36 Summer Street, Ipswich MA

36 Summer Street, the John Brocklebank house (1856)

The house at 36 Summer Street was owned by George H. Brocklebank by 1884. The Town of Ipswich street directory for 1896 shows George H. Brocklebank, a mason, living on Summer Street. He received payments for masonry and other repairs from the Town of Ipswich for two decades.

John H. “Uncle John” Brocklebank
John H. “Uncle John” Brocklebank from the Findagrave site.

From the Findagrave site: “John F. Brocklebank was born in Rowley, Mass. on Oct. 11, 1810. He married on April 4, 1833 to Hannah Kimball. His parents were John and Nancy (Harriman) Brocklebank Jr. He was born in Rowley, Mass. on Sept 5, 1784, and died in Georgetown, Mass on June 7, 1868. He married Nancy P. Harriman on Oct. 25, 1807. Nancy died in Georgetown, Mass on April 1, 1872.”

He was preceded by John Brocklebank, who owned the house by 1872. From the Ipswich Vital Records: John Brockelbank was born in 1846 to John (a mariner) and Hannah.

The 1865 Salem Deeds shows that John and Nancy Brocklebank released a mortgage to John F. Brocklebank in 1865. The Ipswich Town Report for 1856 shows J. F. Brocklebank as a taxpayer. In the 1873 Ipswich Town Report, John F. and George H. Brocklebank are both paid for “clearing stone.”

The 1877 Salem Deeds show that John Brocklebank in Ipswich released the mortgage of a house to George H. Brocklebank.

Jenny Ellsworth came into possession of this house and 38 Summer St. In 1930, Jennie Ellsworth transferred the house at 38 Summer Street to Marion McGilvary. That house stayed in the McGilvary family for two or three generations, and was inherited by Barbara Brockelbank (married to Chester Brockelbank Jr). They owned this house as well.

The Brocklebank family in Essex County traces its roots to John Brocklebank Sr. Born about 1630 in Yorkshire, England, who moved with his wife Sarah to Rowley, MA in 1657. The family name is spelled alternatively as Brocklebank or Brockelbank. Other alternative spellings are Brocklbbank, Brockelbanke, Brocklbank, and Brocklbanke.

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