FORM B – BUILDING Assessor's number



FORM B – BUILDING Assessor's number

|3-11 |

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts State Archives Building

220 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Photograph

(3" x 3" or 3" x 5", only black and white)

Staple onto the left side of the form. Indicate the address of the property on the back of the photo. Indicate the roll and film number of the negative here on the form.

|roll |film number |

|1 |13 |

Sketch Map

Show the building’s location in relation to the nearest cross streets and/or major natural features. Circle and number the inventoried building. Indicate north.

Recorded by Robert Lord Keyes [Historical] and Bonnie Parsons [Architectural]

Organization Keyes: Pelham Historical Society; Parsons: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission

Date (month/day/year) March 1, 2005

USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number

|Shutesbury | | |PEL.41 |

Town Pelham

Place (neighborhood or village) West Pelham

Address 51 Amherst Road

Historic Name

Uses: Present Dwelling

Original Dwelling

Date of Construction

Source

Style/Form Federal cape

Architect/Builder

Exterior Material:

Foundation not visible

Wall/Trim wood clapboards

Roof asphalt shingle

Outbuildings/Secondary Structures shop and shed

Major Alterations (with dates) arched opening porch added (ca. 1930); 2/2 sash installed (ca. 1900)

Condition fair

Moved No (X) Yes ( ) Date

Acreage 1.19

Setting House faces north and is set fairly close to well-traveled road on north and side road on east.

BUILDING FORM

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION see continuation sheet

Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.

This one-and-a-half story Federal style cape is a good example of what was likely the most common house built during the Federal period, 1776-1820. It is a one-and-a-half story cape form house with a center chimney on an end-gable roof. The house is five bays wide and two bays deep and there was probably a kitchen ell early on in the house’s history for a T-shaped plan as it has today. A house like this was well-understood by builders, could be erected relatively fast with limited amounts of materials and could accommodate a fair number of people when the attic was used for sleeping. Its simplicity meant that it was not the house of the elite so there was less chance for its survival and many of these houses have been lost. West Pelham has a number of them among which are 34, 44, and 18 Amherst Road. The house has defined frieze and cornerboards and a trabeated center door surround with a projecting molded cornice, and it is the narrow entry of the Federal style. The door is a later Italianate style with arched glass windows. Window surrounds are the simple drip edge surrounds of the pragmatic builder. There is a one story ell at the rear that has been enclosed with an arcaded porch. Two outbuildings are on the property, a shed and a workshop/garage.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE see continuation sheet

Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.

51 Amherst Road was originally part of Home Lot No. 32 drawn by William Johnson in 1739. The earliest identifiable resident was John Harkness, Jr. [1788-1844], in 1821. John was father of Dr. Harvey Willson Harkness [b. 1821]. The Hampshire County Journal of July 27, 1889 states that 51 Amherst Road was “a plain white farm-house” which was the birthplace of Dr. Harkness. Charles O. Parmenter [1833-1913] also makes this claim in 1898, writing that Dr. Harkness “was born May 25, 1821, in the farm house still standing on the south side of the county Road [Amherst Road], a little west of the site of the Orient House—the farm at that time and for some years previous, being a part of a large tract of land owned by the Harknesses.” [Dr. Harkness was editor of the Sacramento Press on May 10, 1869, when, representing California, he presented the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah, uniting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads. He was also present at the opening of the Suez Canal later that same year.]

Pelham historian Paul J. Bigelow [1937-2001] published [in 1985] a claim that the provenance of 51 Amherst Road descended from Wing Kelley [1768-1836] by 1799 until 1812, to Joseph Daniels [d. 1840] from 1812 until 1817, to Pliny Hannum, Sr. [1784-1846] in 1817 until 1819, to Dr. Olney Potter [d. 1842] in 1819, and to Capt. Abner Cundall [1755-1828] and Capt. John Cundall [b. 1781] from about 1819 to a number of years after. One importance of this claim would be that it thus establishes the birthplace of Wing Kelley’s daughter, the abolitionist Abigal [Abby] Kelley Foster [1810-1887], as being at 51 Amherst Road. However, Bigelow’s provenance is not supported by an examination of deeds. Critical to Bigelow’s claim is the location of the Daniels farm. Parmenter, in fact, does give the impression that Daniels could have lived at 51 Amherst Road. Parmenter writes that Daniels’ “residence was in a little house near the Orient house on the south side of the road…” [pg. 424]. However, an review of Daniels’ and neighboring deeds and indicates that the Daniels farm was actually located on or near Enfield Road.

Assuming John Harkness, Jr. [1788-1844] was living at 51 Amherst Road in 1821, how long had he lived there? He was living with his father, John Harkness, Sr. [ca. 1750-1821], and brother, William Harkness, Sr. [1793-1831] at 44 Amherst Road in 1812. By 1827, John Harkness, Sr., the father, had died, and John, Jr. and brother William were in the quarry business together, operating a quarry yard at 44 Amherst Road. Parmenter writes [pg. 497] that John, Jr. was residing at 51 Amherst Road and William at 44 Amherst Road. William died in 1831. [William, in fact, was the first person buried in Harkness Cemetery, a burial ground laid out from 51 Amherst Road about 1830.] John, Sr. returned to live at 44 Amherst Road. Meanwhile, William’s widow, Abigail Turner Harkness [Rankin] [1793-ca. 1885], remarried in 1832, to Ens. John Rankin, Jr. [1779-1860]. The Rankins, in fact, were now most likely living at 51 Amherst Road, as evidenced by an 1837 Hampshire County Commissioner’s alteration of Amherst Road which mentions John Rankin residing near William Newell [1802-1878] [44 Amherst Road]. John Rankin’s 1840 Federal Census listing is probably for 51 Amherst Road: 1 male 10-15, 1 male 60-70, 1 female 5-10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 40-50 and 1 female 70-80.

The Rankins sold 58 acres to Daniel Corbit [ca. 1781-1847] in 1842 and moved to Amherst. Corbit was listing as having 80 acres between 1843 and 1846, and 107 acres in 1847. He also typically owned 1 horse, had 2 cows, 1 swine, and yearlings or oxen. Daniel Corbit died in 1847. The heirs sold 16 ½ acres off the eastern part of the lot to William Newell in 1849.

Oddly, 51 Amherst Road is not shown on either the 1854 or 1856 Pelham maps. Daniel Corbit’s Widow, Hannah Corbit [ca. 1787-1859], is listed on the 1850-1857 Tax Valuations as owning 4 ½ acres with buildings. In 1850 she was living with 62 year old Mary Dunlap [b. ca. 1788], from Scotland, and 44 year old Margaret Stevenson Abercrombie [1805-1885], all, apparently single women.

After Hannah Corbit died in 1859, some of the Corbit heirs sold 12 acres “with buildings” to Austin Wells Conkey in 1860, and Conkey took up residence. In 1862, Jason Corbit [b. ca. 1804], another Corbit heir, sold his interest in the 12 acres to Olney Darling Cook, 2nd [1801-1880], husband of Emelia [Emily] Draper Cook [1806-1865]. Conkey now owned 5/7ths and the Cooks 2/7ths of 51 Amherst Road. Austin Conkey was a carpenter and mechanic, a former Pelham Selectman, now living with his second wife Sarepta Fidelia King Conkey [b. 1831]. In 1860, he and Sarepta Conkey were living at 51 Amherst Road with their 8-year-old son, Avery Leroy Conkey [b. 1852]. He also owned 1 cow. Austin Conkey died in 1861.

In 1862, Sarepta Conkey, in two transactions, sold her share of interest in 51 Amherst Road to the Cooks. It has not been clear, up until this time, who may have owned the additional acres that were part of 51 Amherst Road when Daniel Corbit owned it in the 1840s, but it could have been the Cooks. In 1862, Olney and Emily took up residence at 51 Amherst Road. Olney was a farmer who traded in real estate. The property was now listed at 16 acres from 1863 to 1865, and then 28 acres in 1866. Emily Cook died in 1865. The 1865 Census lists 63-year-old Olney Cook, and daughters Caroline Cook [1840-1870], age 25, and Harriet E. Cook [Elsbree] [b. 1844], age 21.

Two land transactions in June, 1870, found carpenter Melvin R. Warner [b. ca. 1843] and wife Jane A. Warner [b. ca. 1841] as residents of 51 Amherst Road, but with Cook still holding the title. The Warners had four children ages 8 months to 6 years. They shared the house with teamster John T. Nichols [ca. 1839-1877] and his wife Elizabeth C. Thurber Nichols [Chapin] [b. ca. 1843]. John served in the 27th Massachusetts Regiment from Pelham during the Civil War and had been captured at Gum Swamp, N.C. in 1865, being sent to Libby prison.

Olney Cook appears to have sold 51 Amherst Road to his son, Lycurgus Van Buren Cook [b. 1830] of Belchertown as early as 1871. Cook sold the property to Mary Ellen Thurber Lamb [Powell] [1840-1907] of Milford in 1872. The property then was listed as being “forty acres more or less.” Interestingly, 51 Amherst Road appears to have covered most, if not all, the land bounded by Amherst, Jones and South Valley Roads.

Mary’s first husband was Prentice Lamb [ca. 1823-1894] [his second wife]. Mary had been born in Pelham but they were living in Milford in 1872. Mary was also sister of John T. Nichols’ wife, Elizabeth Nichols. The Nichols, in fact, continued to reside at 51 Amherst Road until 1876, paying the taxes. The property in 1873, for example, was listed at 28 acres with 1 house and 1 barn. Nichols had 3 horses and 1 cow.

Prentice and Mary Lamb moved in 1877. Prentice Lamb was a farmer. He died in 1894. Mary married Pelham farmer and wood lot owner Joseph R. Powell [1826-1911]. Joseph’s first wife, Louisa Fosket Burr Powell [ca. 1836-1891], had been killed while warming some dynamite on the stove in their residence at 49 Enfield Road. While Joseph Powell appears to have paid the taxes on 51 Amherst Road, and thus the Tax Valuations were in his name, the title to the property remained Mary’s. M. Louise Brewer recalled Mary in 1929: “Mary some of us remember, [was] the capable worker and solicitor of the West Pelham M. E. Church.” Neighbors recall that “the Powells were pretty well off,” Thomas C. Strickland writes [in 2003], “with a carriage house in front of the barn and a team of horses with fancy brass work on the bridles. They built the addition on the back of the house including the first indoor bathroom, in Pelham, a zinc tub.” In 1891, Mary sold some water rights to Montague City Fish Rod Factory Owner Eugene P. Bartlett [1853-1925]. The deed makes it clear that the spring in question was located approximately on the site of the present Community Center of Pelham [Hampshire County Deed 445-77 (1891)].

About 1900, 51 Amherst Road was subject of a photograph by the Howes Brothers of Ashfield. Strickland writes [in 2003] that “It is Mary [Ellen Thurber] Lamb [Powell] and [her second husband] Joseph [R.] Powell [who] appear in the Howe Brothers glass plate.”

After Mary Powell’s death in 1907, Joseph moved to his sister’s house in Amherst and Eugene P. Bartlett, the Administrator of Mary’s estate, sold 51 Amherst Road to George Howard Cadwell [b. 1866]. Cadwell was an Amherst resident when he moved to 51 Amherst Road in Pelham in 1908 where “he operated a large farm…specializing in poultry and livestock…During the period of his residence in Pelham he purchased a farm property [51 Amherst Road] on the main highway, and divided the tract into house lots, on which he built houses, selling them and thus adding to the growth of the population and the real value of the town. He also built [actually, sold the land to] the Pelham school house [City School II] . He was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen and occupied the office of chairman of the board for a long term of years.” [“History of Western Massachusetts,” III: 50]

George H. Cadwell developed properties on Amherst Road and Cadwell Street. Cadwell Street was named for him. [Cadwell Forest in Pelham was named for his brother, timber baron Frank Arthur Cadwell (1860-1935), while Cadwell Creek was named for their father, Aretas James Cadwell (1828-1876).]

Cadwell spun off building lots from 51 Amherst Road. Most of the houses were built by the purchasers of the individual properties. In 1912, he sold the lot at 45 Amherst Road to the Town of Pelham for the construction of City School [II]. Cadwell sold off what became 49 Amherst Road [in 1916, a house he built], as well as 53 and 55 Amherst Road [both in 1913], 57 and 59 Amherst Road [both in 1912], 61 Amherst Road [in 1913] and 63 Amherst Road [in 1915]. Cadwell also sold off all of the lots which became house lots on Cadwell Street. [He also built 5 and 7 Amherst Road.]

In 1915, Cadwell sold 51 Amherst Road, now only 3 acres, to Joseph Francis Morgan [1886-1959], husband of Etta Lillian Thornton Morgan [1886-1976]. Joseph Morgan was a long time employee of the Montague City Fish Rod Factory [22 Amherst Road]. He also served as Pelham Selectman in 1917 and was Pelham Town Clerk from 1928 until 1945. Etta Morgan also worked for the Fish Rod Factory, doing winding at home, which was not uncommon work for West Pelham women. In 1920, residents of 51 Amherst Road were Joseph Morgan, age 33, wife Etta, age 33, daughter June Elizabeth Morgan [Seitz] [1915-1977], age 4, and Joseph’s sister, Charlotte Elizabeth Isabel Morgan Anderson [b. ca. 1875], a widow, age 43. In 1919, Morgan had six henhouses and 30 fowls. Mark Bartlett Aldrich [1907-1987] recalled that Joseph Morgan had “quite a flock of hens.” From 1940 to 1950 he had a shop on the property. In 1950, 51 Amherst Road was down to 1.19 acres, its present size [5 Cadwell Street probably having been spun off from 51 Amherst Road]. Joseph Morgan died in 1959. By 1965 the barn had been converted into a garage. Etta Morgan died in 1976 and the property was sold the next year.

Thomas C. Strickland [b. 1951] and Sandra Strickland [b. 1955] of Belchertown purchased 51 Amherst Road in 1977. Thomas was a chemical engineer and Sandra a nurse. They had three sons. Thomas Strickland writes that they “restored the home, which was in poor condition, adding a porch to the circa 1895 addition, and period style moldings, etc., and a second story bath.” Ballon also put the present roof on the house. They moved to Michigan in 1990 and sold 51 Amherst Road to Richard Ballon in 1992. Ballon “rented the room on the second floor to a college student [and] improved the garden area from functional vegetable crops to a scenic pathway.”

Ballon sold the property to carpenter and sculptor James Doubleday, Jr. [b. 1949] and Nancy D. Doubleday [b. 1959], who is a nurse, in 1998. James Doubleday built the present outbuilding on the south side of the lot.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES see continuation sheet

Hampshire County Deeds 120-130 [1842]; 131-298 [1849]; 131-343 [1849]; 203-314 [1860]; 207-72 [1862]; 207-346 [1862]; 207-347 [1862]; 272-173 [1870]; 285-220 [1870]; 298-125 [1872]; 445-77 [1891]; 623-431 [1907]; 713-419 [1915]; 3730-203 [1989]; 4185-27 [1993]; 5539-114 [1998]. Hampshire County Plan Book 43-80 [1953].

Pelham Tax Valuations, Annual Reports, and Street Lists, [Town Vault, Town of Pelham; and History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

“Plan of a Portion of the Towns of Pelham and Amherst,” [Map, 1812], [Map 2622 at Massachusetts Archives, Boston; copy at Special Collections, Jones Library, Amherst].

Harkness, Isaac, “Location of Brick Yard and Stone Quarry,” [Map of East Amherst and West Pelham in year 1927, 1909], [original map in Amherst College Archives]; [reprinted in “Treasures of Pelham,” (Pelham, MA: Treasures of Pelham Committee, 1968), pg. 30].

Parmenter, C[harles] O[scar], “History of Pelham,” [Amherst, MA: Carpenter and Morehouse, 1898], pp. 24, 25, 30, 31, 421-423, 424, 479, 497.

Pelham Vital Records, [Town Clerk’s Office, Town of Pelham].

Federal Census, 1840-1930. Massachusetts State Census, 1855 and 1865.

Board of Assessors, Town of Pelham, Revaluation Card, 51 Amherst Road, 1982.

Maps of Pelham: 1860 Walling; and 1873 Beers, [Copies in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Aldrich, Kenneth R., Personal Recollections, to Robert Lord Keyes, Aug. 12, 2003.

Aldrich, Mark B., Oral History, 1981, [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Allen, Henry W., “Life in West Pelham, Massachusetts from 1892 to 1918, [Ms., 1976], pp. 5, 7, [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Bigelow, Paul J., “Disowned—Disrupted—Dissolved: The Life and Times of the Members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Pelham, Massachusetts, 1806-1870,” [Pelham, MA: Privately printed, 1985], pp. 43-45, 53.

Bigelow, Paul J., “51 Amherst Road, Pelham, Massachusetts,” [Ms., 1985; Revised by Thomas C. Strickland, 2003], [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Brewer, M. Louise, “The Valley Road and Silver Street,” [Ms., 1929], [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Cushman, Ethel, Oral History, 1979, [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Derby, W. P., “Bearing Arms in the Twenty-Seventh Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteer Infantry During the Civil War, 1861-1865,” [Boston: Wright and Potter, 1883], pg. 467.

Doubleday, Nancy D., Personal Recollections, May 19, 2004, to Robert Lord Keyes.

Goodell, Herbert A., Oral History, 1981, [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Keyes, Pearly P., Jr., Personal Recollections, to Robert Lord Keyes, May 19, 2004.

Lockwood, Rev. John, Ed., “Western Massachusetts: A History, 1636-1925,” [New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1925], Vol. 3, pp. 49-50.

Robinson, M. Carlton, Oral History, 1981, [Copy in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Hampshire County Commissioners, “Record Book,” Vol. 3, Pg. 30.

Pelham Historical Commission, “Pelham Historic Homes Project, 1984-1986,” Box 1, [in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Howes Brothers, 51 Amherst Road, Pelham, Mass., [photograph, n.d., ca. Summer, 1900], [photograph no. 3059E, Ashfield Historical Society, Ashfield, Mass.], [Copy identified by Kenneth M. Thornton, in History Room, Pelham Free Public Library].

Amherst Bulletin, Sept. 19, 1984.

Northampton Courier, April 19, 1837.

Northampton Daily Herald, March 24, 1894; Oct. 21 and 31, 1907; Aug. 12 and 16, 1912.

[Northampton, MA] Hampshire County Journal, July 27, 1889.

[Northampton, MA] Hampshire Gazette and Northampton Courier, Oct. 28, 1873.

[Northampton, MA] Daily Hampshire Gazette, Aug. 20, 1912.

San Francisco Morning Chronicle, May 11, 1869.

Keyes, Robert Lord, 40 South Valley Road, Pelham, MA 01002, Pelham, Massachusetts History Project: Genealogical and Historical Research.

Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.

Massachusetts Historical Commission Community Property Address

State Archives Facility

220 Morrissey Boulevard Pelham 51 Amherst Road

Boston, Massachusetts 02125

Area(s) Form No.

| |PEL.41 |

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district

Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district

Criteria: A B C D

Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G

Statement of Significance by ___Bonnie Parsons________________________________

The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

This property contributes to the potential West Pelham Historic District. The district is significant according to criteria A and C and it has local significance. West Pelham is significant as the site of 18th century settlement at four mill sites, one of which exists today, and for its association with events of Shays’s Rebellion after the Revolutionary War.

West Pelham, known during the late 19th and early 20th century as “Pelham City” represents a 19th century agricultural and light industrial village that superceded Pelham Center as the town center due to the long term success of its industry attracting and sustaining workers and to its development in the early 20th century as a suburban area for population spillover from Amherst, long a college town and intellectual center of the region. A late 19th century resort destination, West Pelham is also important as it retains a building from this era, and from the resort Orient Springs.

The district retains buildings from its 19th century agricultural, resort and industrial past as well as from its early 20th century suburban phase, which continues to the present. There are fine examples of Federal and Greek Revival farmsteads. With a Queen Anne store and single and double houses from the Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles - applied to bungalow, cape and Four-square forms - the district’s stylistic range as a home to workers and suburban commuters is exemplary.

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