Dating to 1775 (and probably later modified in the Federal style) is the home of Rev. John Rathbone (1729-1826) at 87 Water Street in Stonington. Rev. Rathbone was the first minister of the Baptist church in Stonington Borough, organized in 1775. According to the Brown Genealogy, Vol. II (1915), by Cyrus Henry Brown,
He was a Baptist, a patriot of the Revolution, member of the Stonington Committee of Correspondence and Inspection, and signer of the memorial to the Connecticut Assembly praying for cannon to protect the town of Stonington against the British attack on Long Point, in 1777. He organized the Baptist Church at Westford, Mass, in 1780, and became its first pastor, in 1781. He preached at Saratoga, NY, in his ninety-fifth year.
Rev. John Rathbone House (1775)
I regret to inform you that this house is not the Rev. John Rathbone house which stands much changed at the corner of Harmony and Water, north of this house.
This house was built by Charles Hewitt Smith in 1822 on land he bought from Dr. William Hyde LR 17/263 11 march 1822. In this deed there is no house, and it is described as
“the southeast part of the garden known as the John Rathbone property.
So, the sign on the house itself is mistaken?
In the book Village, by Peter Megaree Brown – who purchased this house in the 1990s re relates people told him it wasn’t the Rathbone house but documents he later found in research proved those contentions incorrect and it was thus proven to be what the plaque says.