The house at 118 Main Street in Farmington was built by Reverend Joseph Washburn (1766-1805) shortly after he acquired the land in 1796. Rev. Washburn was the sixth pastor of Farmington’s Congregational Church, serving from 1795 to 1805. Suffering from consumption, he left home with his wife and four children in October 1805 to spend the winter in a southern climate. He died on Christmas Day and was buried at sea while on his way from Norfolk, VA to Charleston, SC. His widow, Sarah Boardman Washburn, later married her second husband, Deacon Elijah Porter (1761-1845). In 1846, she and her son Horace sold the house to Chauncey Rowe (1815-1900), who operated a store on Main Street with Chauncey Deming Cowles. Rowe, who was an original trustee of the Farmington Bank, owned the house until 1897.