74 Essex Rd., the Willard B. and Harriett Manning Kinsman house (1851)

Thomas Franklin Waters wrote in “Candlewood” that this lot was part of the original grant to Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, who was ordained pastor of Ipswich, Massachusetts, on 20 Feb. 1638, succeeding Nathaniel Ward as co-pastor with John Norton. He took the oath of freedom at Ipswich, and was one of a body deputed to reconcile a difference between the legalists and the antinomians. He died at Ipswich on 3 July 1655, aged 57. As was customary, desirable residents were granted a lot for a house in town, and a larger lot beyond the town commons for a farm.

The farm was inherited by Rogers’ two sons, John Rogers who had become president of Harvard College, and Samuel, who received a house and 8 acres (Ips. Deeds 5: 146). John Rogers’ home sat facing the South Green but is no longer standing. The home of Dr. Samuel Rogers once sat at the head of the South Green, was moved when the Second Congregational Church was built and is now the Rogers and Brown Bed and Breakfast.

Map of the Candlewood neighborhood, by Thomas Franklin Waters. The Rev. Nathaniel Rogers lot is shown at the intersection of Essex Rd. and Lakeman Rd.

A tale of two houses

Thomas Franklin Waters wrote the In March 1832, George W. Heard sold an acre and a half to Levi Brown, who had bought a half acre from his father. The Brown family were prominent settlers of the Candlewood area. He built a dwelling that still stands at 68 Essex Rd., and is still known as the “Levi Brown house.” Brown quitclaimed to his brother Francis, who sold to Henry S. Holmes, 2 acres and buildings, March 9, 1842 (330: 18).

Holmes sold to Willard B. Kinsman, April 1, 1851 (456: 112), who enlarged the 1832 house by building a connected new house that faced the highway. Willard Beiah Kinsman, son of William and Sarah, was born in Ipswich, Feb. 3, 1822. He married Harriett Manning, born in Ipswich, May 19, 1822, the daughter of William and Mary (Parsons) Manning. The William Manning house is part of the Presbyterian Church on County Rd.

1832 Ipswich map — 1832 map showing the houses of Levi and John Brown.

The 1832 addition was moved to 74 Essex Rd. in 1953 or 1954 as described below. The house still standing at 68 Essex Rd. is owned by the Raymond family under the title “Buttonwood Trust.” The central chimney stack was added after the front section was removed.

Architecturally, the house now standing at 74 Essex Rd. has a central stairway and two tall paired chimney stacks at the rear of the house and fireplaces in the rear of the four downstairs and upstairs rooms, a style that is found in five-bay houses of single room depth throughout the first half of the 19th Century. The generous cornices and wide corner boards are more reminiscent of the Federal era than the Greek Revival or Italianates, which might be expected in the conservative architectural forms of the Candlewood farms.

Closeup of 1856 map of Ipswich showing Essex Road — Closeup of 1856 map of Ipswich showing the neighboring Willard B. Kinsman and John B. Brown farms on Essex Road. In the early 1950s, the front half of the house at 68 Esssex Rd was moved to 74 Essex Rd., directly across from Lakemans Lane.

1884 map of Ipswich MA — The 1884 map shows the house at 68 Essex Rd. occupied by “W. Kinsman.” To the east of the lots at 68 and 74 Essex Rd. are the homes of J. C. Carlisle and Mrs. Huckins.

The Patch family of Ipswich was related to the Brown family of the Candlewood neighborhood through marriage. Margaret Patch deeded property with a building thereon to Emily Patch in 1897. The 1910 Ipswich map shows a house at 68 Essex Road occupied by “Miss Patch.” Emily G., Patch, a single woman acquired the property from her mother Margaret Patch in 1897, and appears to have lived in the house for her entire life. The 1940 census lists Emily G. Patch, age 80, and one other person in the household, Harriet Budlong age 56. The property was willed to Anne Bell Burrage by the will of Emily G. Patch in 1950.

In 1953, the front part of 68 Essex Rd. was separated from the rear section and was moved to the adjoining empty lot at 74 Essex Rd., purchased by an Anne Bell Burrage, wife of Albert Cameron Burrage Jr. from Neil C. Raymond. The combined Burrage property was referred to as the “Patch Trust.” Mr. Burrage was the son of Albert Burrage, a wealthy industrialist residing in Boston who became president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1921 and was the founding president of the American Orchid Society. In 1933, seven women met at the Ipswich home of Mrs. Albert C. (Anne) Burrage, Jr. and formed the Herb Society of America for the intent of research and study.

Burrage family tombstone at the Highland Cemetery in Ipswich

In 1951, fifteen people met at the Burrage home at 44 Beacon Street, Boston to form the Castle Hill Foundation, which assisted the Trustees of Reservations with the management of the Castle Hill estate. The first President of the new corporation was Anne Bell Shirk Burrage.

Sources:

Candlewood, an Ancient Neighborhood by Thomas Franklin Waters
Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by Thomas Franklin Waters
Kinsman Family
Ancestry: Harriett Mariah Manning
Vital Records of Ipswich to 1850
Conveyance by Margaret A Patch to Emily G. Patch in 1897: Salem Deeds1504, page 577. The deed includes a parcel of land with buildings thereon, and refers to land of Stone and Carlisle abutting.
“Patch Trust 1949”: Conveyance by Emily G. Patch to Anne B. Burrage, (3719, 187) “being the same premises conveyed to Emily G. Patch by Margaret A. G. Patch in 1897.”
Sale of lot at 74 Essex Rd. by Neil Raymond to Anne B. Burrage, Oct. 1953.

*Benjamin Smith, Joseph Huckins

The Ipswich Assessors site gives the date as 1850, the same as Waters’ history. The previous owners had a plaque reading “Benjamin Smith House, 1830.” An Ipswich Historical Commission survey in the 1980s referred to 74 Essex Road as the Joseph Huckins house but no historical basis has been found for either claim. The land to the east of 74 Essex Rd. was granted to Edward Bragg in 1658. John Burnham Brown owned the entire Bragg property after acquiring a parcel from his sister Mary, Dec. 6, 1823 (251: 127). Mr. Brown gave or sold 15 acres to his son, John A. Brown and sold the remaining 100 acres and buildings to Ira B. Carlisle and Joseph Huckins, Aug. 2, 1860. By mutual quitclaim, they divided the farm, Mr. Huckins taking the eastern, Mr. Carlisle, the western half, Oct. 16, 1861 (634: 51). Joseph Marshall bought another half acre piece of Joseph Huckins, April 6, 1869 (874: 185). A century-old house was removed by Mr. Marshall to a new site, east of its original location, and the house at 104 Essex Rd. and his large new barns were erected on the old spot. The 1884 Ipswich map shows the house occupied by Mrs. Huckins at the present 94 Essex Road, the William G. Horton house (c 1900).

The house that Mr. Huckins had built was sold to William G. Horton 53 acres with the house, barn etc., Feb. 26, 1889 (1243: 408).
The Horton farm is at 94 Essex Rd. John B. Brown to Ira Carlise and Joseph Huckins. Land with no mention of a house. Salem Deeds 610/233.
Conveyance to Joseph Huckins Sr. by Ira Carlisle, Salem Deeds 634:226.
Conveyance of right-of-way by Joseph Marshall to Joseph Huckins. Salem Deeds 770/106.
Conveyance by Ida and John Proctor to Joseph A. Huckins, 53 acres on the Essex Road, Nov. 5, 1887. Land of Joseph Marshall North, northeasterly by Thomas Brown, Northwesterly by John Carlisle, ” being the premises conveyed by my father Joseph Huckins Sr. by Ira Carlisle, Oct. 1861. Salem Deeds 1209/297.
Joseph A. and Lizzie P. Huckins mortgage, 1887: Salem Deeds 1209, page 299.