Although this house is named after John Cole Jewett, an early owner of the lot, Thomas Franklin Waters wrote that no evidence of his original structure remains. Stylistic evidence indicates that the present house was built around the time of the 1813 transfer of the deed from Jewett’s heirs to David Lord. A wing on the back was added in 1974.
John Cole Jewett was born in Ipswich in 1743. He married Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Moses and Elizabeth (Wallis) Smith of Ipswich. Cole was a private in the Revolution and marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, serving 4 days. His wife died June 9, 1805, aged 65 years. He died in Ipswich, Jan. 6, 1811. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1770, who married Joseph Lane, Jr., of Gloucester in 1792.
John Cole Jewett bought the High Street estate of Josiah Martin by 1767, when he was mentioned in a deed of an abutter. Jewett’s heirs sold the property in 1813 to David Lord. Phillip Lord owned in 1830, and sold it to Nathan Jewett in 1835, therein returning the lot without the original house to the Jewett family.
In 1904 Nathan Jewett Jr. deeded the house to his son Ernest R. Jewett “whose education I have hitherto neglected to provide for, and intend herein to make partial reparation…by a certain partial of land devised to me and my brother Charles Jewett in common by our father the late Nathan Jewett.” (Deeds, book 1757).
The deed of Ernest R. Jewett in 1923 deeds the land and buildings to Charles Jewett. Charles Jewett deeded to his housekeeper Georgiana Stone for no cost in 1939.
William H. Gysan purchased the estate from Georgiana Stone in 1965 and began restoring the house. Two years later he sold to Stephen and Loretta Dietch, who did an extensive renovation and added the rear wing in 1975. They sold to Cara Connors and Chris Fauske in 1996.
The Jewett and Cole families date to the early years of Ipswich. Deacon Maximilian and Joseph Jewett were among the settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1639. Robert Coles was one of the twelve men who accompanied John Winthrop Jr. in the expedition to found Ipswich in 1633. Many members of the family settled in Ipswich Village and this area of High Street. The owner of this house in the 1832 Philander Map of Ipswich is Nathan Jewett, with Moses Jewett at the present 89 High Street location and Sewell P. Jewett at #87.
Sources:
- MACRIS
- The Hammatt Papers
- Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
- History and genealogy of the Jewetts of America
- Mass. Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, Vol. VIII
- Partial List of Historic Houses in Ipswich, by Sue Nelson for the Ipswich Historical Commission (PDF download).
- Cara Connors
