Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

James Francis

Dr. Abner Moseley House (1800)

Built around 1800-1802, the brick house at 200 Broad Street in Wethersfield is attributed to the local builder, James Francis. The Colonial Revival front porch is a later addition. The house was originally the residence of Dr. Abner Moseley (1766-1811). Born in Glastonbury, Dr. Moseley was a graduate of Yale. In 1814, his daughter, Eunice, married Winthrop Buck, the son of Daniel and Sarah Saltonstall Buck. Sarah’s sister Elizabeth was the second wife of Silas Deane.

According to Edward Sweetser Tillotson’s Wethersfield Inscriptions (1899), Dr. Moseley’s stone in Wethersfield’s Old Burying Ground reads as follows:

In Memory of Abner Moseley, | a Physician of skill & eminence, | who died Sept. 20-th A.D. 1811, | Aged Forty five. | His Wife Eunice who died Jan. 26 | 1811. Aged Forty three. | Their second daughter Hope, who | died Sept. 29-th 1806, Aged 11. | Their eldest son Robert, who | died Oct. 16-th 1811, Aged 17. | Their youngest Daughter Maria | who died Sept. 30-th 1818. Aged 11. | Their second Son Joseph died July 1 | 1838. Aged 40. Their third Son Walter | died July II, 1838, Aged 39. | Their eldest Daughter Eunice. Wife of | Winthrop Buck, died Aug. 24, 1862. Aged 69. | Their youngest Son William | died March 19, 1868. Aged 62. | Their third Daughter Harriet | died July 15. 1877, Aged 75. | Their fourth daughter Emily | died May 17, 1887. Aged 84.

Capt. Daniel Francis House (1803)

Built in 1803, possibly by James Francis, on Main Street in Wethersfield, for Capt. Daniel Francis. This Federal style house was later updated to the Second Empire style in the 1870s with the addition of a Mansard roof.

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Richard Bunce House and Tavern (1800)

Designed by master builder Captain James Francis, the 1800 Richard Bunce House, at the corner of Main and Garden Streets in Wehersfield, displays some of the same Federal features, like semi-circular windows, as in Francis’ earlier Robert Robbins House. The Bunce House was also a tavern, the entrance being on the west, or Main Street side.

Deming-Standish House (1787)

Built in 1787 for Henry Deming on Main Street in Wethersfield and later owned by the Standish family, the Deming-Standish House was given to the town of Wethersfield in 1928. It is very similar to the 1783 brick house built for Samuel Woodhouse, Jr., on nearby River Road. In 1800, James Francis and his cousin, Simeon, were contracted to do the woodworking of the front rooms and the windows, the facade thus being updated in the Federal style. Within a few years, the neighboring Hurlbut and Shepard Houses would be constructed in the Federal style. The house was leased to the Wethersfield Historical Society in 1983 and over the years has been rented to different proprietors as a restaurant, first as The Standish House, and more recently as The Village Tavern. It is currently between tenants.

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Robert Robbins House (1792)

Built in the 1790s on Broad Street in Wethersfield, the Robert Robbins House is one of a number of brick Federal style homes in the town designed by James Francis.

Captain James Francis House (1793)

Captain James Francis, a master builder, constructed this house for himself on Hartford Avenue in Wethersfield in 1793. In 1815, he expanded the original 1 1/2-story building with a gambrel roof to two stories with a gable roof. Capt. Francis also built a number of other brick houses in Wethersfield during this period. The front and side porches were added by his granddaughter, Jane Francis, in the nineteenth century. The house is currently owned by the Wethersfield Historical Society.