USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Shelburne > History and tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts > Part 29
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WALTER AND MAURICE DAVENPORT'S HOUSE ----- Under the shadow of Mt. Massaemet was a brick house built by Josiah Dole. Though invisible, the brick walls still stand as support and insulation to the frame house of Walter Davenport and his son, Mau- rice. Also the same roof rafters still exist.
Josiah and Elizabeth Wilder Dole were married January 17, 1793 (town record), and in the unpub- lished history of the Dole family, Ella Dole (Bard- well), who was Josiah Dole's granddaughter, wrote, "they settled at the time of their marriage" on the present Davenport farm "where he had built a brick house.'
All twelve children of Josiah and Elizabeth Dole were born in the brick house. When their son, Law- rence, married he brought his wife to the old home. Later, the old people moved with their son, Levi, to a house which preceded the present Goldthwaite house.
Josiah Dole was a mason, and Walter Davenport - during his ownership, which began in 1913 -- has reclaimed to fertile land Dole's brickyard northeast of his buildings.
In 1858, James and Pliny Bishop owned this farm at the foot of the mountain, but they never lived on it.
Gardner Severance, a resident for five or six years, sold this place in 1865 to Luther Franklin of Buck- land. Luther Franklin, after living here for twenty- five years, swapped his farm with Luther Truesdell who lived nearer the Center.
This house at the head of Cooper's Lane was the home of Luther and Ella Bassett Truesdell and their eight children for about twenty-five years.
The road to the tower on Mt. Massaemet passes the Davenport farm. The old road from Patten Hill to Shelburne Falls can easily be traced over the east side of Mt. Massaemet and down the west side to the village.
JOHN WAECHTER AND LOUIS D'ENGENIS'S HOME - On the west side of Cooper's Lane is a well-built house owned by John Waechter and Louis D'Engenis.
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Built in 1820, it was originally the home of the James Anderson family, which included seven daughters. Suggestive of its age are the little second-story win- dows and, on the first floor, fireplaces in five rooms, with a brick oven in the kitchen.
In 1861 MIrs. Lucy Anderson, wife of James, and daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth Wilder Dole, died in her home.
The Anderson house became the G. W. Gleason family home for a few years before Merwin Johnson purchased it. The Johnson family lived on Cooper's Lane many years before moving to the Center.
Next recalled is the residence of the Willcott fam- ily. Archie and Lottie Goldthwaite were brief occu- pants.
This house was the summer home of the Ernest Soule family for a few years, and then Arthur Potter. Jr., purchased it for a summer residence. It was recently sold to the present owners.
ON OR NEAR THE MOHAWK TRAIL
ORIGINAL THADDEUS MERRILL HOUSE - On the Mohawk Trail one mile east of "the Falls" stands the home of Edward Roberts. Externally this house suggests no particular historical significance, however, research proves it to be 140 years old and an offspring of an early Shelburne home.
The origin of the first house where Captain Thad- deus Merrill and his wife, Achsah Severance, lived and where a number of their children were born, has not been established. Among William Taylor's his- torical data in the Town Office is an item that states Simeon Dodge lived on the Merrill place at one time. Whether Mr. Taylor's statement referred to Captain Merrill's farm or his later home place that included land around the present Carley house on Main Street is not known. Only an assumption is the guess that Mr. Taylor referred to the first house on the farm one mile from "the Falls." It may be that Captain Merrill built the first house, or perhaps he purchased it at the time of his marriage in 1801.
It was in 1815, when the Merrill boys were play- ing in the attic with a tow string which hit a lighted candle. that the house burned. Captain Merrill rebuilt his home. Floor boards and woodwork of the wing of the present home appear to be much older than the main house and likely were salvaged from the original house.
In 1831. a newspaper item stated the Thaddeus Merrill family, consisting of father, mother, and twelve children (one other having died), lived in the present house. The year that Captain Merrill deeded his farm to his sons, Ira and Caleb, and moved to the Falls has not been learned.
In 1836 Alice Merrill Ware's father (son of Ira) was born in this house. She recalls hearing her hus- band's uncle. Daniel Wilcox, say to her father. "I remember well, George, drawing you out in the baby
carriage. I was seven, George, and you were one year old."
In 1837 Abraham Wilcox, his wife, Laurinda Hardy, and four boys, moved from Colrain to the Merrill house, where four daughters were born. One was the mother of Lucie Ware Wilcox and the late Ware brothers, Henry and Herbert.
The two families ( Merrill and Wilcox) lived in the house together one winter until Ira Merrill bought the house on Water Street of David Fish. This is of some importance as locating the birthplace of mem- bers of both families.
The farm was owned by the Wilcoxes until Decem- ber of 1892 when, upon the death of Henry Wilcox, it was sold to J. B. Frost. During the Frost owner- ship, the Fred Payne and Frank Smith families, in turn, were residents, after which the place was sold to Frank J. McDonald. It was the McDonald family home for many years, and then was transferred to Frank Crone, who sold to Andrew Spiak, from whom the present owner, Edward Roberts, purchased it.
THE CLYDE JONES HOUSE - The present Clyde Jones home, a mile or more from "the Falls" on the west side of the Mohawk Trail, is the old house built by Michael Ware. The exact year of erection is not known but reported to be "before 1838."
Sarah Shepherd and Michael Ware were married in Buckland in 1822. Their six daughters were born in Shelburne and perhaps first saw "the light of day" in the present house, if their parents built soon after their marriage.
Isabella, the youngest, married Theodore Thomp- son. Their home was the house which her father built, and through the years many changes came to the little house. The south wing was added; also a part of the north end.
Mr. Thompson died in 1906, and a few years later. his widow married Peter Quinn. He is remembered as the man who, until within one year of his death, which occurred in his ninety-ninth year, went swim- ming daily in the Deerfield River in back of his house. Some people modify this reputed achievement, elimi- nating Peter Quinn's dips during the coldest days of winter.
Originally the highway passed close to the house that Michael Ware built somewhat over a century ago.
WILLIAM D. LONG's house on the Mohawk Trail was originally the home of Emma Kemp (widow of William) and her sons. It is the second house on the site and presumably was built as soon as possible following the fire which destroyed its predecessor in 1815.
William Kemp with his wife and two children came to Shelburne from Groton about 1784 and settled on the present Long farm. There is the possibility that he purchased the place from Levi Kemp (brother of
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Capt. Lawrence), who we know lived near the south end of Cooper's Lane and the old Charlemont Road as early as 1778, and sometime between 1783 and 1785 moved to Groton; however, at "the south end of Cooper's Lane" on the west side of the road is a cellar scar which may mark Levi Kemp's homesite.
It is safe to say William Kemp built the house that burned. Tradition tells us the house could have been saved if there had been one or two pails of water handy when the fire started; but the family water supply came from a well up on the steep hill at the northwest. Years later the long pole of the well-sweep rested on the stone wall next to the well.
Let us hope that early Kemp home was roomy, be- cause Emma and William Kemp had ten children, eight of whom were born in Shelburne. Their sons, Elisha and Edmund, remained on the home place. They were taxed for one house as early as 1812, per- haps earlier, as their father died in 1806. He was buried in the cemetery nearby.
Edmund Kemp had a sawmill in 1832 and its loca- tion when built was on Sluice Brook near his home.
There was an article in the town warrant in 1837, "to see if the Town will accept a road on petition of Samuel Bardwell and others from Elisha and Cyrus Kemp's house to Jacob Kellogg's store." (The exact location of Kellogg's store has not been identified, but former Shelburne residents recall hearing their parents or grandparents speak of the old store near the church. This leads us to surmise it was in the old tavern next to the Town House.)
Cyrus, the baby of the William Kemp family, was the third son and the last of the Kemps to own the homestead.
Ozias Long, grandson of William Long, Sr., whose home was the present Arthur Bishop house, "bought one of the old Kemp places containing 90 acres in 1848, buying additional land later, and the house was repaired throughout and enlarged by him." ( Bio- graphical Review.) It was the present William D. Long home, but the date of purchase appears to be in error, as ten years later the 1858 county map places C. Kemp as owner. The present owner thinks Ozias Long bought the farm in 1858.
Tradition says that when Mr. Long moved to this place, he took with him neighbors, an old couple named Tobey (possibly his wife's relatives), and their house, which he converted into a horse barn.
At Ozias Long's death his son, William Ozias, continued with the farm, which is now owned by his son, William David Long.
The little windows in the gable ends and the two small chimneys, like sentinels, are original features of a sturdy early Shelburne house now considerably changed.
DAVID WALDO BARNARD's house on the Mohawk Trail is one of "the old Kemp places." Horace Kemp was born in it in 1835; therefore, it appears that his father, Lawrence Kemp (3rd), was an early resident.
Indication of Lawrence Kemp's ownership is found in a deed (1840) describing the home farm of Epephus Alvord, who lived in the old house where Robert Gould's now stands, as joining Lawrence Kemp's land.
Augustus Dole (born 1817 and son of Levi) lived in the "Kemp house" and very likely purchased the place in 1854 when it was advertised for sale by Mary Kemp. He was taxed for one house in 1855 and about 1856 moved west.
John Long was doubtless the next resident owner because Mrs. Harriet Long Barnard told her step- children that her father, John Long, moved down from his "Dublin" home (present Gowdy residence) about 1856 to this house, and county maps of 1858 and 1871 name J. Long the owner. In 1877 the town raised money for the Center Cemetery fence, and John Long, who lived near, had charge of the work.
Upon John Long's death, John Franklin purchased the place. Later, John Brown took over the farm and with his wife and daughter came to live with the Franklins. Also, Miss Phebe Stone (aunt of Emma Stone Brown) lived with the Franklins. Four more children were born to the Browns, and after they married and left their childhood home, John Brown, in 1934, sold his farm to the present owner.
It is reasonable to believe the original house was the north section - only a story and a half -- and that it gained stature with the addition of the two front rooms upstairs and down, sometime between 1825 and 1850.
THE FRANK SHIELDS HOUSE - Another old house externally typical of early Shelburne, although void of interior traces, has been the home of the Frank Shields family in late years. Hidden in its location back of the parsonage, the house became somewhat isolated when the old county road was moved south through the present Center. Now, with the new sec- tion of the Mohawk Trail passing close, it is once more in view of the public.
The origin of the house is not known. In 1840 Aaron Skinner either was the owner or else lived in a house nearby and, if owner, may have built it. The same year his son, Franklin, bought land in that loca- tion and likely was then living in the house. We know he was owner in 1858 and that he and his sister, Charity, lived there many years. In 1881, following the death of her brother, Charity Skinner sold the place to Lucius Alvord who, with his brother-in-law, John Franklin, carried on the business of making chairs in the Conant Chair Shop from 1865 to 1878.
Lucius Alvord taught singing school in Ashfield, Charlemont and Shelburne, and was leader of the church choir for fifteen years. In 1887 he was ap- pointed postmaster to succeed Ai Kellogg. This post he held in his home for fourteen years.
Luther Franklin became the next owner of this place. After his death his daughter, Luzina, continued living in the home for awhile, and then sold the prop-
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erty to the late Frank Shields. As his widow remar- ried, it is now the home of Mary (Shields) and Harry Helbig and her son, Daniel Shields.
THE CENTER
ELDEN SEWARD'S HOUSE - The home of Martha and Elden Seward in the Center was built by the "Chair Factory" Conants (Lyman and Farwell). Lyman Conant was living in his new house in 1842 and perhaps earlier, as he joined the church in 1838, and no record of his living elsewhere has been found. He died in 1866, and his wife, Emma Conant, was dismissed or, as we say today, "took a letter" from the church in 1868, the year which likely terminated the Conant residence in Shelburne.
In 1855, Joseph Gilbert Holland wrote in his "His- tory of Western Massachusetts" that, "Mr. Conant manufactured an excellent quality of chairs to the amount of several thousand dollars."
Lyman Conant, founder with his brother, Farwell, of the chair factory on Dragon Brook south of, and next to, his house, had the post office in his home, where his son, Edward, was postmaster until the sum- mer of 1867.
When the Conants moved to Gardner, William H. Bardwell, the drover, purchased the house, which be- came the home of the Bardwell family for many years.
The next owner, Herbert Andrews, who was in the dairy business, bought the house for his Shelburne milk collector, and a number of families in turn lived in it.
When Dr. Porter Allen became owner, the house was thoroughly remodeled and a room in the rear was fitted for his dentistry. Following his death, the house became the home of MIr. and Mrs. Lyman Ruberg.
The Sewards purchased from the Chester Chap- mans, who were brief residents.
THE HOME OF MIRS. WILLIAM DAVIS - Orig- inally, the house now owned by Mrs. William Davis, near the head of the Bardwell's Ferry Road, was an ell of an old house that stood where Carl Shields now lives and moved by J. Poole Kellogg, the owner, to the parsonage site. Later, it took a second trip, and a newspaper item of May 7, 1877 tells us, "Mr. Ball of Deerfield is moving the old house from the par- sonage ground for Frank Stone who has a cellar hole prepared for it south of John Franklin's where he will fit it up for the Stone family." Here, Miss Phebe Stone, her mother, and niece, Emma Stone, lived, after which the families of Mason Morse, Alexander Morrison, Fred Lanfair, James Stacy, Will Purring- ton, and La Flam have been recalled as residents.
This little house on the west side of the road was unoccupied for a few years when owned by Mrs. Elvira Andrews Barber, from whom Mrs. Davis pur- chased in 1923.
A traditional story informs us that Joseph Sever- ance once said the house was a blacksmith's quarters,
originally standing on the hill near the cemetery, which, if true, disposes of the old saying, "Three moves are as good as a fire" because this little house perched on the bank looks strong and well.
CARL SHIELDS' HOUSE - Originally Poole Kel- logg's. The story of Carl Shields' house is interesting. When the Rev. Theophilus Packard, Jr., started to build a house where the present parsonage now stands, fearing the triphammer of Poole Kellogg's mill on the brook might interrupt the writing of his sermons, he decided to give up the building, and Mr. Kellogg bought the house and moved it over to the present Shields' location, where an old house stood.
As stated under the travels of MIrs. Davis' house, Mr. Kellogg moved one ell of his old house to the parsonage site. The other ell he left standing next to his new home, built in 1834, where it still clings, and in it is the old kitchen with its brick fireplace and oven.
The new house was built commodious and up-to- date with three Franklin fireplaces. Many of the original wide floor boards are still in use.
From this house Mr. Kellogg's real estate expanded until he owned, built, or moved a goodly share of that group of houses tucked carefully under the hem of the "Old Hill" - those known having been men- tioned elsewhere in this chapter.
The land where our little white church stands was given by Mr. Kellogg. It has been told he had a blacksmith shop back of our present parsonage, where he manufactured hoes as well as horseshoes, but since his brother, Elam, had a shop in that location, the fact has been questioned; however, an old deed of 1840 names Poole Kellogg a blacksmith.
Billy Bardwell (William Allen) told us, just as his father told him, that Joseph Poole Kellogg harvested more hay from that meadow northeast of his house than anyone ever saw cut on a piece of grass that size. It wasn't "top dressing," but irrigation, before the government recommended such drainage. He changed the course of that playful little brook until it became a useful worker carrying water to his field. It appears that Mr. Kellogg of yesterday, a smithy and progressive farmer, would make a first-rate busi- nessman of today.
His son, Ai, continued with the farm; his daughter, Sarah, whose poetry was published in one volume, made it her home. A newspaper item of December, 1873, tells us Ai Kellogg was appointed postmaster, making the Kellogg house, for a few years, one of our numerous post stations.
In 1858 Rev. Billings was living with Ai Kellogg; therefore, this house served as a parsonage.
Following the death of Mr. Kellogg, the house was occupied a few years by Mrs. Coates and her two sons, after which F. Alvarez Fiske, Jr., purchased the place, where he lived and died. His daughter, Hattie, con- tinued to keep the home until her death.
Usually the rooms upstairs were rented as a sepa- rate apartment.
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Mr. and Mrs. Leon Roberts next were owners, and upon Mrs. Roberts' death the house was sold to its present owner, Carl Shields.
GEORGE PARSONS' HOUSE - Now Charles Karch- er's. The house that is now the home of the Charles Karcher family, since the death of George Parsons, was built by J. Poole Kellogg for Dr. Charles M. Duncan, the kindhearted "horse and buggy" doctor who practiced in Shelburne approximately fifty years until his sudden death in 1884. If this house was built for him soon after his coming to Shelburne, it was erected as early as 1834.
His family continued to live in the home. His daughter, Sarah, concluded the Duncan residence soon after the death of her husband, Edward Smead, in 1906, when the place went to the Merwin Johnson family.
Sumner and May Williams Stetson next occupied "Dr. Duncan's house."
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The honest and obsolete word, mutton, now com- mercially known as lamb, comes to light in an old account book which informs us Dr. Duncan in the year 1848 purchased "1 hind quarter mutton 111/4 lb." for sixty-seven cents.
FRANCIS W. GAGNON'S HOUSE - At the edge of Shelburne Center on the east hillside just off the Mohawk Trail, Francis Gagnon's house has stood at least a century. It is believed to have been built by one Alvord.
Over the hill at the east was an old house which may have been the home of Zerah Alvord. Because of the closeness of these two houses and frequent property transfers by the various Alvord families who lived in five or six places in rural Shelburne, it is difficult to house the Alvords accurately. Their old home east of the hill and the road leading to it have vanished.
Cephas Alvord was taxed for one house in 1835. Its location is uncertain. In 1837 Zerah Alvord deeded "the farm on which I now live" to his son, Cephas. It was likely the place over the hill.
In 1853 Cephas Alvord was owner, possibly, of the present Gagnon house, and presumably resident, and perhaps he built it about that time.
During the next five years there were a number of nonresident owners. During those years two Alvord brothers, Lucius G. and Alvan, may have been residents. In 1855 and 1856 they were taxed for two houses. They purchased this homestead in 1858.
In 1871 Alvan, having assumed full title, sold the property to his brother, Stillman Alvord, though he may have remained on the farm a few years before moving to Holyoke.
Like his father, Epephus, Stillman Alvord had been living in Wilmington, Vermont. It is believed Still- man soon turned the farm over to his son, Francis Albert Alvord, and, having retired from farming, rented the house where he had lived when a child -
the old house near the Reuben Nims Tavern.
Francis Albert Alvord did not remain long on the hillside farm of eighty-five acres. When he moved to Greenfield, the Alvord house never again was the home of the Alvords.
This house, having been elongated probably during Alvord ownership, often housed two families. Hav- ing had a succession of residents too numerous to name completely, only owners who lived longest in the house are mentioned.
First known to follow the Alvords was William T. Peck and his family. He was church organist. A year or so after his death in 1890, his family moved to Greenfield and sold the farm to Elwin Ruddock. Here the Ruddocks lived for sixteen years. Upon Elwin Ruddock's death the place was again sold. A number of residents followed.
When in 1913 Helen and James Bush built their home on the opposite hillside, they became owners of the "Alvord place," which they rented last to Ralph Blackmer, who eventually purchased the place. It was the home of Louise and Ralph Blackmer until 1943, when they sold to the present owners.
THE WHEELER HOUSE - West and in sight of the Mohawk Trail, the home of Leonard Wheeler was built near the site of the old Daniel Nims home, which was an inn. With a Franklin fireplace suggest- ing its age, the house was built in 1824 or 1825 by Elisha Alvord. He was the grandson of Zerah Al- vord, who married Hannah, daughter of Daniel Nims. We are told the original Nims farm remained in the Alvord family many years.
In 1900 Clarence Davis purchased this historic farm and the family lived in the "Elisha Alvord house" until Merton Wheeler bought the place in 1908. Here the Wheeler children were born and grew up. Now the third generation of Wheelers enjoy the once-timbered hill overlooking the Mohawk Trail.
ORIGINAL MOHAWK TRAIL (East Section )
HOUSE OF RICHARD A. DAVIS - The old Wells house, until recently purchased by Richard Davis, was always the home of the Wells family, although known in late years as "the Loomis place," - Clinton Loomis having married Mary Wells, daughter of William Wells (grandson of Captain William), and moved to the Wells home. Frances Loomis, fifth generation, was the last Wells descendant to live in the house and the sixth generation to live on the original Wells farm.
Col. David Wells, who settled in a log cabin south- east of this house and built the present Stoddard house, erected this house for his son, William.
Mary P. Wells Smith wrote the following facts in an historical sketch of her family: "Col. Wells built the house now standing on the old Wells farm some- where from 1790 to 1792. There were at first only the four main rooms below and probably but two
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chambers, as the roof was one of the long sloping ones, sloping to the west. My grandfather, Capt. William Wells, brought his bride, Prudence May. there from Haddam, Connecticut. The house was altered to its present form by my grandfather and the ell added sometime between 1825 and 1830."
Mary P. Wells Smith further wrote, "the house was built to face the old North and South road which ran from the present south Shelburne road, past the Taintor and Wells houses, north to Colrain. The present highway did not exist till much later." There were bridle paths through the woods to other farms and to the meetinghouse on the hill. What a change, when in later years, the first Mohawk Trail was built past this house. That old road from Wisdom. past the present Koch farmhouse on the hill, north to the two Wells houses, was discontinued years ago.
When Prudence May Wells came to Shelburne, a beautiful home awaited her. Her husband's father had spared no expense in the building of a home for his son. Even Pastor Hubbard's house (erected a few years earlier ), with similar and beautiful paneling, possibly lacked a few of the finer details of woodwork seen in the Wells house. For over sixty years, Pru- dence Wells lived in her home, dying there at the age of ninety-three.
The attractive latticed window in the north gable is a corresponding complement to the front doorlight.
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