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Christopher Babbidgo House, 46½ Essex Street
Although almost half of this house was cut away & removed,
and although its exterior r e sembles nothing so much as a
mid-eighteenth century Georg ian mansion house, yet there
is a possibility that this is one of Salem 1 s few remaining
seventeenth-century houses.
A brief history of the house was written by the historian
Sidney Perley, in his History of Salem (vol. II, pps. 309-10),
as follows (with my own notes interspersed):
"This lot was probably granted to Christopher Babbidge before
1683, when he owned it, having erected a house, in which he
lived. This house was one of the best in the neighborhood,
and the staircase is still in use in that section of the house
which remains upon the original site. 11 Perley provide s an
illustration of the newel post & balustrades of the staircase;
unfortunately, they are no longer in the house. "Mr Babbidge
died about 1711, and his son Christopher succeeded him on the
place." Son Christopher was a cordwainer (shoe-maker). 11 In
1717, the building committee of the East or Second Church
met here & considered the plans of its· first meeting house,
which was built on the opposite side of the street 11 on the
western corner of Essex & Ha rdy Streets. "Mr Babbidge died
in 1755, and the adminstratrix of his estate conveyed the
land and buildings to Richard Derby, the merchant, Nov. 8,
1757" by deed 105:16. Mr Babbidg e's daughter M
ehitable administered his estate, which was worth about 268 li; his
homeste ad, 11 House & Barn & about 60 poles of Land", was appraised at 153.6.8 (probate docket #1155).
~
Richard Derby, one of the great merchants of his day, evi- .
dently presente d this house to his daughter Mary when she
married Capt Ceor ge Crowninshield about 1764; either Mr Derby
or Capt & M Crowninshield completely remodelled the house
rs
to its pres ent Georg ian appearance. 11 Mr Derby died in 1783,
having devised to his daughter Mary Crowninshield this 'House
in which she lately dwelt now occupied by Joseph Noses' 11 who
was a sa.ilmaker. "Mrs Crowninshield conveyed the estate to
James Cheever, a merchant, Aug. 24, 1799 11 by de,ed 165:180,
for $3500.
"Mr Che ever died Sept 23 1839; and his children conveyed the
buildings and land to Phineas R Weston on June 1, 1840 11 for
$2,075, with a store thereon, by deed 320:14. "In 1859, Mr
Weston cut off the e astern end of the house and moved it to
Grant Street, where it still stands." Grant Street is now
Kosciusko Street, n e ar Derby W
harf; evidently this other half
�of the house was demolished within the past ten years. "Mr
Weston's family conveyed the remainder of the house and the
land to Charles Bowker on July 21 , 1885, and Mr Bowker lived
there until his decease. 11
Mr Bowkers heirs conveyed the property for $7500 to Ezma Abdo
of Salem (along with another piece of real estate) on 1 Sept
1914, soon after the Salem fire ( 2276:322 ). with hundreds
of people homeless in Salem, Mr Abdo moved the old Babbidge
house to the back yard, and built the present brick tenement
at the stree t-front. He sold the property 29 Nov 1918 to
Nicolai S Jensen of W
orcester (2402:174); on 1 May 1922 Mr
Jensen sold the premises to Esther Tarlow of Salem (2512:153).
Mrs Tarlow owned the property for 23 years, selling it to
Margaret Solovicos of ~alem on 19 July 1945 (3417: 597); on
28 Oct 1946 she gr anted it to The Solovicos Trust of Salem
(3519:573). The Solovicos family sold it to the M
aguires
in 1975 (61 88:766), and t he Messrs Maguire sold it 6 Jan 1976
to the trustees of Hibbard Realty Trust of M
arblehead, the
present owners (6212:346).
This is just a preliminary history of this property, and
draws no definite conclusions about the age of the h ouse.
Certainly, the remaining orig inal oak chamfered beams tend
to indicate a building date or 1715 or before--and it seems
that Christopher Babbidge built a house here by 1664. In a
case such as this, where there is· very little documentary
evidence relating to the house before the 1750s, the construction methods & evidence are c rucial to assigning a
date to the building. I would suggest calling in an expert
on 17th-century construction from the Society for the Preservation of New England Ant iquities.
Robert Booth
,
•
Note : Dr Abbot L Cummings, executive director of the Society for the
Preservation of N ew England Antiquities, has inspected this house, and
believes that a dating of ca. 1715 is appropriate.
Robert Booth, 13 Aug 1977
�CHRISTOPHER BABBIDGE
Christopher Babbidge (1640?-1711?), a tailor, was the son
of Roger and Hester Babbidge of Totness, Devonshire , England,
where he was apprenticed to George Marks, tailor ; about 1660
he married Agnes Triggs of Totness, and in 1661 they came to
America in the ship Nathaniel ; they settled in Salem that
same year , when their first child, Ruth, was born .
Mr Babbidge was listed as one who owned a Salem cottage or
dwelling plac e in or before 1661; the location of this house
is not k.novm. On 24 Feb 1662 the town of Salem recorded the
sale of house-lots along the northern side of what is now
lower Essex Street; one of the purchasers was "M Babbidge"-r
Christopher Babbidge . On 24 July 1664 Joseph Porter was
granted a house-lot "next adjoining Lt George Gardner's
spot of land in the common near Xtopher Babbidge his house ••• "
and on the same date it was "voted to Anthony Ashby also a
lot of the same quantity with the range (of lots ) where
Goodman Bavedg (sic) lives, paying for it as others did . 11
From these two items , it is clear that by 1664 Christopher
Babbidge was living in a house on the lot he ' d been granted
in 1662--the sar.ie lot that this house stands on today .
By 3 May 1665 :Mr Babbidge had been made a freeman, and in
the next year he served as a grandjuryman--a position
generally held by the t o\<m ' s leading citizens . He would
go on to serve in the same capacity in 1670, 1675- 6, 1678-9,
and 1681-4. he served as a Salem constable in 1673 and many
times after , and held many other tmm offices . By the time
of the witch trials, he owned a shop ; it was in Mr Babbidge's
shop that John Proctor was accused of practicing witchcraft .
Robert Booth
23 Mar 1977
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As the house appeared before being cut
in half in 1859 (Perley, vol II, p 309)
From Perley 1 s
History of Salem
vol II, p 310
STAIRCASE IN BABBIDGE HOC.~-.:.
. •• '
~...~,;.~
�BK 6 2 I 2 PG 3 4 6
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WE, R0!3Effi' M. MAGUIR:. AND GEORGE E, MAGUIRE, rui tenants 1n comncn, both
of Salem, Essex County, Comnonwealth of MM:Jachusetts
County, Massachusetts,
I
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being xxmarried, for consideration paid, and in full ronsiderarion of Cne Hundred .Three Thousan<!
Ten Doll~rs· ($103,010.00)---------------------------------------gr:ints to Willia'll M. Rice and Ann M. Rice and Peter W. :lice, Trustees of Hibbard
•
Realty Trust of i'.arblehead, Essex County, l-:.u:1achusdts, a Declaration of ':'rust · dated
'
ef.December 30, ·1975, and recorded herewith all of 2 Hibbard 'll'.ki1x)l'.f.li:t~
P.oad, l'.a.rblehead, Essex County, Massachuscttg '111th Quitclaim Covena'1ts
the land in Salem, with buildinf;s thereon bounded a'1d described as follO'.~S:
[0.-Scription :,.nd encumbrancrs, if any]
The land wlth the buildings thereon known as nu:Tbers 44, 46,
46 1/2, 48 and 50 Essex Street, in said Saler., bounded and described as foll<Ms:
SOUIBEASTERLY:
by Essex Street, about n1nety-<ne (91) feet, nine (9) inches;
NORI'HEASTEP.LY:
by land nc,11 or fo~rly of Hayman, about one hundred forty-nine
(149) feet;
NORrn't-TESTERLY:
by land now or forrrerly of Davis about seventy (70) fett;
SOUI"r!WESTERLY:
by land now or forrrerly of the City of Salem, about one hundred
forty-seven (147) feet, exceptinP.; so much thereof. as may have
been t?.ken by the City of Salem for the p:r-JpOse of w1den:1ng said
Essex Street.
For title, see deed of Ha'!'es ;,i, Solov1cos and Raymond T. White, Trustees under the
will o~ f1arf,aret Solov1cos, dated October 14, 1975, and recorded with the Essex South
Regist:rj• of Deeds, Book 6188, Pa.,":e 766.
This Parcel is subject to a rYPrtr:a~ held by the George Peabody Co-Operative Bank, 1n
the amount of approxirrately $65,000.00, and 1n a second r.ortgage held by Ja'!'es M.
Solov:1.cos and Raymond T. White, Trustees under tre will of Mar~t Solov1cos, 1n the
arrotmt of $30,000.00, which the buyers agree to pay,
The documentary stamps necessary are based on the difference between
$103,010.00 and mortgages assumed of $95,000.00.
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and cancelled on b:ick of t!lis instrunont
.... -·
IDlttte1rn ...our.. hands
and seals
ROB!:'.R'r M. MAGUI~
... .
this ............., .........:... day of .....January.................... 19.76 ..
~k/4.d}?~b!J/.............................
GEOR E ~ !• A~,....--.-v·
Gi:
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aJqt <1!0111mnnwtultq of !!luaanrh,lmrtts
Essex
ss.
' January
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19 76
R0!3Em' M. MAGUIRE end GEORGE E, MAGUIR::
Then personally appeared the above named
and acknowledged the foregoing instrument to be
their
free act and d~d
fore me
~~a. Gz6<;..:. . . . .. . .
Walter A. Costello,Jr.
My wnm11S1ion e.pin:s
oiur
ublic-.>.lx~oor
J1.me
5,
1s8l
(•Jndividuil-Joint Tcnnnt1-Tcn1nts in Common -Ten1nts by the Entirety.)
CHAPT!!P. 183 SEC. ti AS AMENDED BY 0-IAPTEP. 497 OF 1969
l!•OIJ'. deed pmtnted for ttcord shill ~t■in _ hawe •~d?r"'d upon it the full n:m,; rnidence and post ofli~ address of the ,tnnt~
or
and • ttet!AI of the amount of the full con!•~«•!1on thereof 1n dollars or the tuture of the other con,iJention tltettfor, if not ddiv«ed
for • sp«16c monetary sum. The ~ull consi<1•:"!•on shall me>n the tol•I price for the convepnce .,,lhout dcJuction f~r any Jim, "'
•~mhrance, as,um~ by. the gnn ce or rem,in,ng thrreo_ ._All such <ndursrntent, and rc:ciuls sh>II be tteor<lcJ u put of the dttJ.
n
f•~lure to co~1 "(th dus sect,?n •h•II not ~ffect ~• nlul,ry uf any dce<l. No re,sistcr or dent, stull .cccrt a d«J for recording unlr:u
ply
tt ,. In romph,nce w,th tl1e rcqutrements or 1h11 ,!<),on.
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Essex Street
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
46.5 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts, 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House history
Description
An account of the resource
Built circa 1715 for Christopher Babbidge, Cordwainer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc., Salem Historical Society
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
House built circa 1715, house history research conducted in 1977
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Robert Booth
Language
A language of the resource
English
1715
1977
46.5
Booth
Christopher Babbidge
Essex Street
Salem Massachusetts