield and then succeeded him as Rector of Derby’s Episcopal Church. Jewett Street is named for him. Rev. Jewett ran a preparatory school in the house for young men intending to study at college to enter the ministry. In 1834 he moved to New Haven. The house passed through a number of owners until 1864, when it was acquired by Frederick C. Goldstein and his wife, Sophia Elizabeth, who had arrived from Germany six years earlier. Their son, Dr. Frederick C. Goldstein (1869-1928), later served as health officer and school physician for the City of Ansonia.