Stephen Hanford was a weaver and New Canaan’s first licensed tavern keeper. In 1764, he moved into a new house with his new wife, Jemima. The house was both his home and an “ordinary,” or inn and tavern. After his wife died in 1784, Hanford sold the house to Elisha Leeds, who gave it to his daughter Martha, and her husband, Joseph Silliman, as a wedding present. The Hanford-Silliman House remained in the Silliman family into the 1920s. Acquired by the New Canaan Historical Society in 1957, it now one of their museum properties.
Hanford-Silliman House (1764)