USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 49
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Mr. and Mrs. Bridgman added a west wing to the original house while they owned it. The addition was very skillfully executed and blends perfectly with the older part of the house. A kitchen and a study on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second comprise the bulk of the "new wing."
As for the original house as Richard Fair- weather built it-probably several decades be- fore the Civil War-it is made of white clap- board, with black painted shutters and a shin-
gled roof forming an interesting contrast in color. As one walks up from the street toward the front porch which is bordered by four deli- cate white pillars one sees the beautiful fan- lighted doorway in the center, and on either side of it two windows of 24 panes each.
Entering the house, to the left of the hall, is what is now the dining room. It has two ex- posures, to the south through two of the many paned windows facing the porch, and to the west toward the Episcopal Church at the top of the hill, through a finely detailed bay win- dow.
The living room across the hall boasts of three exposures with two windows, as in the dining room, facing the front of the house, two similar windows facing east, and an arched doorway leading to the garden in the rear. A library at the end of the hall on the north side has a pair of recessed bookshelves.
Coming back from the library through the hallway one turns sharply to the right and mounts the long flight of steep stairs to the sec- ond story. There we find two front bedrooms with the same window design as is seen throughout the rest of the old house. Also, as in the dining room and in the living room, the bedrooms facing south each have a fireplace with a hand-laid brick hearth. A rear bedroom has no fireplace, but it has its full quota of the intriguing old windows.
The upstairs hall leads back to the door to the attic. After climbing those stairs one can look about in the open room and see the sturdy oak timbers and beams that form the skeleton of the house. Mr. Fairweather built his house to last and although perhaps he did not intend it, it has become a fitting memorial to one of New Canaan's most substantial citizens in the days gone by.
Now Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Ewing are living in the old Fairweather-Comstock house. They spend their winters in South Carolina on Mr. Ewing's plantation and come back to New Ca- naan in the spring. The old house must seem to welcome them as they return to it, in the season of the year best loved by all.
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THE WEED-HUMASON HOUSE
BEATRICE VAN BREEMS, Author
CORNELIUS VAN NESS, Artist
[June 1, 1950]
Only a few minutes drive from the hustle- bustle of New Canaan's busy shopping center, Elm Street runs into Weed Street forming a T. There on the downward slope of a slight hill stands a dignified white house, calmly ignoring the traffie passing to and fro in front of its high rhododendron hedge.
A white picket fence runs directly between the house and the highway and a little green gate leads up to the front door. A giant Nor- way maple tree bends her shady arms protect- ingly over the right hand side of the front yard and the street.
On either side of the fenee is an old stone wall topped by still another picket fence, so it is hardly possible for eurious eyes to intrudc any further into the privaey of the delightful
flower garden with its cypress trees on the left and the meadow with the old stone well on the right.
A group of white birch trees are clustered like children at play on the slope of the hill, and a grapevine is usefully placed elose to the side porch. The fence surrounds the three sides of the house and on the left in the rear is a garage and tool sheds.
Today it is the home of Monroe Humason, who has contributed so many interesting ar- tieles to the New Canaan Historical Society, but a hundred years ago it was a Weed home- stead. The house is quite abreast of the times but the old stone hitehing post out in front be- speaks of its antiquity.
This house is an honest house, a comfortable
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haven and home that has adapted itself to the needs of the various families who have lived in it. It is as real and authentic as New Canaan itself, and in tracing its history we cannot help but follow the history of the town as well. From the early days of Canaan Parish, through the industrial era of the middle nineteenth century, to the rural and summer resort status of the late 90s, New Canaan marched right on up to its present lively activity, where the charm of the past and the beauty of the present country are zealously protected and adapted to modern living.
The first record of the house itself is in the will of one Rufus Weed, who died in 1840. The piece of property is mentioned before that time when the widow of Peter Weed divides the land among three of her sons. Since the Weeds are going to play such an important part in the historical background of this house, it is best to say at this point, that only the branch de- scending from Peter is dealt with in this article.
Everyone in New Canaan is familiar with the name of Weed Street and many people have already followed the interesting tales of these early pioneers. We are indebted to Stephen Hoyt for his article about the Seth Chauncey and Amanda Weed branch of the family in the New Canaan Annual, volume number 1.
From our records I learned about the famous Jonas Weed who came all the way from Stam- ford, England, to die in Stamford, Connecticut. Only at that time it was Quinnipiac or the New Haven Colony and not Connecticut.
Jonas Weed was a man of strong opinions. Landing on the shores of the New World in 1628 he pioneered inland and was one of the early founders of Watertown, Mass. Due to reli- gious differences in 1635 he went on to Weth- ersfield, Conn., where he hoped to find some peace.
But before long the settlers began to have trouble in the church there, too. Jonas had not made that long trip on the "Arabella" just to be told what to do when he got here. He'd had enough of that in England. So, when his friend, the Rev. John Davenport, suggested that he settle on some land recently purchased by Nathaniel Turner for the New Haven Col-
ony from the Rippowam and Shippan Indians, he was glad to take his advice.
Thus it was that in 1641, Jonas Weed, one of a band of 29 men, came to Rippowams, which was to be renamed "Stamford" in 1642. Here he died in 1690 at the ripe old age of 85. Pretty good for those days-considering the plagues and fevers, and no penicillin or aureomycin. And as far as I can make out, there wasn't even a neurotic in the bunch! They just had too much to do, I should think.
David, a son of Jonas Weed, married Ruth, and they had many children, one of whom was Abraham, born in 1680. This Abraham married Susannah Bell and was the father of the Abra- ham we hear so much about as one of the first settlers of Canaan Parish. Although the first Abraham was only 31 when he died in 1711, he had already acquired 18/2 acres from the town of Stamford "on Shittam Plains and on the ridge above ye cliffs on the east side of the Noroton river." He bought land from some of the other proprietors, who had been granted holdings there, but were not adventuresome enough to move so far out from the town of Stamford.
He had also married a girl with a very rich father. Captain Jonathan Bell gave his daugh- ter land around what is now lower Weed Street. When Abraham died, leaving Suzannah with three little children, Abraham, Ruth and Suzannah, the young widow married Thomas Tallmadge, who had so much to do with the history of early Weed Street and Talmadge Hill.
Suzannah left her three children by Abraham Weed well provided for, and is now resting in the Parade Hill cemetery with this thoughtful message inscribed on her tombstone:
"Think now on me as you pass by As you are now so once was I As I am now so you must be Prepare for death and follow me."
So it is easier to understand how her son Abraham Weed could lay claim to so much property in Canaan Parish. He was an industri- ous, hard working man, finally acquiring over
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350 acres along what is now known as Weed Street and Frogtown Road. He had 11 children and provided farms and houses for many of them as they grew older. To his son Peter, who was 12 years old at the time of his death in 1757, he left "A parcel of land consisting of four acres-house and barn: North, line drawn from A. Weed's oxyard to perambulation line; east, perambulation line; south, highway; west, highway."
In this particular spot the perambulation line divided the land between Norwalk and Stamford, and part of that old line is marked by a stone wall which may still be seen on what is now the Dr. Selinger property. Once a year the deacons of the church and the important men in each village would put on their stout- est hiking boots and march along together up and down this line, to make sure nobody from Stamford was growing apples on the Norwalk side and nobody on the Norwalk side was let- ting his cattle jump across the stones. It usu- ally took place in the spring and was quite an affair. Communication being what it was in those days, it probably provided a good chance for the men to get together after a long winter, and opportunity to instruct their sons about the boundary lines.
According to an old map of Canaan Parish, I would say that that piece of property Abra- ham Weed left to Peter takes in the present Humason house. There is a record of Abraham leaving a house for his son, but it would not necessarily have to have been exactly where the Humason house is now, as the property was large.
The central chimney and the exposed attic beams are typical of the houses built around that time, or just a little later. The original foundation of the house must have been quite small as it is possible to see where additions have been made.
It is more than likely that this was the house left to Peter, but as no one has been able to discover just where that house was it will have to be a matter of conjecture. Architecturally speaking, we feel that the old peg beams and other details show that the main part of the building was built well prior to 1800.
When Peter Weed died in 1804 he left his property to Esther, his relict ( as widows were called in wills of those days).
In 1806, Esther sold a parcel of land with a barn on it (to be divided among her three sons, Peter, Rufus and Zenah). Other than surmising that Rufus inherited the property from his par- ents, or that he bought it in some transaction from his mother, there is little way of knowing how Rufus got the house he left in 1840. Did he build it with the help of his father, Peter, or did Peter have a dwelling already built by his father Abraham? We do know that Peter built a house for his son Henry, on the present Sel- inger property after he returned from the Rev- olution in 1781, but we don't know as a cer- tainty where he was living at that time.
In 1772, when the Rev. Drummond travelled around Canaan Parish, counting his Congrega- tional flock, he mentions Abraham Weed, Peter's older brother in his diary. The young people in the parish often had to go to him to say their catechism. It just may be that he did not mention Peter because their religious views differed so greatly. In those early days the Epis- copal Society had a meeting house where West Road and Weed Street now meet. In 1791 Peter was one of the charter members of this sect.
In those days Weed Street was known to many people as the Ridgefield Highway as it was the most direct route from Stamford to Ridgefield, as it still is. There was a school house near the Episcopal Meeting House and the Parade Ground was further down on Oe- noke where John Irwin now lives. Thanksgiv- ing Day and Training Day were the two big- gest days of the year as the festival of Christ- mas still smacked too much of the High Church of England. Even a festival was a solemn oc- casion to our forefathers.
Along about the time Rufus Wecd died, the town had already formed at the bottom of the ridge where it is now and Seminary Street came through to Weed Street. The house must have been lived in for some time as it is re- ferred to as the "Homestead." In 1840 it was large enough to be divided in two, for that is just what Rufus provided for in his will.
He left half of it to his widow Betsy and half
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to his daughter Nancy. To Betsy he left the south part "consisting of the south half of the cellar, the dividing line being the partition where it now stands-the shed, milk room, kitchen, the south bedroom on east end of kitchen, the two south chambers and the south half of the garret with the right of way to pass and repass to and from the cellar door."
To Nancy, her heirs and assigns forever was given "the use in common of the well south of the house, and the right to pass and repass from well, cellar, north chambers and garret, also half the barn with the use in common of gate- way from highway to barn, also barn floor from north to south continued in a direct line through yards and remainder of barn."
We are happy to note that the two women were not only allowed to pass through each others hallways and stairways, but could also repass back again. Imagine running up to the attic to collect some old wool you had left up there on a rainy day last August and not being able to descend to your lower north chamber, where you had left your knitting needles, be- fore calling the village constable!
Let's hope mother and daughter enjoycd sharing their cozy white home with its green shutters and wide paneled floors. As far as we know they did, and no chalk line had to be drawn. Nancy seems to have been content with her northern exposure while Betsey lived with a southern view.
In 1858 Betsey Weed's son, George, mort- gaged some of his property and also "my un- divided one-fourth interest in my mother's thirds or right of dower as distributed to her in court of Norwalk." This seems to have in- cluded all of his rights to the house, and the other children must have mortgaged their rights in due time, for in 1878, when Betsey Weed died, the mortgage was foreclosed and taken over by the New Canaan Savings Bank. It was hard to find out very much more about George, other than that he mortgaged a great deal of property to the bank, fought in the Civil War and died in 1898.
From 1878 until 1894, when it was bought by Mrs. Lizzie Searles, the house may have been rented from time to time. Here again the house
follows the general pattern of the town. Origi- nally a farm, its latter owners undoubtedly found employment in the growing shoe indus- try of the town in the middle of the 19th cen- tury. It was not until after the advent of the railroad that Elm Street was cut through along its present course.
Originally that part of Elm Street which runs into Weed Street was the other end of Semi- nary Street. Can't you picture Rufus or Betsy Weed winding their way over Seminary Street to the meeting house on God's Acre? Or maybe Nancy or George going on down a little further to visit L. M. Monroe, who ran the forerunner of all our drug stores, the present Cody drug store. There he sold pills and herbs in the front, manufactured ice cream in the cellar and sold real estate and stocks and bonds in the rear.
In the olden days Weed Street, somctimes known as the Ridgefield Road, watched many a stage coach carry travelers from Ridgefield to Stamford, where they could take a boat from Canal dock to New York for a dollar.
Then when New Canaan became a popular summer resort toward the end of the 19th cen- tury, our old white house with a porch around its three sides, charmingly adapted itself to the ways of the Searles, the Reynolds and the Kel- leys. In 1902 Richard Kelley bought a great deal of land in this section of New Canaan in- cluding the present Selinger property and the Humason house across the street. It was then that the old Weed house became the home for Mr. Kelley's tenant farmer.
In the 1920s Mr. Kelley's daughter married William Helm and the old house was com- pletely redecorated and renovated for the young couple. It was at this time that the front porch was removed. The living room had been enlarged before that time as the windows in the south end are of ordinary sash cord, where- as the others still have the spring pressed pegs. Mrs. Helm also transformed the vegetable gar- den into a charming sunken garden with the help of Miss Fanny Hoyt. The Helms also added the sleeping porch and repapered the whole house.
Then in 1929, Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Huma- son from New York City bought the property.
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That would ordinarily be just a news item, ex- cept for the fact that Mr. Humason returned to the town where he had spent most of his va- cations, as a boy and young man. His roots were deep in New Canaan, for he is the grand- son of the L. M. Monroe whose drug store has been referred to earlier in this article. Mr. Humason has written an article for "Land- marks" describing it in delightful detail.
As a semi-retired lawyer, Mr. Humason de- votes much of his spare time to extensive re- search, and to the writing of articles on New England history, both for his university, Yale, and for the New Canaan Historical Society. He is also kept very busy visiting his twin daughters at Vassar College, on his way to and from Florida, where he and Mrs. Huma- son have been spending their winters.
The Holmewood Inn
THE MITCHELL-BOND HOUSE; NOW HOLMEWOOD INN
JANETTE M. SHEA, Author
WALTER RICHARDS, Artist [June 8, 1950]
Driving up Church Hill from the traffic light at the corner of Elm Street, past the two beautiful, spired churches, Congregational on the left and Episcopal on the right, we come to a bend in the road. Before us stretches Oenokc Avenue, known for almost two centuries as
Haynes Ridge, the seat of learning, wealth and refinement. The branches of the friendly maple trees that line its sides form an inviting arch- way as if to beckon the traveler onward.
Half a mile up on the right hand side the sign "Holmewood Inn" arrests our eye. Stand-
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ing squarely in front of the building, the ob- server sees only a well proportioned private dwelling of early Connecticut architecture. This section of the inn has a right to be proud of its heritage since it has housed men who have played a prominent and important role in the development of New Canaan.
The land records of this house are clear and concise from 1783 when the Rev. Justus Mitch- ell, fourth minister of the Congregational Church, took possession of the property. Be- fore this date, the numerous heirs of the found- er of the ridge to whom this tract of land origi- nally belonged divided and sold their holdings so often, that the record becomes confusing and the data conflicting.
William Haynes born in 1651 was an impor- tant 17th century settler of Norwalk. We know he was a man of consequence and influence by the title "Mr." that preceded his name. His an- cestry is shrouded in mystery although it is be- lieved that he came here from Albany, New York. However, many of the Hanfords, Smiths, Fitches and Bartletts still living in this locality can trace their antecedents to him. On May 15, 1705, Mr. Haynes was allotted 93 acres of common land in Canaan. This comprised the fairest tract of land from St. John's Place to Elm Corner, now the Country Club Road.
Haynes married twice. By the first wife, Elizabeth Hussey, he had two daughters, Isa- bella and Elizabeth. His second wife was Marcy Marvin and the fruit of this marriage was Mary Haynes, a minor of 15 when her father died in 1712. Her first husband, the Rev. Jedediah Buckingham, died when their first child was scarcely six years old. The young widow returned to Norwalk from New Jersey, where the Rev. Buckingham had settled, and later married James, the youngest brother of Governor Thomas Fitch.
Isabella Haynes married Samuel Hanford, the ninth child and youngest son of the Rev. Thomas Hanford, immigrant ancestor who came to New England in 1643. His names ap- pears in the list of "all who could bear arms in the New Plymouth Colony." In 1652 he com- menced his work of ministry in Norwalk where the townspeople built him a house, which
Samuel, 2nd, later inherited. Samuel and Isa- bella Haynes Hanford, became the foreparents of many of the Beldens, Lockwoods and St. Johns.
Elizabeth Haynes married John Bartlett, a late arrival in Norwalk, whose antecedents re- main nebulous. However, he seems to have been a man of wealth and of consequence in his own right, and also as a result of having mar- ried Mr. Haynes' daughter. In 1730 he had grants of land on and near the ridge bearing his name. They had two daughters who mar- ried two brothers (just to complicate matters for posterity ) Ebenezer and Ephraim Smith, great grandsons of Lieutenant Samuel and Elizabeth Smith who came from Ipswich, Suf- folk County, England, in April, 1634, and set- tled in Hadley, Mass., in 1659.
Ebenezer 2nd, born March 20, 1697, and son of Ebenezer Smith and Abigail (Bouton) Smith, married on June 2, 1729, Elizabeth Haynes Bartlett, granddaughter of William Haynes. His younger brother Ephraim, born January 27, 1711, married Izzabel Bartlett, sis- ter of his brother's wife. These are the two families which are of vital interest in the early history of the Mitchell-Bond house.
The Rev. Selleck in his Norwalk book makes the following statement: "The 1796 William Bond house on Haynes Ridge is believed to have been framed by Ebenezer Smith who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Bartlett and granddaughter of William Haynes." Through careful research, I have found that Ebenezer's house was north of this property. A deed dated August 22, 1760 states: "Ebe- nezer and Elizabeth Smith both sell for 23 pounds, four shillings and sixpence, to their son Ephraim Smith, of Norwalk, a piece of land on Haynes Ridge containing two acres with a dwelling house and shoemaker's shop erected on said land, bound west ( Haynes Ridge), and north (Parade Hill Road) by highway, east and south by our own land, with appurtenances thereof." This places the ancient dwelling where the F. T. Fisher house now stands.
In Mrs. Cornelia Carter Comstock's notes and letters collected from 1890 until her death, which, together with the records of the Con-
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gregational Church, form the backbone of New Canaan History, I find this revealing para- graph:
"The house located on Haynes Ridge, remem- bered as the home of the Rev. Justus Mitchell, was first occupied by the Smith family (as far as learned). Ephraim Smith is recorded here with his wife Izzabel Bartlet in 1740 (please do not confuse this Ephraim with his nephew who inherited Ebe- nezer's house ) ."
The Congregational Record lists Ephraim and Izzabel as joining the church on April 17, 1740. Is it not logical to assume that two broth- ers who had married two sisters would live on adjoining properties that they had inherited from their grandfather Haynes? A division of Mr. Haynes' land in November, 1749, seems to confirm this belief. "Ebenezer Smith and chil- dren of wife Elizabeth, dec'd, Ephraim Smith and wife Izzabel shall have 2712 acres bounded off where fence now stands being North of Meeting House on East side of the road."
It would seem reasonable that the two broth- ers would receive the land on which they had already built their homes. By 1751, Ephraim and his family had moved to Stamford, having lived here only about a decade. This may ex- plain the lack of records concerning their stay in New Canaan.
The framework of the house itself gives evi- dence of being built in the middle of the 18th century, 1740 or thereabouts. It is an early type of central-chimney house. In the basement the sturdy chimney foundations, made of huge stones held together by clay, measure 10 feet six inches by 11 feet six inches.
Just above the cellar bottom on the north and south sides there are vault-like spaces, each five feet deep. The one on the south side is par- ticularly interesting, because it swells out like a hidden cave from a small square shaped opening, measuring 13 inches by 15 inches. Probably at one time there was a fireplace of ample dimensions in the basement and the two vaulted chambers were ovens. Four flues merge into the wide central flue, and during recent
improvements a large warming oven was dis- covered on the second floor.
The massive broad axe-hewn beams hang on the chimney and are framed to the sill by a mortise and tenon joint. Heavy, crude slats of different widths and thicknesses are whittled down at the ends to fit under the floor boards and over the beams. The oak floor boards, some of which are 26 inches wide, are held in place by hand-wrought square nails. Oak boards of this width forming the subfloor of the double first floor are attributed to the earliest period of Connecticut architecture.
In place of the usual studs for the support of the outer walls, oak planks are applied ver- tically and secured to the main framework of the house. These run from the foundation sill to the roof. The 12 rafters of the attic construc- tion are axe-hewn and held together by a tenon joint. A peg about one inch in diameter and seven inches long holds each pair of rafters securely in place. There is no ridge pole.
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