USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Canton > Canton sesquicentennial, 1806-1956; a short illustrated history of Canton > Part 10
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Eugene Dionne - Michael Bilecki - Beckwith - Hyman Smith -Berton Case-Thompson-Robert Wilcox- (B. Wilcox) -Josiah Clarke.
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WEST SIMSBURY ROAD
The Jennison homestead of colonial style is the first house beyond the corner on the North Canton-West Simsbury road. Back of the main house there used to be another house that was connected with the one in front. These were separated by Mr. Diehms, and the part in the rear was later moved away to another spot on the place. Mr. Diehms used the main house as an antique shop. The old well curb still stands in the yard. Years ago a small building joined to the main house on the west was used by Gen. Ezra Adams and his George Adams as a store, and when George's brother Oliver was appointed postmaster in 1842, the office was in this building. When the post office building was re- moved in 1906, the mail was kept in the west room of the main house. Mrs. Mary Adams was post mistress from 1923 to 1937. The first piano in town was bought by Gen. Ezra Adams for his daughter Mary in 1830. It is now in the museum in Collinsville. David Adams, Jr. is the first recorded owner of this place. He was born in 1740. In the early days most of the houses were built when a man married, and many of them married when about twenty years old. That might date the first house about 1760. The house was a tavern in stagecoach days when the stage came from Hartford to North Canton and on to Barkhamsted and Hartland. There was a large ballroom on the second floor. Gen. Ezra Adams carried on a business, making boots, saddles, and har- nesses. In restoring the house, the Jennisons found evidence that a gambrel roof had been changed to its present form, with several feet added to the house, both front and rear. An old Connecticut penny dated 1771 was found in the walls.
Whitney Jennison - Geoffrey Baker - Louis Diehms - Henry Adams, Sr. - (George and Oliver Adams) - Gen. Ezra Adams - David Adams, Jr.
The Kelsey house is also very interesting, having all the signs of age but without a known date. The front door is divided vertically in the center, closing with a wooden bar. Until recently an old stone sink, with a carefully shaped spout that conducted the waste water outside the house, stood in the "sink room." On the north west side of the house there was a small building until a few years ago that had been the office of Dr. Weed. It had shelves along the side, and hand split lath. Dr. Weed was the first postmaster appointed for North Canton. He began in 1826, and may have used the building for post office as well as medicine.
Luman P. Kelsey - Henry Adams, Jr. - William Goodhue - (Everett Case) - Dr. Benjamin Weed.
The first settler on the Henry Evonsion place was Capt. Darius Moses whose wife Sarah was a daughter of Lieut. David Adams. The first house was probably built about 1778. A new one replaced it about 1880, built by Stanley Weed. Some years ago this house burned, and the present house was built by the Evonsions in 1925.
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Henry Evonsion - Carl Evonsion - William Goodhue - James Weed - Stanley Weed - Capt. Darius Moses.
WEST ROAD
The home of Mortimer R. Bristol, a little north of Joseph Bou- chard's on the other side of the road, was the Center District school- house from 1849 to 1942, when the Cherry Brook School opened. Mr. Bristol bought the property and remodelled the building into a five room house.
Center (North Center or Sisson) District School - Mortimer R. Bristol.
Hewat Davis' home was built by Loin Humphrey in 1797. Colonial in type, it has the large stone chimney with three fireplaces and a front hall surrounting it. The narrow hall with wide outside door necessi- tated a door in the southwest room, sometimes called a funeral door. The roof extending over the eighty foot ell covers on the east a part that was a small house, perhaps built before the main part. There was an old well southeast of this part.
Traces of stencilled walls have been found in many of the rooms, old timers saying that the man who did the stencilling around this community boarded here. Ornamenting the plastered walls with sten- cilling was introduced about 1830. One room upstairs has the original design, with several different motifs in red and green. The three fire- places have cupboards over them, sometimes called maple sugar cup- boards and by some the "parson's cupboard." There is an arched brick oven with a charred wooden door beside one fireplace. It is said that to get the dome or arched effect, a mound of wet sand was used and the brick laid over it. Through the years the house has had many changes, the six by eight panes are gone, inside doors added, partitions removed, the narrow front veranda removed, a wide porch added to the east, and the ell part much changed. The Davises have done a great deal, removing much of the paint on woodwork and floors, and landscaping the grounds. The tulip tree in the front yard was planted by the Sweetons about 1930.
Across the road from this place is the site of the first creamery in town, built in 1878. In 1882 a house was built for the manager, the cellar hole still can be seen. When the new creamery in the Center was built, this house was moved across the valley, and is now the home of Howard Edgerton.
Hewat Davis - Arthur W. Sweeton - Howard Bristol - August Freytag - Amos Spencer - (Warren Humphrey ) Loin Humphrey.
A story is told of a man who used to work for Warren Humphrey. It was the custom to make up a barrel of boiled cider applesauce every year and freeze it up for winter use. This man, Mike Lockland, got
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tired of having to pare apples every night, and determined to get even with Mrs. Humphrey, so he caught a large rat and laid it on top of the sauce. When Mrs. Humphrey found it she decided she did not want any more apple sauce, so Mike scraped off the top, and feasted on boiled cider applesauce for a long time.
Mrs. Humphrey did not like her husband to smoke in the house, so hearsay has it that he built a small carriage house across the road and there he smoked in comfort.
The next farm above on the west side of the road belongs now to R. G. Pratt. The house was built in 1867 by Giles Sisson, who ran the farm, a sawmill up by the bridges to the north, and a cider mill which stood below the bank south of the house. Traces of the canal can still be seen that led from a dam on Cherry Brook to the sawmill. Thomas Barber was the first settler here, building his house farther west of the present one in 1738.
Another story about Mike Lockland includes Mr. Sisson. Mike was fond of the cider brandy which Mr. Sisson distilled. One day Mr. Sisson agreed to give Mike some if he would catch him a good big trout. Mike caught the fish and brought it up. He got the brandy, but when Mr. Sisson dressed the fish, he found it weighted with shot, which rolled all over the floor.
Rodney G. Pratt - Dr. A. C. Unsworth - Otto Freeland - Earl Young - George Snow - Arthur Sisson - Giles Sisson - (S. H. Fowler) - Hosea Case, Jr. - Thomas Barber.
Across the two sawmill bridges and up the hill on the left is the home of Dr. Paul Phelps. The first house here was the home of Selden H. Brown, son of Abiel and grandson of Capt. John Brown. His house was burned on a "dreadful cold night" in January, 1857, and though they waked from their sleep in time to save the nine children, they lost much of their clothing and furniture. Mr. Brown was at the time a partner in the sawmill nearby, so if he rebuilt right away, it would date the present house about 1860. Dr. Phelps has greatly improved the house and grounds.
Dr. Paul Phelps - Wallace Dean - Margaret Daniels - Harvey Seger - Theodore and George Robertson - George Brown - (Selden Brown) .
The Bruce Lindsay house dates back to Revolutionary times. It replaced a log cabin built farther west in 1755. Capt. John Brown built the present house in 1776, and left with his company for New York about the time the Declaration of Independence was signed. He died soon after that. His son Abiel, who wrote the "Genealogical Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Simsbury," was born a short time after his father's departure with his company of Minute Men. Abiel was the youngest of eleven children.
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A gravestone was erected in memory of Capt. John Brown in the lot across from the house. This stone was later taken by his grandson, John Brown of Harper's Ferry, to his home in North Elba, N. Y. A marble monument had been erected in the Canton Cemetery for Capt. John Brown. John Brown, who died in his attempt to free the slaves, was buried after his execution near his home, a lonely spot in North Elba, and his grave is marked with the same stone that also bears his grandfather's name.
Bruce Lindsay - Stanley R. Eddy - Margaret Daniels - Walter Wilder - Lora Wilder - Elizur Brown - (Abiel Brown) - Hannah Owen Brown - Capt. John Brown.
BARBOURTOWN ROAD
Thomas M. Perry's home, known locally as the "stone house," was built in 1843 by two brothers, Volney and Linus Barber. The stone for its construction was quarried north of the barns. This farm was settled by Samuel Barber, his cabin standing farther west near the brook. Samuel was one of four brothers, coming with their widowed mother from Simsbury in 1738. Thomas settled on the Giles Sisson place, Jonathan near Dennis Mahoney's, and John where Russell Richardson now is. Dr. Samuel, who got his title from his skill in using roots and herbs, was a noted hunter. His wife's monument is the oldest in town, bearing the date 1752. She was the mother of seven sons, and the sec- ond wife had four sons and three daughters. Giles, a son, inherited the farm, and then it passed to his sons, Volney and Linus. Linus was a miller and was noted for his honesty. It was he who started the project of setting out shade trees along the main street in Canton Center. They are old trees now, and some are gone. Most of them were maples and elms, but there were white pines along by the cemetery which were cut in 1930 when the road was widened.
Thomas M. Perry - George W. Lamphier, Jr. and Sr. - (Norton Case, II) - Volney Barber - Giles Barber - Samuel Barber.
The Webster house is an old Barber place. The original house, across the road, was built by Elijah, son of Samuel. He built the present one in 1800. It is colonial in type, was raised higher by Elijah's son Daniel, and the ell to the east was added when Daniel Hiram lived there. Roy C. Webster bought the place in 1926 and restored it, making a com- fortable home with modern improvements, but not destroying its old time attractiveness. D. Hiram Barber in his early life was one of the "Yankee Peddlers" who went south winters with their wares.
About 1831 a new industry was developed in Connecticut - raising silk worms for raw silk. To feed the worms, mulberry trees, morus multicaulis, were set out, and "cocooneries" were built to house the worms. Such a house was built on this place on the site of the Bouchard house. Some raw silk was obtained, but before the industry had grown
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very much a disease struck the mulberry trees about 1844, causing the experiment in Connecticut to fail. The silkworm house on this place was replaced by a barn, which was later made into the very attractive home of Joseph Bouchard.
Mrs. Roy C. Webster - Samuel Glover - Robert H. Thompson - Anna B. Case - William Peloubet - Daniel Hiram Barber - (Daniel Barber) Elijah Barber.
Russell Richardson's house stands where John Barber settled in 1740. The original log cabin was replaced by a frame house about 1770. The present house was built by Russell Richardson in 1939. Years ago there used to be a still on this place. The water to run it came from a well on the Mills' place, and was brought down to the still by a pipe made of cedar logs bored out and fastened together. John Barber's son Jonathan inherited the place, and when his daughter Linda married Uriah Hosford, Jonathan gave them land for their farm. Several new homes have been built in recent years on the John Barber farm.
Russell Richardson-Stanley Rodgers-Howard Rodgers-Treat Lambert - (L. Foot) - Jonathan Barber - John Barber.
The Irwin Mills place was settled by Uriah Hosford who built a story and a half house in 1821. This was raised by him in 1850 to two full stories, and in 1891 Dea. Archibald Mills removed the large stone chimney and fireplaces, and ten years later added on a photograph studio for his son Lewis. This room was changed to a kitchen when Irwin, another son, married, thus making room for two families.
Mrs. Irwin Mills - Dea. Archibald Mills - (Dea. Uriah Hosford) .
The home of Clifford Seger was built in 1775 by Reuben Barber, son of John Barber. In 1820 it was extensively remodelled and repaired by Loin Humphrey for his son Loin Harmon, who lived there all his married life.
Reuben Barber was in the Revolution, and was paid for his serv- ices with a worthless Continental $50.00 bill. It is said he used it to light his pipe. It was Reuben Barber who gave the land for the Canton Center Cemetery, and he was the first one to be buried there, in 1825.
This house still has the stone central chimney, with three fireplaces on the first floor and two in the basement, with a bake oven in the back of one. Sadosa Barber lived in the basement while his house was being built, and others have lived there. When this house was being repaired, Sadosa Barber quarried the stone and built the outside stone stairway.
Clifford Seger - George Seger - Joseph Smith - Edward Staats - William Weingarth - Adolph Rehbein - (Loin Harmon Hum- phrey ) - Reuben Barber.
The house now occupied by James G. Trainer was built by Joseph Messenger, 3rd in 1762. It has a very pleasant location under the hill,
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but looking down the valley. It has been much improved in recent years. At one time it was unoccupied, and Gaylord Barbour stored various kinds of vegetables in the rooms. A group of young men some fifty or sixty years ago started an orchestra. They met in this empty house to practice. The instruments were clarinet, violin, flute, cornet, bass viol, and organ. For some time they played for dances, and also played for Sunday morning church services.
James G. Trainer - Dr. A. C. Unsworth - Herbert Richardson - Charles Messenger - George Richardson - Loin H. Humphrey, John Millard - Dea. Theophilus Humphrey - Joseph Messenger, 3rd.
The Dr. Arthur C. Unsworth house was built in 1839 by Alson Barber to replace one built for him at the time of his marriage by his father, Reuben Barber. Alson said the 1839 house was built at the "great cost of $600.00 plus salt pork and hard cider." His son Gaylord built new modern barns in the eighteen seventies, when he was run- ning the farm. The house has had many changes and additions made by Dr. Unsworth, and the grounds landscaped.
The first one to settle on this property was William Taylor, who came from Middletown about 1756. He died in 1777 of smallpox, and was buried near the home of his son John, who lived up on the Mulcun- dry road - northwest of the present Simpson place.
Dr. A. C. Unsworth - Andrew Nissen - Herbert Richardson - George Strong - George Richardson - Gaylord Barber - (Alson Barber) - Reuben Barber.
The place now occupied by Henry Chapin is also a Barber home. The ell is part of the original house built in 1803 by Reuben Barber for his son Sadosa. This first house stood in the garden to the south, and had a large spring in the cellar. In 1856 Sadosa moved the present ell, adding to it the main part. The old Kimberly Line as it was originally would have passed through this house, but in 1762 the eastern tier of lots in New Hartford was annexed to West Simsbury (now Canton) thus moving the Litchfield County line farther west. As was the cus- tom when building, Sadosa paid his help with salt pork and other farm produce. This house has been modernized, although the partitions re- main about the same. A large veranda has been added across the front. George Barber once told me that his aunts set out the two white pines in front of the house, which would make them well over one hundred years old. The tamarack tree across the road was brought down from Blandford in the back of the buggy when Henry M. Barber and his bride were returning from their wedding. This place has always been in the Barber family.
Henry Chapin - George Barbour - (Henry Martin Barber and Sadosa Barber) .
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The Kent B. Gillette house was built in 1851 by Henry P. Lane, who married Lucy, a daughter of Henry Barber. The land was sold to him from the Henry Barber farm.
Kent B. Gillette - Francis A. Gillette - (Henry P. Lane) .
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THE F. MORGAN COWLES HOUSE Two dates found - 1762 and 1747
The summer home of F. Morgan Cowles, Jr. is another Barber homestead. Moses Gaines, who had married Lucy, a daughter of Serg. Thomas Barber, settled here in 1762. He sold it to John Barber, Jr. in 1775. Henry Barber bought it in 1819 and raised it to its present two stories in 1822. This house has always been painted red. One room shows stencilling with peacocks as one of the motifs. The house has been carefully restored by Mr. Cowles. Sylvester Barbour who was born here, gives a house date of 1747.
F. Morgan Cowles, Jr. - Kent B. Gillette - Mary A. Gillette - Levi D. Gillette- (Edward P. Barber, Henry Barber) -John Barber, Jr. - Moses Gaines.
Hubert Harder's house was built in 1845 for Horace Gridley and his wife, Chestina, by her father, Levi Barber. He spent the last years of his life with them. Mr. Harder has improved the place and made it his year round home.
Hubert Harder - Fred Steed - Sarah Kilbourn - George Car- rier - Henry Grant - Eugenie Jeanfavire - George Roberts - Wil- liam Dowd - Greenwoods Co. - (Horace Gridley) .
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The "Bridal Tower," now owned by Everett Eaton, has a long his- tory. It was built in 1779 by Abraham Barber, a son of Serg. Thomas Barber. It is much the same as when built. This has the old style of small houses of two front rooms with the chimney between, and a fire- place in each room. At one time two brothers, Samuel and Ed Merrells, lived here. They were Scotch, and used to sit on a large rock in the dooryard summer evenings and play on their bagpipes. The farm had one hundred acres, and it was said that Mrs. Merrells grew very bent over from carrying stones on her hip to help clear the land. At one time a baby was left on this doorstep, and was brought up to manhood, later taking care of his foster mother until she died. This house received its romantic name in 1933, when Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Webster's daughter Miriam and her husband, G. Roger Newkirk, spent their honeymoon here.
Everett P. Eaton - Muriel Geissler - Roy C. Webster - Howard Allen - Sheldon Spencer - John Allen - Henry P. Lane - William Dowd - (Samuel Merrells) - William Barber - Luman Barber - Abraham Barber. (For some years this place was in the hands of real estate dealers, whose names are not given.)
DOYLE ROAD
The Larry Doyle place consists of about twenty-five acres. The house was built by Col. Spaulding Barber, Jr. in 1845. It apparently replaced a house that is marked on the '55 map as Harmon Messenger. Like many others it was built of hand hewn timbers, and heavy rafters, without a square or level. The son, Albert lived here until his death in 1910, leaving his place to Watson Root for caring for him in his old age.
Dr. Norman J. Barker - Larry Doyle - Robert Skilton - . . Ramsey - Watson Root - Albert Barber - Col. Spaulding Barber, Jr.
WRIGHT ROAD
The Howard Roberts place was built by Alvin Bacon about 1825. Timbers of different kinds of wood cut on the place were used, some of them having been used in an older house. A Joseph Bacon settled on the road below Everett Hanson's in 1772, but moved out of the state in 1806.
Mr. Howard Roberts did a great deal to improve the house and grounds while he lived here. His widow now occupies it.
Howard Roberts - Arthur J. Roberts - Robert Kerr - (Alvin Bacon) .
Richard Wright lives on the site of the Newell Messenger place, originally settled by Joseph Messenger in 1742. There were other Mess- enger places on this road, all are gone now.
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Richard Wright - Louis Messenger - Walter Humphrey - ยท Pond - (Newell Messenger) .
The Lee C. Fielden house is another that has recently been restored. It was apparently built after the fireplace period, and was originally a Bacon place, built by John, Alvin Bacon's son.
Lee C. Fielden - Edward F. Killian - Leslie I. Taylor - Howard Allen - Harvey Messenger - John Bacon.
Kenneth Chapin owns the house that was formerly the Root home. It was built by Henry Root about 1848. The Kimberly Line, Litchfield- Hartford County line, used to go across this land.
Kenneth Chapin - Clayton and Nettie Root - Watson Root - Wilbur Root - (Henry Root) .
BUNKER HILL ROAD
Nis Nissen's house was built by Nelson J. Church in 1861. It was built of hewn timber but has no fireplaces.
Nis Nissen - Adam Brucker - Newton A. Hart - Elijah Church - Nelson J. Church.
The Frank Savick place was built by Abraham Barber in 1764. There are hand hewn chestnut timbers, and the corner posts are un- covered. The brick oven is still there, although there is a modern kitchen. Mr. Savick replaced the old barn with an up-to-date one a few years ago. The yard with its stone paths, arbor, and fruit trees, has an old time charm not often found. The house stands on high ground over- looking the Cherry Brook valley.
Frank Savick - Agata Maskaitis - John Winner - Louise Han- son - Adam Brucker - Timothy Potter - Newton Hart - Elijah Church - (Martin Barber) Michael Barber - Abraham Barber.
INDIAN HILL ROAD
The first house on the W. R. Wright place was farther west across the road. This place was settled by Jonathan Merrell, 2nd who was born in 1734. The present house has been remodelled into a modern home. An old time well sweep is in the yard. The well, long covered, was found by Mr. Wright when digging a pipe line.
W. R. Wright - William E. Reynolds - Arnold Reynolds - (Nor- man Nelson Bidwell) - Norman Bidwell - Jonathan Merrell, 2nd.
Arthur Cyr lives on the place now owned by Mrs. Gilbert. It was long known as the Seger place. It is said that at one time bricks were made across the road to the north.
Alice Holt Gilbert-Arthur Cyr-Richard Diters-Albert Seger - Martin Seger - L. Barber - (E. C. Goodwin) .
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The Hess home is an old style farmhouse, the back part probably older than the front. Dea. Benjamin Mills, born in 1738, lived here most of his married life. He was the father of thirteen children. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War, but received nothing for his services. He was loved for his devotion to the church, and when he became very deaf in his later years, Rev. Hallock allowed him to stand beside him in the high pulpit, so that he could hear the prayer. One date given for the house is 1755. A date found on a board says 1774. The house has been quite changed, sheds and barns removed, and the grounds improved.
The following newspaper clipping refers to a former occupant. "Capt. Alanson Merrell was extensively engaged in getting out timber, and was known as a very thorough road builder and repairer. At the time of Pres. Jackson's visit to Hartford in 1833, Capt. Merrell com- manded the New Hartford Grenadiers, one of the best appearing com- panies on that important occasion."
Richard A. Hess - A. W. Spaulding - E. C. Knapp - John Brais- lin - John Corcoran - Patrick Corcoran - (Alanson Merrell) - Dea. Benjamin Mills.
The house now owned by Mrs. Mary Hart Conklin is the second to be built on this place. The first was built about 1752 by William Merrell, Sr., on land bought from the Indians, and it stood farther to the west. He later built the brick house for his son, probably about 1781. The Merrell family occupied the place for about one hundred years. After Daniel Merrell died, Mrs. Merrell sold the farm. Her son Selah was then in his teens. He became a minister, but later became much inter- ested in Palestine, and spent many years exploring and conducting tours of the Holy Land. In 1881 he was appointed U. S. Consul to Jerusalem.
When the town owned the farm, the town poor were kept here, William Wells being the superintendent. When other arrangements made for the poor, Mr. Wells bought the farm. The house at that time had a long wooden ell to the west. The main part was covered with woodbine. Below the driveway was an enclosed garden, planted with trees and shrubs, and having a brick smokehouse in the center. The front door stone block and window stones were cut and brought down from the Whiting place (now Simpson's). Down cellar there was an old stone cupboard near the chimney. The old barns, ell, and smoke- house are all gone, the house has been put in good condition for modern living, and the grounds made very attractive.
When Lizzie Wells, Mr. Wells' daughter, lived there, Dr. Merrell used to come to see the old place whenever he was in this country. One day he came when she had a cousin visiting her. As he sat on the edge of her kitchen table, a pan of crullers on one side of him and a pan of ginger cookies on the other, her cousin came in, and was introduced. Later in the day two ladies drove in and were introduced as Clara
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