Ebenezer King built an elaborate Federal-style mansion, with two porticoed doorways, on North Main Street in Suffield in 1795. In 1811, he sold the house to William Gay, the son of Ebenezer Gay and a prominent lawyer and postmaster of Suffield, who ran the post office from his house. The house came to be known as the Gay Mansion and remained the possession of descendants of the Gay family until 1916. The house is now the official residence of the headmaster of Suffield Academy.
The Gay Mansion (1795)
I believe this was the childhood home of my grandfather, Harvey Stafford Gay. Who owned this house at the time of sale in 1916?
I have been out of town for several weeks. My husband thinks there might have been a response from you but not knowing I had contacted you, he erased nessage without reading it. If you did respond, please do so again as I am very interested and will be in town consistently and my husband is aware of the contact. My apologies and again, thank you. Marion
I don’t have extensive data on this house beyond what is contained in the links embedded in this post. Perhaps you should contact whatever town office handles property records for the town of Suffield. http://www.suffieldtownhall.com/content/71/default.aspx
Marion, this house was sold by a Gay descendant Mrs. Elise R. Ailing to Rev. Daniel R. Kennedy in 1916 according to the book Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of Suffield.
My question is: What is the street address of this house, and is it 281 N. Main, now in an altered state?
http://www.oldhousedreams.com/2015/05/01/c-1800-federal-suffield-ct/
I’m re-reading the above noted Celebration of the two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of Suffield (1920) as reprinted and available through Amazon. The history of both the 1742 Gay Manse and the later Gay Mansion are followed in this book. I’m glad people are interested and don’t confuse the father and son Ebenezer Gays of Suffield with their uncle (and great uncle) The Rev Ebenezer Gay of Hingham, MA. Thank you for your postings. Gay Amend, descendant of the brother of the Hingham Ebenezer Gay.